Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Name That Book Contest!
Ever wonder how authors come up with the titles for their books? Or do you have a knack for coming up with catchy, fun phrases? Here's your opportunity to join four authors in creating memorable titles for their upcoming books! Okay...the truth is that we've completely exhausted our supply of possible titles and we're appealing to the public to help us out!
So here's the story...
Sam, Karen, Tawny Weber, and Lisa Renee Jones are writing a mini-series consisting of four books that will come out in Sep, Oct, Nov, and Dec 09. Each book focuses on a heroine who orders a costume through a small Chicago costume shop, but--through error or intent--receives the wrong costume. The result is that it changes her life, and also enables her to have lots of fun sex with Mr. Right along the way.
The Sep book (Tawny’s) is a class reunion story, where the geeky heroine arrives at the reunion dressed as a dominatrix, intent on closing a business deal with the hunky guy she secretly crushed on in high school.
The Oct book (Sam’s) is a mystery, where the straight-laced heroine crashes a Halloween party dressed as a sexy cabaret singer in order to steal back some incriminating photos that the hero, a ruthless divorce lawyer, has of her sister. But what happens when he catches her in the act?
The Nov book (Karen’s) is also a reunion story of sorts, where the hero and heroine are married, but have been separated since their impulsive wedding five years earlier. Now he's a mega-movie star and she shows up at his fan convention dressed as a slave-girl, intent on asking for a divorce, but things get a little out of hand.
The Dec book (Lisa’s) is a Christmas story, where the heroine appears at a charity event dressed in a sexy Marilyn Monroe costume in order to attract attention for her new bookstore. But when she attracts the attention of the wealthy and powerful hero, she has to decide if she has what it takes to live out a bombshell sexy night.
So the dilemma is that our editor wants us to come with a "Flash" that will encompass all four books, as well as individual titles that will speak to each story. We've proposed "Naughty Nights" and "Dress-Up Games" for the Flash, but these were rejected. For titles, we thought we would go with similar titles: Naughty and Naked; Dangerously Naughty; One Naughty Night; and Naughty by Design. These were all rejected. Our editor suggested we relate the title to the costume, and also indicate how the heroine grew or changed as a result, i.e., Unveiling the Vixen; Baring the Temptress, etc. These were also rejected. So we're just stumped, and although the four authors were working on these as a group, we've decided to split up and just work on our own individual titles.
In gratitude for your help, each author will give away a copy of their particular book. And if your title is selected and approved, don’t be surprised to see an acknowledgement of your contribution on the inside cover of the book! So good luck, and let the names (book names, that is) begin!
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Help!
That's all I have to say, LOL. I have never had as hard a time titling a book as I have had with this one, it's just beyond me. I think I also pitched The Temptress, The Siren, and Unexpectedly Sexy (because my heroine doesn't think of herself as sexy, and lives in her sexy sister's shadow), and none of them flew... Please, throw out anything, because you never know what will spark an idea, and if your idea even helps me find a title that will stick, you're my winner, and just don't be surprised if I come nagging you for title ideas in the future! (just kidding... kind of...)
The book is a action/suspense, and there's themes of betrayal, danger, and deception, as well as the idea of my heroine finding her true self through playing make-believe, so if that helps any, have at it.
Sam
Oooh, I love a challenge.
Oooh, I love a challenge. I'll have to think about this!!
J.K. Coi
Immortals To Die For
www.jkcoi.com
Terrible Titles
Hi Sam and Karen,
I'm terrible with titles, but I don't mind brainstorming (i.e. writing embarrassing lists of words that don't work) in order to help other, more creative people figure out the final answer.
For the Flash:
Fantasy for Life
In Disguise and Exposed
Exposed and in Disguise
True Secrets
No More Masquerade
Lift the Mask
Under the Mask
Titles:
Out of Control (dominatrix)
Exposed (photos)
Spotlight (??) (movie star) (I couldn't really think of one for this.)
Bombshell (Monroe)
That's all I have for you. Live it up. ;-)
Ellen "I called a book Painted Love" Hartman
Titles
Ooooh! I like Ellen's Under The Mask!
I was going to suggest Masquerade by Mistake or Mistaken Masquerades.
Titles, oh lordy.
I suck at titles. Anything I came up with sounded cheesy.
Donna
Emotional, Feel-Good Romance
http://www.donnaalward.com
It's the internet
Hi Donna,
On the Internet, this: "Anything I came up with sounded cheesy." is not an excuse for not posting. Cheesy is a-okay. In fact, it's encouraged.
Ellen H.
YES
Even though I am lactose intolerant, cheesy is welcome.
Sam
I love Exposed
Though Julie Leto already used it (darn it) and Brenda has told us no one word titles. Sigh.
