Fool Her Once has been the title of my new thriller since April of this year. Before that, I always referred to it as Book3. So, you might ask: Who chose the title for the new thriller? (Answer: I did) How was it chosen? (I’ll explain in detail below) Why was there no title till earlier this year? (There was, but I didn’t use it till I was sure my publisher, CamCat Books liked it.) What does the title mean? (See below)
Does it make you want to buy the book?
Killer Question
That last question of course is the killer question. If you google the issue of choosing a title for your novel, you’ll find dozens of articles on the subject. Most of them will immediately tell you that the title of a book is super important because, after the cover, it’s what determines if a reader will buy the book.
I tend to doubt that most readers buy a book based on a title and/or a cover alone. I’ve never done that. Usually, I’ll buy a novel sight unseen if it’s written by one of my favorite authors. Or, I will buy a book after reading its reviews in the mainstream media. Or, I might occasionally buy a book based on the recommendation of a friend.
However, I’m sure that in the case of lesser-known authors (like myself) a great title will draw a reader’s eye to the book and prod him/her to, at least, “look inside” the book on Amazon, or to pick it up in a bookstore to read the back cover.
My First Titles
Anyway, I learned my lesson about titles when my first book was published. It was set in Boca Raton and Palm Beach. Because Boca Raton translates into mouth of the rat, that’s what Joe, my husband, suggested for the title. The publisher at Tor/Forge rejected the idea, saying the word “rat” would be off-putting to women readers.
We all settled for Scandal. Not particularly inspired perhaps (there are several books with the same title) but eye-catching enough. I initially titled my second thriller Fatal Delusion, but in keeping with the one-word title of my first, I dropped the “fatal” and it became Delusion.
Book3 was Payback
Aspiring to keep one-word titles as part of my brand, I titled the new thriller Payback. However, I didn’t use the title in my blogs or on my website because I figured that if it was eventually changed readers might wonder what had happened to Payback.
Sure enough, the title, Payback, was immediately critiqued. First, by my then-agent who said it sounded like a Lee Childs/Jack Reacher novel and so, wouldn’t target the audience I was aiming for: women who enjoy psychological thrillers.
Didn’t quite understand that logic. After all, women read– and love– Jack Reacher, and the titles sell millions. But then my editor, Helga, commented: “While Payback works on many levels for this novel, I think there is something better out there, something more intricate and intriguing.”
Free Word Association
I put on my thinking cap –which, first, meant studying the titles that had already worked in the psychological thriller genre.
I wrote out the titles of all the best-selling psychological thrillers I could remember, most of which I had actually read. Then, I spent some time just staring at them.
Back then, because of the popularity of Gone Girl, “girl” was a clear favorite in many of those best selling titles. So was “wife” and so was “woman” and “widow.” But already reviewers were complaining about seeing the word “girl” in so many titles.
So, I turned over the page and started scribbling. I wrote down every possible title or phrase that occurred to me, however silly. Didn’t stop to think about any of them. Just scribbled.
Then I stared at this list and realized I had scribbled down the phrase Fool Her Once several times! It had jumped into my head as a variation on the ages-old saying, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
I obviously liked the idea. I went to Google and Goodreads to check how often it had been used as a title. Not that it really mattered because there is no copyright on titles. But it helps if there aren’t a dozen other books with the same title.
There was Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben, but no Fool Her Once. In fact, if you google that title today my name pops up first alongside it on the first page of the search results.
Why Fool Her Once?
I didn’t google how to choose a title for a book prior to writing out my lists. But, of course, there are dozens of Google results for that very question as I discovered later. A popular blog/posting on the subject reflects several points made by other blogs. “Create intrigue,” says Sarah Bolme on ingramspark.com as did my editor, Helga, when she first evaluated my WIP.
I certainly aimed to do that with the new title. I hope I’ve succeeded and that readers will want to know : What exactly is the big lie at the heart of this thriller? And, ultimately, what is the payback?