Ever heard of an author named Christian Platt? No? Me neither. But he’s doing something interesting at the moment. He’s asking people to name his new book. Anyone can submit a title. What’s your incentive? You get a credit in the book and you get $100 worth of books. But not by way of an Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card, he’s giving you his previous books that he says are valued that high.
On the post I only saw eight comments. So I think he might be just as much of a nobody as me. But if you really want people to take this kind of thing seriously, then I’d say there’s gotta be real incentive. And in this case there isn’t.
But back to my original question. Would I do this? No. Not ever. Is it supposed to build hype or give other people the chance to feel “involved” in the process of making this book a reality? I don’t know. But book titles are the first thing people see when they come across your book (unless you’re immensely popular and they only see your name.) Letting just any person do it doesn’t seem like the best decision.
Would you ever let someone else title your next book?
Johnny Reads 
Not in a month of Sundays. Hey, that’s a good title.
Make a note of this. Hey, that’s another good title.
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Haha that’s exactly what would happen.
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Nope. I did everything else so why would I suddenly turn over the Title?
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Exactly. It’s pretty ridiculous.
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It’s like building a house and turning over the choice of what color to paint it to some stranger.
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Ha! Good point. I just don’t see what something like this accomplishes. I’ve seen authors auction off the chance to name characters, but they’re well known and donating the money to charity. That’s something with a purpose. This isn’t.
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I agree. Some form of promotional for their new book, I guess.
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Must be.
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The only people that I would let give input into a book title would be an agent, editor, or publisher. Someone who is closely acquainted with my book and may be able to offer helpful suggestions. Last year I asked people on WP which title they liked best, and it wasn’t helpful at all, so no more of that. I changed it a million times after that, anyways.
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Exactly. Those are the only people I think full-time authors would listen to.
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How does he decide who wins? Does he just pick the answer out of a hat? What if all the suggestions are rubbish? Will he renege on his promise?
And no, you’re right – you should only take advice on titles from publishing professionals, not random people online
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Votes. Whichever gets the most votes wins. He doesn’t promise anything but the books. He isn’t under an obligation to use any of the titles.
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Well, at least that’s a sensible approach on the off chance he had nothing but idiotic or joke suggestions. It’ll be interesting to see if he takes up any of the suggestions
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He might. He’s got nothing to lose at this point.
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I asked my betas if they thought the title I picked was a good one. I think all of them thought it was fine. But that’s as far as I go. If someone had a good suggestion, I might listen, but I certainly wouldn’t put myself in a position where I HAD to accept someone else’s. Especially because it sounds like his fans haven’t read the book, so they’re only going to be titling it based on the summary.
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They haven’t. He gives them the first chapter or something. I think asking if the title is a good one is a good idea. You could think it’s a nice one and then have ten people all tell you it sounds like it belongs in another genre.
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