Wednesday, May 28, 2008

EnTITLEment Issues

About ten months ago, I came up with what I felt was a unique idea that would make a nifty concept for my first book for adults. It was originally called: Occupation Nation: How to Treat Your Health Like It's a Full-Time Job. Over the past few months, the title has experienced the following changes:

(1) "Occupation Nation" was pulled because it confused people. Some thought it was a war book.
(2) "Treat" was erased because it may have been misconstrued as a fatty play on words.
(3) Corporations like management books, so "Managing Your Health..." could have worked, but unless they're requested to read a management book, Americans may be unlikely to buy one themselves.
(4) "Full-Time" was dropped as few people like working full-time and may have misunderstood the intent.
(5) "Job" needed to go, since few Americans truly love their jobs.
(6) The main title was replaced with "Body Work," but people hate work even more than their job.
(7) Replacing Job with "Money" was a brief idea, but for those with money issues, they may not be able to relate well to the book given their financial challenges given the economy. Then again, they wouldn't buy the book anyway...

So... that leaves me with Body ____: ____ Your Health Like It's _____.

If many Americans' health, money, and relationships are facing significant challenges, would they have the ability and interest to even buy a book? Too tired to read, no money to buy the book, and no time to read given their obligations to their loved ones sounds like three powerful barriers to entry to me.

Lately, I've been coming up with a lot of book concepts. I don't seem to be able to turn it off. That is, I haven't chosen to turn it off just yet. I'm almost done and yet I have just begun. What's an author to do?

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