I am mystified as to why this book is so hard to title -- I have titled most of my books, but these, it just seems like nothing will stick.
Donna, believe me, cheesy or not, please take any shot at all, because you never know what will spark the idea that takes!
Sam
not good at this
but I'll give it a go
Picture me Sexy (Tawny)
Taking Pictures (Sam)
In Pictures (Karen)
Picture Books (Lisa)
Wow
Picture me Sexy is awesome... I may put that on my possibles list...
I also think some play on Ellen's "in Disguise" might work for a flash? Lust in Disguise? Love in Disguise?
Damn
Picture Me Sexy is already a Blaze title, too -- Rhonda Nelson. Argh. This is what's making this whole thing impossible! But keep it coming folks...
Sam
Can you switch the setting
If you moved your book to Ireland a few centuries ago, perhaps Me Sexy Pictures would work?
mwahahaha
I think that's a whole different story, though *G*
I think I'm onto something
Shift the whole series:
Me Whips and Chains
Me Sexy Pictures
Me Tiny Bikini
Me Hot Blonde Wig
I know. I'm finished now. Sorry. :-)
Flash
Could be All About Me, and we're done. ;)
Personally, I love Me Tiny Bikini, but somehow I don't think it would get through eds.
Tawny and I had come up with a whole series of "Blown" titles based on the flash, All Dressed Up and No One to Blow (hey it's our blog, we can talk dirty if we want), but I don't see that getting by marketing, either... LOL
Also, the titles don't have to be parallel at all... we started that way, but they can all be different as long as they are basically on the theme... right... easy as that...
Sam
ROFL
I loooooved those Blown titles!!!
WalMart wouldnt, but I totally did!
LOL!
Love these, Ellen! Me thinks you've found your calling ;)
One More Thing
I wanted to add that I love the title, "Picture Me Sexy." That's an inspired idea. How much time has to elapse before you can reuse one?
Ellen H.
A lot
I would say no title could be replicated from the Blaze line to date, since the line itself is only eight years old. Some titles might go back into Temptations, maybe the nineties, and if it's in a different line, with some years in between then it might be usable. Depends, I guess, on how much the ed likes the title, but it has to be a while, and if the author is still an active author in the line, that also counts -- they are still marketing that book, very likely.
My Texas Ranger book, Hard to Resist, was originally Mr. November, but because Lori Foster had a reprint with that title out, we had to change it. Just as well, I like the new title better anyway. :)
Sam
Just like men, it seems like
Just like men, it seems like all the good ones are already taken, LOL!
Same titles
What sort of reference manual do you use to see where the title has been used before? Sometimes I check http://fictiondb.com/ [under complete book list](especially if I only know name of book but not author). Just for fun I wrote in Fascination and got 11 matches plus 3 with the word Fascination in title
Titles
Here's my suggestions:
Love in Disguise series
Cinderella in Black Leather - Tawny's
Her Hidden Passion - Sam's
Bringing Her Sexy Back - Karen's
The Bashful Bombshell - Lisa's
A friend of mine suggested
A friend of mine suggested "Clothes Call" as the flash, which I thought was really cute, but probably not Blazey enough. My original title for the slave girl story was One Wild Night, but Leslie Kelly already has One Wild Wedding Night...
My thinking cap...
... really doesn't seem to be very helpful!
Flash--Mistress of Disguise, Hearts Concealed, Dressed to Deceive, Mistaken Masquerade
- Risque Reunion; Mistress of His Business (goofy, I know!); Dominatrix, NOT!
- Counterfeit Cabaret
- Bound Together; Slave of Hearts
- Christmas Bombshell
I'll have to try again later!
These are all good, Fedora!!
These are all good, Fedora!!
Hey
these are great! Totally fun. I love the Mistress theme *g*
Hmmm...
Flash--Disguised for Love, Underneath Her Costume, Under Her Clothes, Love's Disguises,
- Mistress of His Pleasure/Desire/Heart/Love/Body; Dressed for Business and Pleasure; Binding His Heart; His Heart's Mistress
- Chanteuse Charade; Thief of His Pleasure/Desire/Heart/Love/Body; Stealing Pleasure; Stealing Him
- Slave of His Pleasure/Desire/Heart/Love/Body; Married to the Master
- Bidder of His Pleasure/Desire/Heart/Love/Body; Winner Takes Pleasure; Winner Takes His Heart; Winner Takes Him
I really wanted to use the
I really wanted to use the title Take Me Twice (as a play on "Do you take this woman to be your wife type of thing") but that was a Blaze title back in 2004...darn!
