Snowbell, no it wasn't the original title. I called it Shadows in the Glass, which is a quote from one of the epigraphs. That was the right title - ghosts, images, early photography - but not very strong, I agreed. (My editor, not known for pussy-footing, said 'I can't tell you how much I hate that title!). 'The Mathematics of Love' is a quote from the novel itself, and it is a big theme, so we went for it. And it's true, people react really strongly to the title, whereas for the first one people would only say mildly, 'that's nice'.

I know men are said not to pick up a book with 'Love' in the title, but maybe 'mathematics' counteracts it, and the cover isn't particularly girly, though it makes it clear the book's mainly about sex - which it is! My very limited experience is that women buy it, read it, and give it to their men, who then read it.

The only thing that annoys me is when people assume that I'm trying to set up an opposition between mathematics and love, which is a) nonsense and b) the exact opposite of what I meant: the full quote is 'the mathematics of love defy arithmetic.'

Emma

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Lammi, you're probably right about the next cover. I'll be interested to see what they do with it. It's definitely sellable into the same territory. But as for the one after that... But as long as I'm branded as literary enough to be allowed some leeway, I hope I can live with it. Rose Tremain's covers, for instance, are recognisably related to each other, but I don't feel as if it's a strait-jacket. But then, I doubt if I'll every take to writing short, sharp techno-thrillers, somehow.

It's Jenny Eclair - the comedienne/author.

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Hi em just got your post. Yes.

Why doesn't everyone on this thread come to London on Sunday?

I like "Shadows in the Glass" - it sounds a bit dark eerie and mysterious. But then I realised as I was writing this that I already forgot it exactly and had to check it on your post - so not a good sign. Mathematics of Love is a lot more memorable and unusual and also Mathematics and Love make peculiar bedfellows so I can see that is quite clever too.

I'd love to but am up to my neck in Christmas parties.

...men are said not to pick up a book with 'Love' in the title...

I suppose I'm not typical, but for me it would depend on what qualifiers there were in the phrase used. I don't think the "mathematics" thing (or even "physics" or "astronomy" ) would be the decider. It would depend on whether the whole title looked as if it was appealing to women or to people in general. I mean, something like "Island of Love" would grab most people's attention, however cliche'd it might look.

Alex

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Unfortunately, Snowbell, I have a Christmas lunch with my wife and a friend on Sunday. Otherwise, I would have loved to come along.

Ask any agent, and they'll tell you the worst battles their authors have with editors is over the cover.

Isn't that because sometimes the cover the editor wants doesn't quite represent what the author wrote/meant? And doesn't that translate in some way into misleading the reader? I mean, that's why I ignore covers, because they do sometimes mislead, and I resent the use of marketing statistics over honesty, I suppose. I know writers need to shift books, but sometimes I think there's a deception too far, and when you consider the investment a reader will put into enjoying a book it seems cheap to trick them into a purchase by implying a book is not what it really is (I'm not saying this always happens, but it certainly does happen. I guess people do judge a book by its cover, and because that's true it seems a bit predatory to take advantage of that all-too-human trait. In the end the book sold and bought on those principles might well get tossed aside as the reader discovers their mistake, and maybe that kind of word of nouth isn't good for an author? Dunno. Just thinking out loud here..
Pete

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missed a )

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mouth

I already forgot it exactly and had to check it on your post - so not a good sign

Yes, I dug my toes about the change - I was worried TMOL sounded too like... yes, I confess, chick-lit, not from scorn of the genre but because it sooo isn't chicklit. But my agent gave it to someone in her firm to read, who apparently spent ten minutes solidly raving about it without once remembering the name 'Shadows in the Glass' correctly. At which point I gave in - can't have that going on in the bookshops. But it took me three months and lots of people saying 'great title!' before I admitted Headline were right.

But I am worried that at the moment my first-ever commissioned short story is called, 'The Taxidermy of Happiness'. Don't think I can bear to be 'branded' that much...

Emma

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Pete, I think that's true - a very wrongly-covered book is shooting itself in the foot. But I do think authors aren't always right either. Some have pretensions to literariness or common-mannish-ness, so that how we want our book to be taken isn't actually a true reflection of what it is. Some just aren't very visually literate, and don't read the cover as (you hope) a good designer, well-briefed, knows the buyers will. I know I didn't have a clue about how I wanted TMOL, apart from a few things I knew I didn't want.

Emma

It would depend on whether the whole title looked as if it was appealing to women or to people in general.

But don't you write romances?

'The Taxidermy of Happiness'.

I am dying to read that. It sounds exactly the kind of title you need for your comp. All about death. And skinning people. But with an uplifting ending. Oh Emma -you must!

Actually i really like "The Taxidermy of Happiness."
:

Snowbell, it's supposed to be in the Sunday Express Mag sometime round the pb publication, which is early March. no skinning, though. In fact, no death at all! Ha!

Re: titles, a surprising number of reviews and other media bits and pieces and Internet chat have made jokes/references about TMOL's title, so it obviously works from that point of view.

Emma

Emma, I have been dying to ask you about your title for ages, but didn't want to say, 'Why is it called The Mathematics of Love' in case you thought I hadn't read it. . . . . . .

I have to say, I prefer that to Shadows/Glass (see? can't quote it in full cos can't remember it), which sounds a bit wishy-washy to me. It also reminded me of a book called The Madness of Love. However, The Madness of Love puts me right off. The Mathematics of it, however, make me think, 'Hmmm. Interressant.'

Though I also have to admit (I wish we could type in small letters, 7-point or something) that I am also usually put off by 'love' in the title.

It took me fucking ages to come up with a title for my book, as everything that suited it had already been written by someone else. In the end, I settled on Mothernight, which I think is perfect, but I'm sure, if anyone every publishes it, it will be changed to something like 'Sex and Death on a Sunday Afternoon.'

Lisa, you really should forsake the parties and come with us.

Lisa, you really should forsake the parties and come with us.

I'd absolutely love to but they're work and family related so I'd never be forgiven if I ditched them for you lovely people.

You must report back for the rest of us though.

Emma, when I first heard the words TMOL (and before I 'knew' you) I thought it might be chicklit. I half expected a Bridget Jones character who had worked out the mathematics of love and was keeping the formula secret, leaving the rest of the world to suffer through the pitfalls, misunderstandings and miscalculations of relationships (!)

Having read the book, I evidently could not have been more wrong.

(PS I like the title TMOL btw and several of my friends have commented that it sounds cool in an ironic way)

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I mean they thought the title sounded ironic! Not that they themselves sounded ironic when they said it was cool! Oh dear, I'm so rubbish at this.

Right. Can someone administer some kind of ainful punlishment if I am seen on the forums between now and 3pm? I'm supposed to be reading JB's story so I can post a review of it. (It's really good, btw.)

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Do any of us have jobs? Cos if so, we must all be due for firing. I know I am.