Be Careful With That Title!

So I spent part of my weekend cataloguing my books - fun, non? Well, fun if you're slightly OCD like me, and enjoy lists and sorting books by categories... I'm probably using the word "fun" in its loosest possible sense there!

One thing I noticed was how many books either had very similar titles or exactly the same title. When starting a book blog or a website we're now advised to head onto the Net and search for other sites with the same name that we've picked, to avoid treading on toes and ruffling feathers. Do book people not do this as well when choosing titles? Or are we at the point with that many books in circulation that we're always going to be reproducing ideas in some fashion? How are titles picked anyhow?

Here are a quick selection of ten titles you should probably be avoiding in the future!

City of Ghosts

- Stacia Kane
- Bali Rai

Love on the Run

- Leigh Greenwood
- Marie-Nicole Ryan
- Shari MacDonald
- Barbara Cartland
- Rachel Ann Nunes
- Jeanne Rose
- Angela Winters
- J M Benjamin

Vanished

- Joseph Finder
- Karen Robards
- Kate Brian
- Danielle Steel
- Kat Richardson
- Kristi Holl
- Maureen Child
- Jordan Gray

The Edge of Ruin

- Irene Fleming
- Melinda Snodgrass

Ash

- James Herbert
- Malinda Lo
- Mary Gentle

The Ritual

- Adam Nevill
- J N Williamson
- R R Walters

The Magician

- Colin Wilson
- W Somerset Maugham
- Michael Scott

Ends of the Earth

- Tim Downs
- Valerio Massimo Manfredi
- Thomas Locke
- William Golding

Fallen

- Karin Slaughter
- Lauren Kate
- Celeste Bradley
- Erin McCarthy
- Michele Hauf

Black and White

- Dan Mahoney
- Jeanne Betancourt
- Shiva Naipaul
- Jackie Kessler & Caitlyn Kittredge

As you can see from the ten titles above, it tends to be the generic terms that pick up multiples. I'm sure there will never be another novel called The Quantum Thief, for instance!

Actually, this is where I wanted to point out that fantasy and science fiction are blazing a trail in terms of unique book titles. Thanks to various made-up worlds or words or concepts, few fantasy titles will have duplicates! I present to you:

- The Lies of Locke Lamora
- The Quantum Thief
- Tome of the Undergates
- Prince of Thorns
- Embassytown
- The Jennifer Morgue
- The Dragon Reborn

We have a rich history of unique titles that will stand the test of time just fine - but it is always worth authors/editors/publicists just running a quick Google search just in case *winks*

Can you think of any other duplicate titles? What are some of your very favourite and unique titles for novels?