Submitting #8 - Series names

We briefly touched on this in Submitting #7 but thought we'd better cover it a little better, heavy emphasis on "little".

This topic won't affect every author out there. Not every author writes serials after all. For those that do the second hardest part after picking a title, is choosing your Series name. Now, we say this is second hardest for a reason, mainly because once you've chosen the name it's there for the run of the series. Unlike titles, which you must agonize over constantly! We feel your pain, we do it a lot ourselves.

So, what do you need to know about choosing a series name. Pretty much a lot of the same stuff for a title but with a few added challenges.

• Must be 100% relevant to your first book and your second and each after that.
• Must be something unique and bold, catching the readers eye as well as sticking in their brain.
• Shouldn't be hard to pronounce. Seriously, the authors that pick out words for series titles that need the pronunciation included should be shot!
• Shouldn't turn a reader off by being too similar to other series out there. There is a caveat on this one, if you are writing for a Publisher that has a "house series" then this doesn't count.
• Should be carefully ambiguous should your stories be a bit general. For example, if all your stories are military based, go with something very precise. But if your stories are more toward a genre but with recurring characters, ie: a historical romance, give yourself a little leeway by keeping the series name "loose".

Now, if you are the sort of person that at least half of our team is -not naming names or nothing- then you write your book, get ready to sub and sit there panicking because you don't know what the hell to call it. And you know it will be a part of series because you already have books two and three running around in your brain. Best piece of advise we can give you is to walk away.

Yup, you heard it right, walk away. Get up from your computer and go do something else. Just like when you are trying so desperately to remember where the hell you put your car keys/that receipt for taxes/the tickets to the big game or whatever, you're just digging a mental hole by trying to force it. So, walk away. Get a drink, go tidy up, watch a movie or do something that will force your mind away from the task at hand. Just like when it comes to your car keys that you just had in hand, the answer will likely pop up at the damnedest of times.

Or you could be like the other half of the group and have a dozen of them in your head. Write them all down and look at them from a readers POV. Do the check list and see if any or all of them fit with the story you wrote and the ones you'll be writing. Then you just have to whittle them down. This can be tough, which can be made easier with friends willing to read your story or a beta reader who's read the story. Put the series names to these people and give them an idea of what's to come to get their take on your ideas. Do not freak if they toss them all out. They aren't biased like you may be, it's your baby after all, so listen to these folks.

But, most of all, make sure you like the damned thing. Nothing more terrifying than giving a series a name that you end up hating by book two or four or six.

The Moderator