Good Titles

[WordsIntheWyld]

These are good. I might have to rethink the effort I put into naming my stories.

 

[AwkwardMD]

These are good. I might have to rethink the effort I put into naming my stories.

A good title, all things considered, is a "nice to have" that can, but will only ever, help you by bringing more attention to your story. It can't fix the story, and the story matters more.

 

[glynndah]

One of my favorites, "Six Characters in Search of Erotica" works a lot better if you're familiar with Pirandello.

 

[WordsIntheWyld]

A good title, all things considered, is a "nice to have" that can, but will only ever, help you by bringing more attention to your story. It can't fix the story, and the story matters more.

That goes without saying.

 

[PennyThompson]

I'm very fond of Purrfectly Playful which is a moderately slow burn kitten play story.

I also have a 750 called Cookies, Commands, and Subroutines which is about a submissive baker and a budding dominant coder meeting for the first time. I have a sequel to this one I'm working on that will be called "Sweet Bytes".

I loved Cookies, Commands, and Subroutines, and the title was a big part of why

 

[TheLobster]

I just submitted a story about a hot redhead. I couldn't think of a catchy title, so I called it "Red Hot".

…and you didn’t follow it with a dorky pun about chili peppers?

Sir, I am disappoint.

 

[StillStunned]

…and you didn’t follow it with a dorky pun about chili peppers?

Sir, I am disappoint.

Pah, chilli peppers? Redheads are much hotter than any chilli pepper.

 

[TheLobster]

Pah, chilli peppers? Redheads are much hotter than any chilli pepper.

It’s good to know that instead of all those corny and porny measurements, like bust size and waist-to-hip ratio, all I need to do to introduce a redhead character is to provide her number on the Scoville scale.

 

[StillStunned]

It’s good to know that instead of all those corny and porny measurements, like bust size and waist-to-hip ratio, all I need to do to introduce a redhead character is to provide her number on the Scoville scale.

"Redhead" is the new "44DD".

 

[SimonDoom]

Simon's Guidelines For Titles To Attract Attention:

Caveat: These guidelines assume you are interested in choosing a title that will maximize exposure and views for your story. If you're not interested in that, that's fine. You may have more high-minded, artistic goals in mind for your story title. For me, at Literotica, the story is the art and the title is marketing. That's not true in every single case, but it's true most of the time when I choose a title. Once my story is done, I want to maximize eyeballs on it.

1. The story should be in some way descriptive of the content. Obscure titles may be clever, but they aren't going to get more readers.
2. The title should be consistent with the tone of the story. "Mom's Big Ta-tas" is a great title for a playful incest romp. It's not so good for a romance story.
3. The title should tie in with the category in which the story is being published. When I write mom-son stories, I almost always have "mom" in the title. "Mom's First Time" is going to attract a lot more attention than "Brenda's First Time."
4. Use titillating words. Especially Verbs and Nouns. Think about the subject of your story, and glean from it descriptive words that are titillating and likely to attract attention. Here are some examples of titillating terms and words I have used in my stories, and their use appears to have worked in terms of attracting views: bikini, mom, slut, backseat, loveseat, whore, bubble-butt, fuck, exhibitionist, hucow, mailgirl, naked, spreads, hot, nude, photoshoot, porn star.
5. Research how others do it. Find a category you like and look at the most popular stories. You may get clues from the titles they use.
6. Ask yourself, what is the single sexiest thing about your story? Try to come up with a word that captures that one thing, and put it in your title.
7. Use words that are common search terms.
8. Figure out a good title early in the process rather than waiting until the end. I almost always have the title figured out long, long before the story is completed.

 

[TheLobster]

8. Figure out a good title early in the process rather than waiting until the end. I almost always have the title figured out long, long before the story is completed.

I see the rationale behind every point on your list except this one. What's wrong with writing a story first and then matching a title to it? Unless you're actually going to rewrite major chunks of it, so it better fits the "Bubble-butt Mom Backseat Fuck" mold you're recommending, I don't see why it matters.

 

[SimonDoom]

I see the rationale behind every point on your list except this one. What's wrong with writing a story first and then matching a title to it? Unless you're actually going to rewrite major chunks of it, so it better fits the "Bubble-butt Mom Backseat Fuck" mold you're recommending, I don't see why it matters.

I'd say this is less important, but it works for me. The title becomes a kind of guiding principle for the story. I write with the title in mind. As a result, in my experience, the story and title work together.

This may not work with everyone's style of writing, but it works with mine.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Fucking in Pastel.

I thought it would be a good hook but I guess it's still too arty. No one seems to give a fuck.

 

[Trionyx]

I’ve always tried to tie the title together with a good description line, a subject which has been discussed here in the past. The one combo of mine which seemed to attract a huge number of views and votes was:

Ashley’s Sister
“You want to fuck my sister, don’t you?”

The title wasn’t much at all so it must have been the description line. The numbers shot up and it is still in my top five of all time.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

Fucking in Pastel.

I thought it would be a good hook but I guess it's still too arty. No one seems to give a fuck.

I think this is an interesting title! Evocative of something sensual yet still has the “Fucking” in it to give it some edge.

 

[Areala-chan]

As far as titles go, the one I cannot believe had never been used before me, what with the Dave Matthews song and all, is Crash Into Me. For an I/T story that involves neither mothers nor sons, it's done quite well for me. My personal favorite of my own titles is Birds In Flight, which one does need to read the story to see where it comes from, but it's short. I think the only thing that really hurt it is that I submitted it to Non-Erotic because there's no sex in it, but Laurel posted it in Lesbian Sex, so I still get dings for there not being any, you know, lesbian sex in it...

 

[THBGato]

My personal favorite of my own titles is Birds In Flight, which one does need to read the story to see where it comes from, but it's short

Love that story.

That's also where I stand with titles. My ideal, rarely achieved, is for them to be a bit of a puzzle, for readers to have to actually read the story to get the title. (Even the ones I just named after songs.) Yeah, that does sound very pretentious for a free erotica site, but so what...

 

[Omenainen]

My best is probably Pussyberry Smoothie

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I think this is an interesting title! Evocative of something sensual yet still has the “Fucking” in it to give it some edge.

Well there's one, thx.

 

[Areala-chan]

Yeah, that does sound very pretentious for a free erotica site, but so what...

If one cannot be pretentious on a free erotica site, then what is one even doing with one's life?

 

[MillieDynamite]

How have I missed this thread? I don't know that I have any standout titles. My "Just a Friendly" series of stories has the same first three words, and my followers at Amazon and Bookapy buy them in the first few days of publication. But most of my titles hint at the content and aren't all that special.