What Makes a Title Great?

[Greybeard]

When browsing through a book store, how often do you look at a book because of its title?

While most titles are mundane, periodically one stands out and captures the attention of readers. In your estimation, what makes a title great?

[Chilari]

I guess for me, it needs to be intriguing. To be intriguing, for me at least, there should be a question which immediately springs to mind upon seeing the title. The Name of the Wind is a good one for that - the obvious question being "what is the name of the wind?" but then also "who decided what that name was?" and "why does the wind have a name now?" Another example is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - "Who is this girl? Why does she have a tattoo? What about the tattoo? What is special about it?"

I was in the library yesterday having a little browse, and I noticed a book called "Fire". Just Fire. I don't recall the author, and I didn't pick the book up to find out more. It was enough to halt my eyes, because I like fire and it's pretty and two of the stories I have written involve a character associated with fire. I didn't pick it up partly because my next thought was "So? What about it?" - the wrong kind of question. It simply didn't intrigue me enough.

I know in many cases short, snappy titles are recommended, but where they fail to intrigue, short snappiness can't make up for it, whereas longer titles like those I gave as examples, do have that element of intrigue.

[Amanita]

For me, it's about certain keywords. Words that (might) indicate that the book is about something that interests me. If the title contains one of them I'm likely to pick up the book. Some of these are "poison", "gift", "apprentice/novice/master" etc, "secret", "prison(er)". There are also keywords that make leave the book in the shelf, such as "chosen one", "sword" or "prophecy".
"Wind" is a word that wouldn't really influence me one way or the other because it isn't clear enough what it has to do with the story. Unlike Chilari I wouldn't really get interested in the title "The Name of the Wind" because it's way to abstact and I don't get any idea what the story is acutally about.

I have to admit that the "word-approach" doesn't always lead me to the right books though, and I pick up many books just to put them back after a few seconds because they feature something that doesn't interest me such as vampires.

[Chilari]

For me, it's about certain keywords. (snip) "secret" (snip)

My NaNoWriMo novel in 2009, which I am in the process of reworking, is called The General's Secret. I assume you'd at least read the blurb with a title like that then?

[Amanita]

I assume you'd at least read the blurb with a title like that then?

Yes, I would.

By they way, what do you think about books with the main character's name in the title? I own a really good book that does this but I don't like it too much, once again because it doesn't give any information about the story itself. And the "Person X and..." title was okay for Harry Potter, but it would be sort of weird to see it in another book.
Actually, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" is one of those extremely misleading titles as well because the series contains nothing alchemy-related at all.

[Meg the Healer]

I think I shop for the books almost the same way I shop for food. I shop by color... If the cover art looks interesting and the title doesn't seem too "out there", I'll at least read the back.

I ended up reading the entire Twlight saga based primarily on the cover art from Breaking Dawn. At the time, I had no idea what Twilight was or that it was even up to book 4 of a series. The cover art was of a chess board with a White Queen being stalked by a Red Pawn. As I like playing chess (though I get my ass handed to me more often than not), the cover intrigued me enough to ask about the book as did the title Breaking Dawn. It was then that I picked up the series when the clerk handed me book 1. The cover - a pair of arms holding an apple titled Twilight.

Though I'm sure Amanita won't read my stuff becuase it has "Prophecy" in it. The title series is called The Last Prophecy, but each book that I'm writing has a separate title. Child of Light, Demon's Dance, and Unchained and I was very careful about how I picked the names.

[Ophiucha]

I suppose the idea is that most children would have no idea what a philosopher's stone was, anyway. I'm pretty sure I first encountered it in Harry Potter - might not have even made the connection to alchemy until that anime (Fullmetal Alchemist) came out. I started reading the books when I was seven, though. If you started later, then yeah, that would be a bit misleading.

I like books with very poetic titles. I like to see a metaphor, or some alliteration, right off the bat. As Chilari said, what the title means, what questions it evokes from me that make me want to read more for the answers. I also like big words. Loricate, Anathema, etc. My current project is titled, "The Dust of Dead Desire", for a poem by Algernon Swinburne, so I do appreciate a good literary allusion.

Oh, and I am indifferent to books with a character's name in the title. They won't attract my attention, but then again, I don't think titles really tend to. A good title helps. I'll pick up 'Name of the Wind' before 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief' or whatever it was called. But I'm more attracted to the typography and cover image (or, better yet, lack thereof - I like a book with a simple, single image, often something with one color and very minimalistic), if we're just picking books up to skim a chapter of and read the blurb.

[Amanita]

Though I'm sure Amanita won't read my stuff because it has "Prophecy" in it.

If I know from other sources that the book is interesting I don't care about that. It's only when I'm standing in front of a hundred books and need to decide which ones I'll look at.

Actually, I don't really care about the cover image much at all. As long as it doesn't have naked women with big breasts on it, or something else that clearly shows me that I'm wrong with this book. Usually I look for an interesting title, take the book out, look at the blurb and start to read a few pages later.

Edit: Everyone posting at the same time. I didn't know much about the Philosopher's Stone when I first read Harry Potter either, I was thirteen. It was one of those books I didn't read because of the title but it's already been extremely popular back then. I still spent a lot of thought on the series later when I did know and I think that Harry Potter-Magic and Alchemy don't really mix well at all.

[Kelise]

I don't really read titles at all, unfortunately.

I know that if a title has something in it that reminds me of something I dislike - for example, twilight something - I'll be more likely to pass it over without even reading the back.

Unfortunate, but when I have a few hundred books to choose from, it's just what happens these days.

[DavidP]

A title must be created on more than a whim.

People will Google for it, and search for it in bookshops, so it must have keywords in it. It should be like an SEO exercise.

If you are writing about dragons that live in a cave, you want the dragon enthusiasts and the cave people who are Googling to find you. That means you don't call it "Mythical Creatures Underground" -- you call it "Dragons and Caves". OK, that is an over-simplistic example but you get the gist.