Runoff poll

[sholio]

Okay, at this point xparrot suggested a brilliant alternative to one of the titles I liked that wasn't quite there yet, and my other two favorites are heavily leading the poll, so it's time for a runoff poll!

Click the cut to see what the titles look like on the actual book.

Poll #20221

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56

View Respondents

Check all the ones you like!

View Answers

Iron in the Blood
29 (51.8%)

Shadow and Steel
26 (46.4%)

Rogue Myths
22 (39.3%)

(For comparison, the next two books are titled Echo City and Hollow Souls.)

Comments

[sheron]

*helpfully ticks all 3*

[sholio]

LOL. It is helpful, though!

[trobadora]

Purely from a cover POV, the series info looks best on the "Iron in the Blood" version.

[sholio]

Thank you! I think so too, though I don't think it's actually my favorite of the bunch. But it's the most aesthetically pleasing to me.

[mrkinch]

IMO the two word title has a huge leg up as it matches the other titles. In my brain that's Important.:)

[sholio]

Yeah, I think I'm currently leaning towards the last one because of that ...

[conuly]

That is a good point.

[conuly]

I like Shadow and Steel just a little bit more than Iron in the Blood, if you want first choices.

[sholio]

Thank you, that's helpful! :)

[lilacsigil]

"Rogue Myths" sounds like some kind of play on "Rogue Miss" with a female character on the front, which is why I don't like it.

[sholio]

"Rogue Miss" - is that a reference to something? I don't recognize it. (Or is it just the words themselves that you mean?)

[lilacsigil]

Just the words, then I was trying to work out the reference and there wasn’t one!

[sholio]

Ah, gotcha! Ha, yeah, I didn't even think that it might make anyone think of that - no reference, just a coincidence of words.

[winter_elf]

not to throw a wrench to everything - but is "gate" an important part of "gatekeeper" - ie - does it deal with gates?

then you might go for:

Shadow Gate
Iron Gate
Myth Gate

(keeping to two words to match later titles)

[sholio]

It's actually got nothing to do with gates, it's more in the "controlling access" sense (like a doorkeeper). I actually did kick around some versions with "Gate" in the title, but it just doesn't really work.

I appreciate the suggestions, though!

[leesa_perrie]

When I see 'Shadow and Steel', I just can't help thinking of the 80s TV show 'Sapphire and Steel'. But as that's an old show and a British one (not sure if it ever made it to the US), then it's probably not really an issue for most of your readers!

[genarti]

Same, and I haven't even watched it! That's probably not a consideration for most of your audience, though; I only know of it because of osmosis from hanging out in certain corners of fandom.

It does add a bonus layer of distraction you a title that I want to like -- both words are nicely evocative! -- but the thing is that they're used so much that in practice I find Shadow and Steel really, really generic. As frith_in_thorns says, there are so many NOUN and NOUN titles flying around right now that honestly all it tells me genre-wise is "probably some kind of fantasy, and the author wanted to sound mysteriously evocative." I like the other two much better!

[sholio]

Ha, yeah, I agree about the generic-ness of that one; that's my main problem with it. (Steel and Shadow has been suggested by a couple of people as an alternative, but personally I don't think that helps.)

[frith_in_thorns]

NOUN, yes, not ADJECTIVE! I can words, honest.

[sholio]

I can definitely see it being an issue for at least some of them, so I'm glad you mentioned it!

[frith_in_thorns]

Personally I don't like 'Shadow and Steel' -- I'm not quite sure why, but it may be hitting more of a romance novel note for me. Also it's one of those titles which don't tell you anything about the book really -- there are so many fantasy books out there right now with 'Adjective and Adjective' type titles that they all blur together for me.

[sholio]

Ha, yeah, I agree. Actually, the generic issue is why I'm leaning heavily towards "Rogue Myths" even though it's not winning the poll (however, it's not going down in a landslide, which is my main reason for doing this - if everyone absolutely hated it, well, clearly I should rethink, but if it's just a matter of slight preference, I think it's a lot more memorable and distinctive than either of the other two).

Mantis!

[ranalore]

I'll be honest, I hate Shadow and Steel. As in, I would walk away from a book with that title, despite the WOC on the cover, because to me it signals such laziness of thought in titling that it gives me no faith in the author's ability to write in an interesting manner. It would be forgivable if it were put out by a big publisher, but since it's being self-pubbed, the author has control of the title, so I'm going to expect something that previews the writing skill inside. Steel and Shadow is a bit more interesting; like Iron in the Blood, it shows genre-savvy, but with a twist in the expected word order, an indication that the author is playing with the tropes in an interesting way. Rogue Myths is okay, but doesn't feel quite connected to the cover the way Iron in the Blood does. Or Steel and Shadow could, since another thing that word order would do is emphasize the Steel and link it visually with the hilt of the sword.

Err, sorry if that's overly harsh, I just had a very visceral reaction to that option, and thought it might be of some use to you to let you know that, and why I had it.

[sholio]

No apologies needed, I appreciate the additional data! I mean, the whole reason I'm putting these out there is to see how people react to them, so this is info that is very useful to have.

[theladysnarkydame]

Rogue Myths, just to keep the rhythm with the sequels. :D

[sholio]

Yeah, I think that's probably what I'm going with, even though it's not technically winning the poll. But it's not going down in a landslide, which was mainly what I wanted to make sure of. :D (As opposed to the way everyone agreed with me that Gatekeeper didn't look good as the title all by itself.)

[slhuang]

I like Rogue Myths! Is it an asshole move at this stage if I suggest also maybe brainstorming 2-syllable adjectives to match Echo City / Hollow Souls? Like Shadow Myths? Or um... Wayward Myths? Savage Myths?

...idk, I'm bad at titles. But if you did something like Shadow Myths / Echo City / Hollow Souls it would match really well in cadence and I'm into that. ;) Or Shadow Steel?

*is totally the jerk who should have commented yesterday *

The cover is badass regardless.

[sholio]

... Man, I like Wayward Myths. Hmmm. Savage Myths and Feral Myths were both ones I kicked around, but both of them have major Unfortunate Implications when paired with a POC cover model. Rogue Myths, I think, manages to skip that because it doesn't have particularly negative connotations.

I think a 2-syllable first word has a better cadence in addition to fitting the pattern of the other titles better, but at this point it's probably going to be Rogue Myths unless something clicks for me really hard that has the same general meaning. Though ... Wayward Myths. Hmmm.