Crowdsourcing Is Us
Or not. (I’m not such a fan of the whole “let’s crowdsource this book” thing.) But: how’s about the title?
For my last book, I came up with what I thought was a great title: descriptive, indicative of thesis, etc. Got rejected (a fact I did not learn until the publisher sent me a copy of the book jacket. Lo and behold, a new title…)
So this time around, I decided to play it safe: Go with simple, straightforward, to the point. As in: MEAT: AN AMERICAN HISTORY. (Using all caps for titles in a publishing/writing convention.)
And yesterday, after my editor read the Wall Street Journal article in which I was mentioned, she emailed me to say, in effect, “not sure I like that title. We need something that conveys the ‘argument.’” [UPDATE: the link may or may not work. WSJ has a paywall, but I grabbed a link from Google cache. If you google Dizik and kangaroo, you'll probably be able to find a free version.]
Sigh.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Anyway, new title. Whaddya think, folks?
The title I slapped on the proposal that my agent used to sell the book was: IN BEEF WE TRUST: MEAT AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA. Apparently the editor sort of likes that, although she came up with a slightly different subtitle: AMERICANS, MEAT, AND THE MAKING OF A NATION. (And, yeah, that’s better than my in-thirty-seconds version.)
My second title, after I’d started working on the book, was: CARNIVORE NATION: MEAT IN THE MAKING OF AMERICA. (Crucial difference in the subtitle is using “IN” rather than “AND.” Small but crucial difference.)
I liked it so much that I bought the domain name (carnivorenationDOTcom), which I’ve since let go because thought I wouldn’t be using it. And, frankly, it smacks of coattails (eg, FAST FOOD NATION, OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA), so as far as I’m concerned, it’s a non-starter.Problem with IN BEEF WE TRUST IS that the book isn’t only about beef, so it’s a bit misleading.
Today I thought of: E PLURIBUS CARNIVOROUS: AMERICANS, MEAT, AND THE MAKING OF A NATION. Which I kinda like.
So. Thoughts? Ideas?
10 Responses to “Crowdsourcing Is Us”
E PLURIBUS CARNIVOROUS: LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF MEAT IN AMERICA
Well, it’s catchy. Problem is that the E Pluribus part doesn’t make much sense (which is too bad because I like it!) “Out of many, meat-eating”??? My personal fav is CARNIVORE NATION. Also too bad.
I love “CARNIVORE NATION” I think it says it all. And brings up several discussions just in the title. [Americans eat more meat than the rest of the world, right? except those crazy luxemborgers]
as for the WSJ ‘mentioning’ is it in the video? or do i have to subscribe to it. ?
dave
See if this works:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324439804578103403749561618.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
I managed to grab it originally from a google cache (WSJ is behind a paywall). I can grab this link but not sure how long it will work.
And Dave, CARNIVORE NATION is also my first choice, but…. it really does smack of coat tails. Which is too bad.
Meat: An American History.
It’s clean and simple.
Reggie, I totally agree and was VERY surprised my editor rejected it. Last time around (beer book), she dumped my descriptive/argumentative title in favor of simple/clean, so this time I thought I’d beat her to the punch. So much for that. I REALLY don’t want a cutesy title and am already worried about the jacket design. (PLEASE, God of Book Jackets, no farms, barns, silos, cows, pigs, or chickens. Please.)
OK then how about in MEAT we Trust?
and… what would you like the cover to look like?
dave
Not stupid or cutesy??? I did have this idea the other day: the title in a style that makes it look like one of those USDA purple meat stamps. (“USDA approved”) We have an iron pig sculpture in our yard and I really wanted to have that on the cover (iron pig, factory meat, get it??) but my editor took one look and said (and I quote): “No.” Sooooo. I just don’t want the obvious, you know?
Oh yeah, that purple stamp, i like that!
Pig iron, get that!
Well, what’s left?
There’s no way i could deal with this kind of presser, LOL
Good Luck!
dave