I recently heard Bernard Golden, a practicing clinical psychologist, discuss his new book titled Unlock Your Creative Genius, published by Prometheus Books. Dr. Golden had originally wanted to call his book Starting Over, but his publisher told him that sounded too much like a primer for recently divorced persons, and Prometheus gave the book a new and more accurate and salable title.
An aside: It’s interesting that there are words for a divorced man, divorcé, and for a divorced woman, divorcée (both are pronounced the same: di vôr say´), but there’s no nongender-specific word for a divorced person. Divorce comes from Latin, but we have plenty of other Latin-based words for which we’ve devised gender-collective terms, collector being one of them. Why do we rely upon French to indicate who is now spouseless? But I digress.
Back in 1971, just after the turbulent Days of Rage, there were two books that gave bookstore managers fits: Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book and William Powell’s The Anarchist Cookbook, a guide to bomb building and other antisocial behavior. You can see the problem with the first one: They disappeared from the shelves in record time without a penny being paid. The second one, in addition to making bookstore buyers and the public in general nervous, had one unanticipated effect: Even though it might have originally been shelved under Counterculture or some similar classification, the book kept ending up in the cookbook section. Imagine the reaction from a gentile suburban matron when she came across The Anarchist Cookbook while searching for just the right gift for her niece who would soon be getting married and setting up a household.
Book Group Online lists a few other “unfortunate” book titles and, in some instances, their authors:
- Flashes from the Welsh Pulpit (1889)
- Whippings and Lashings, Girl Guides book on knots (1977)
- Handbook for the Limbless (1922)
- Punishment by Robin Banks
- Motor Cycling for Beginners by Geoff Carless
I especially like these examples found at Lori’s Book Nook:
- The Social History of the Machine Gun (1975)
- 1587, A Year of No Significance
- Highlights in the History of Concrete (1998)
Sometimes an unexpected title works, as with Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun (1995) by Wess Roberts, PhD, which was a huge bestseller. Keep in mind as you decide what to call your book that, in general, you can’t copyright a book title. So if you want to write a book and call it War and Peace, you can do so. I think I’d avoid The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, though, simply because it’s way too specific. It would be a tough sell to stand up in court and defend its use it on any book not written by L. Frank Baum.