Now here is where I get confused: Julie Cohen’s book is about to be released in the US, but under a different title: instead of Driving Him Wild, we American folks will have to look for His For The Taking
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What the shitting crap is that all about? I’ve long refrained from reading too much into the category titles because it might make my head spin around on my neck, but take a look at that: “Driving Him Wild?” Female in control. “His for the Taking?” Lie there and take it! What kind of passive female crap is that?! American audiences prefer a male-dominant title? That’s pretty much the only conclusion I can draw from the decision to change the title, unless one of the new marketing hook words is “Taking.”
I’d like to be Taking this opportunity to ask: what the hell is up with the titles, yo? Seriously? Not just that one - all of them!
The decision to change Cohen’s title makes little sense to me. As a rule I think American audiences are sophisticated enough to appreciate cultural differences. I don’t think Harry Potter needed to be Americanized because we Yankees are too dim and navel gazingly xenophobic to appreciate the differences between a philosopher’s stone and a sorcerer’s stone, let alone what “troll boogies” are. Bend it Like Beckham was nearly released in the US as “Move it like Mia” and that was just ridiculous. I’m sure Beckham himself appreciated the slight boost in his American credibility anyway, seeing as he and Posh are all over the US right now. (Aside: a note to Victoria Beckham - we Americans are on the whole a happy, boisterous lot. It would probably help you a bit if you smiled, you know, every now and again.)
But I can’t place the change from “Driving Him Wild” to “His for the Taking” on cultural differences, unless there’s a huge community of Dominatrixes that buy Mills & Boon in the UK, whereas female subs comprise more of the Harlequin buying audience in the US.
Cohen’s title change really befuddles me, about as much as the whole titles question for the Presents line does as well: I ask again, what the hell is UP with the TITLES?
I realize the simple answer is that it’s all about marketing, but I am long past the “yeah yeah it sells yadda yadda” argument. I want to know WHY these titles with hookwords like “billionaire,” “tycoon,” “cowboy,” “boardroom,” “viking,” “Roman,” and, for crap’s sake, “Mistress,” sell, even if there’s a vocal group of readers, including myself, who find them insulting, demeaning or at the very least irritating.
Kimberly Van Meter left a comment in the entry about our RN.tv discussion about categories that read: “Don’t let the titles scare you. We don’t have any control over that stuff.” I am well aware that authors don’t have much control over titles, much less cover art, so believe me, I know it’s not up to the authors.
Kate Hewitt commented in that same thread, “Authors have *nothing* to do with the titles, and I don’t know a single author who likes them. That’s just marketing. They also come way after the book has been plotted, written, and accepted for publication.”
So who is it that likes them? Or is the question really how consumers of the categories thus titled use those titles in their buying decisions? Do consumers of the categories look past the titles because they know not to pay attention in the first place, or do they perhaps use the keyworded titles as indication for a specific type of story? Thus the “Tycoon” title is one word shorthand for a specific type of romance, where as “mediterranean” is shorthand for another?
From my perspective, I don’t see how it isn’t counterintuitive to closely word all the titles in the first place. Wouldn’t it be self-defeating if someone’s looking for a book they heard was good and they conflate (2 pts!) the title words and go home with a horrible “Billionaire Sheikh’s Mistress” when they were looking for the excellently written “Mistress of the Billionaire Sheikh?”
It’s almost like a secret society - the readers who love categories know to look past the titles. But that’s not much of an allure to someone like me who looks at the covers and the titles and says “What the crap are the publishers thinking?!”
Bottom line? eBooks from Harlequin rock my world because I really want to read category, and some of the category romances I’ve read have been exceptionally skilled pieces of writing, but let’s me be blunt: being seen with an Asus or a Bookeen is a LOT more reassuring to my pride and my professional identity than being seen with “The Billionaire CEO’s Virgin Boardroom Mistress.”
I’m not saying that because I give a shit what people think of my reading material (I so do not) but because I think titles like that in the wrong circumstance could get the reader into some hot water.
So, what is with the titles? Do you buy them? Do you like them? Honestly, please speak up. I’m not looking to pound on you for your taste - if anything, we here at Smart Bitches are enthusiastic defenders of your right to enjoy whatever you want even if other folks think it’s in poor taste. If some of the authors don’t like the titles, and I and other consumers don’t like them either, who are the people that do, and why do you like them?
and English Lord, Ordinary Lady