Hey
My working title was Play Me Twice *g*
The Naming Contest
For the Flash:
Fated Mistake
Fated Disguise
Costume of Destiny
Assuming one of those flies,
The titles:
The Clutches of Fate (dominatrix)or Destined Clutches
Snapshot of Destiny (Halloween party/photos) or Photos of Fate
Serving Fate (slave girl) or Destined to Serve
Transforming Destiny (Monroe/bookstore) or Fate of a Cover
Jennifer Apt
Really Stupid Titles
For the Flash -- Costumes and Secrets
The Cabaret Singer and the Lawyer
The Slave Girl and the Movie Star
The Dominatrix and the Businessman
Marilyn Monroe and the Wealthy Man
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid
Costumes and Secrets!
I love that! Not stupid at all!
Frankly, I like the titles, too, though they are more of a Desire or Presents kind of title rather than Blaze, but I still think they could work... I wonder....
Sam
Ellen--I like yours. Now
Ellen--I like yours. Now here's my attempt at cheesiness:
Flash: Posers
Charade
Accidental Identities
(Yeah, I know--not very Blazey)
Titles:
The Dominatrix's Pleasure
The Chanteuse's Challenge
The Slave-Girl's Release
The Bombshell's Seduction
Jeannie, these are so
Jeannie, these are so great!! How do you do it?
I like mine...
Except for Challenge -- need a sexier word for Blaze...
But I also like Charade a lot... So much good stuff here...
Sam
The Slave-Girl's Release
The Slave-Girl's Release just makes me crack up--but in a good way!!
WOW
GREAT list!! These are fabulous. I'm loving the play on The Slave Girls Release *g*
Titles
I like these! Pretty darn good!
www.lisareneejones.com
www.theknightsofwhite.com
Flash:Secret Identity:
Flash:
Secret Identity: Secret Self
Secret Identity: Secret Desires
Hidden Agendas
Secret Desires is great too...
Lots of good flash ideas...
Sam
Fun Challenge!
Ok. This challenge was fun enough to make me register. :-)
For the series Flash:
Costume Chaos
Costume Roulette
For the individual books:
Trix or Geek (Tawny)
Exposed Melody (Sam)
The Movie Mogal & the Slave Wife (Karen)
Merry Christmas, Mr. Moneybags (Lisa) (this one might be better if I knew more about the hero... his career.. like President, lol)
Crystal
eharlequin challenge: crystalrclass
Oh!
Exposed Melody hit a spark for me... Naked Melody? (I like it, marketing would be crying...), Unsung Desire? Hmmm... Maybe not... but I like the track that's heading down....
Glad you registered! Hope you'll come around. We do have fun here. :)
Sam
Book series suggestions
For the series name:
Dressed for Desire
Disguised Desire
For individual book titles:
Sep – Daring Dominatrix
Oct - Scheming Songstress
Nov - Secret Slave
Dec - Bold Bombshell
Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author of Whale Song
http://www.cherylktardif.com
My first post!
For Flash:
Hide-and-Seek
Deception by Design
Deceitful Desire
Desire Disguised
Dressed to Thrill
Tawny:
Mistress & Memories
Reunion Romp
Beg Me
Sam:
Body of Evidence
Indecent Exposure
Sex, Lies and Polaroids
Karen:
Slave to Passion
Double Take
Lisa:
Blonde to the Bone
Merry Monroe
Merry Christmas, Mister President (Assuming the business man is the president of some company?)
Tan
Oh I really like Body of Evidence...
I am almost positive no one has used that. It's on my shortlist. Well, it's the only one on the list for the moment, but hey, there's one!
I like Indecent Exposure, too, but they have a flash of Indecent Proposal, I think, and it might run too close...
Great first post!
Sam
I still like this one
Though I have increasing doubts that eds would like it -- it has a slight sexual overtone, but maybe too much like a mainstream suspense title...
Still, I'm going to keep it in mind. I hope you guys will have more over the weekend! I'm off for a bit... Have a great Friday night!
Sam
sweet!
I love Beg Me! What a great list. Indecent Exposure is fab, and the play on Slave to Passion rocks.
These are great!
Tan, these are all really
Tan, these are all really good! I had considered Sex, Sighs, and Videotapes, since my story also involves an illicit videotape of their wedding night, that gets leaked to the Paparazzi.
I like it!
Sex, Sighs and Videotape is a great title!
Tan
titles
Merry Christmas Mr. President is pretty cool! He is the CEO and President of a Starbucks like coffee corporation
www.lisareneejones.com
www.theknightsofwhite.com
Hm...
Oh dear - this is tough - :P The only thing that would officially tie them together would be the graphic/series title like...
"Dressing Up isn't Just for Kids" -- too long. "Dressing Up Sexy" - not quite the idea. "Costumes for Kicks"
Dominating the Deal
[The] Singer and Snapshots or... Singing for Snapshots (though this doesn't make sense)
Slave to Seduction
A Classic for Christmas (because Marilyn is now a classic...)
... hopefully I'll come up with something better later :P