What’s in a name – a book name?

There is that famous quote from Romeo and Juliet:

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

“The Mystery of the Iron Mask,” sold 11,000 copies, but even though it the title clearly identified it as a mystery, no one cared much about an iron mask. But when the title was changed to “The Mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask,” it sold 30,000 copies. Of course, we now know it as “Man in the Iron Mask”.

So, what has happened to my book title “3 Wise Men”? It goes like this. My wife and I were driving out of town when she asked, “I was thinking …” I knew then that something major was on the horizon. “I was thinking … why don’t you change the title of your book?”

I replied that I had been recently thinking about that as well. So, we spent the weekend with friends and trying to come up with a new title that better described the plot and tension of ‘3 Wise Men’. Finally, I came up with ‘Spy Chase’. This title was more direct that the earlier one, and less religious too, especially around Christmas time! I was even more surprised that there was no other book title with the same name (although there is one called ‘The Spy Chase’). Not that it really matters, as book titles are not copyrighted.

Finally, I revised the cover (and am still working on a few minor adjustments to the new one) and used the new title as an opportunity to re-edit some of the manuscript before reformatting for the new release.

I hope that you, the reader, also enjoy the new title and new content in SPY CHASE!

3 WISE MEN new Cover design

Many thanks to Neil who sent a txt to say that 3 WISE MEN had no title on the paperback spine. I replied that such an oversight might add to the book’s mystery in a bookcase.

Of course, having the title on the spine makes sense and the book will be much easier to find among others.

The new cover version will be available very soon on Amazon. Thanks for the feedback, Neil!

Skip to toolbar