Story titles and cover ideas

[Willpkirk]

Hi everyone

So I have currently 3 WIPs all shorts (8-10k words) all getting close to being published.

My trouble is 3 fold.

1. I absolutely suck at coming up with creative names for the story's.

2. Where does every find such wonderful covers and a reasonable price. I'm no where near the level where I can shell out a couple of hundred (hell can't even shell out 50) on a cover.

And finally 3. Kinda similar in vein to not knowing what to call the story, writing a description that is going to draw in readers.

So I've come to you good people to help. How do you come up with your book titles, how do you, if publishing, get attractive covers cheaply (I've looked on Shutterstock and there is a fair few there that I could probably make work if I had a name for the book) and how do you make captivating descriptions of your book

Thanks

 

[AlinaX]

For titles, sometimes there's a phrase you use in the story that makes you smile, or sometimes there's a song title or lyric that seems wistfully appropriate... or failing that, just be bluntly obvious.

For covers... I'm not especially artistic, and for Lit I'm not going to waste money getting professional covers, but I do enjoy making my own. Some money has been spent on Shutterstock images and I use Serif's Affinity to put everything together, but there are free alternatives to Affinity.

ETA: If the title is vague, then the description needs to give a good sense of the main kinks of the story.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Sometimes it's the location of the story, like Mama's Beach House, or like AlinaX said, a phrase from the story that becomes central to the plot, Pretty Please, or just a simple "this is what the story's about" like the Ravishment of Melody. But, it's also a balancing act between choosing something that will catch a reader's eye and something that fits the story well. That's a whole other subject though.

As for the covers, at this moment I'm just starting to even think about them. I have zero drawing skills in any way, but as AI sites start becoming more available and improve their quality, it's something I may look into more in the future IF I choose to collect some of my stories and sell them on Smashwords.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hi everyone

So I have currently 3 WIPs all shorts (8-10k words) all getting close to being published.

My trouble is 3 fold.

1. I absolutely suck at coming up with creative names for the story's.

2. Where does every find such wonderful covers and a reasonable price. I'm no where near the level where I can shell out a couple of hundred (hell can't even shell out 50) on a cover.

And finally 3. Kinda similar in vein to not knowing what to call the story, writing a description that is going to draw in readers.

So I've come to you good people to help. How do you come up with your book titles, how do you, if publishing, get attractive covers cheaply (I've looked on Shutterstock and there is a fair few there that I could probably make work if I had a name for the book) and how do you make captivating descriptions of your book

Thanks

Published where? If here on Lit, you can only use "covers" on Series, but why bother? I don't think they add much value. Novelty value maybe, but they're not essential.

If you're thinking of e-books, I suggest you do more homework. If you want to make a buck in the market place, you're going to need a lot more than three x 10k stories. Walk before you run, just saying.

 

[Voboy]

For titles, sometimes there's a phrase you use in the story that makes you smile...

This. Often the title just comes to me. When it doesn't? I just steal an evocative phrase from within the story and use that.

I've only done one "cover," and to do it I heavily relied on a fellow member here and the thread she posted. I'll go search for it and link it here. Other than that, a lot of the kids these days are probably using AI generated images; if that's what you're into, and you're comfortable with the ethics of AI, that's fine too.

ETA: Here's the thread that told me how to do covers. The OP is a graphic artist who, I think, still posts occasionally; she's extremely helpful and knowledgeable. The software was easy to master, but I did need to learn some new graphical terms. The result was what I wanted, in the end.

 

[GlennJenko]

I'm not experienced enough to talk about covers, but I too have had troubles with my titles and descriptions.

For titles I knew I wanted something short and catchy for my WIP. Maybe something alliterative. I can't remember exactly what prompted the exact title I settled on, but when it came to me I knew I had to use it. I then did a search to see if it was already taken, which thankfully it wasn't (and still isn't).

As for descriptions, I did a bit of searching on Literotica to see what others had written for their descriptions. You obviously need something short (60 characters or less, I believe), but also something to draw people in. I looked at ones of a similar type with good views and ratings to see what they did. You want to put key and enticing information in the description so people know what it's about (especially if the title is vague), as well as so they're not surprised when they start reading, as not everyone looks at the tags.

EDIT: A random example. Say your story is about a pool boy who seduces a married woman on vacation and the title is something like "Vacation Vices". The description would be "wife seduced by hung pool boy on vacation". This tells the reader the story involves a married woman, probably a younger man, and is focused around seduction so there may not be sex right away.

 

[Voboy]

EDIT: A random example. Say your story is about a pool boy who seduces a married woman on vacation and the title is something like "Vacation Vices". The description would be "wife seduced by hung pool boy on vacation". This tells the reader the story involves a married woman, probably a younger man, and is focused around seduction so there may not be sex right away.

It's personal preference, but I believe in making the description a proper sentence, preferably one that raises a question. I would probably avoid clicking on a story with a sentence fragment as a description, as unfair as that may be.

 

[GlennJenko]

It's personal preference, but I believe in making the description a proper sentence, preferably one that raises a question. I would probably avoid clicking on a story with a sentence fragment as a description, as unfair as that may be.

More than fair. I was just trying to give a rough example off the top of my head. I'd definitely put more thought into a proper description.