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I know it had Queen in the title...
- cw gortner
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Me, too. Awed ))))!!!
Guess queens sell
Guess queens sell
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN
www.cwgortner.com
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN
www.cwgortner.com
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- Miss Moppet
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[quote=""rebecca191""]I've seen tons with Daughter, Princess, or Lady in the title too. I wonder if any of those come close to the number of Queen books![/quote]
I think Queen is the most prevalent but definitely the others are very common, and books are being renamed to get those keywords into the title. Virgin too, as in Virgin Widow by Anne O'Brien. And Mistress.
I have to wonder if HF titling will go the way of Harlequin Presents, and in a few years' time we'll be seeing titles like:
Virgin Mistress to the French King
Spanish Princess, Secret Baby
The Royal Widow's Forbidden Daughter
I think Queen is the most prevalent but definitely the others are very common, and books are being renamed to get those keywords into the title. Virgin too, as in Virgin Widow by Anne O'Brien. And Mistress.
I have to wonder if HF titling will go the way of Harlequin Presents, and in a few years' time we'll be seeing titles like:
Virgin Mistress to the French King
Spanish Princess, Secret Baby
The Royal Widow's Forbidden Daughter
[quote=""Miss Moppet""]I think Queen is the most prevalent but definitely the others are very common, and books are being renamed to get those keywords into the title. Virgin too, as in Virgin Widow by Anne O'Brien. And Mistress.
I have to wonder if HF titling will go the way of Harlequin Presents, and in a few years' time we'll be seeing titles like:
Virgin Mistress to the French King
Spanish Princess, Secret Baby
The Royal Widow's Forbidden Daughter[/quote]
I think it absolutely will, no doubt about it. I really don't like it, but 'doing what it says on the tin' appears to be here to stay at the moment. I am good friends with many M&B authors through the RNA and they have no say in their titles and are not keen, but that's the way the market pushes it. It's like the Tudor books. On forums people keep saying if they ever seen another one set in this period they will puke, but then a publisher brands their novel 'The Virgin Tudor Mistress', sticks a beautiful dress on the cover with a headless woman and hey presto, people rush out and buy the thing in droves. One came out in the UK not so long ago,that was repackaged like this and it has sold in large quantities (despite a lot of very stinky reviews). Publishers wouldn't do it, if it didn't sell books, so obviously the wider market is driving the trend. It makes the brand instantly recogniseable, if not necessarily the author, and it's like a useful shorthand for pickup while supermarket browsing with one eye on the clock. Literary historicals might buck the trend - Wolf Hall for e.g. but then most of them are unlikely to sell in the sort of quantities the genre novels do, unless they win the Booker.
I have to wonder if HF titling will go the way of Harlequin Presents, and in a few years' time we'll be seeing titles like:
Virgin Mistress to the French King
Spanish Princess, Secret Baby
The Royal Widow's Forbidden Daughter[/quote]
I think it absolutely will, no doubt about it. I really don't like it, but 'doing what it says on the tin' appears to be here to stay at the moment. I am good friends with many M&B authors through the RNA and they have no say in their titles and are not keen, but that's the way the market pushes it. It's like the Tudor books. On forums people keep saying if they ever seen another one set in this period they will puke, but then a publisher brands their novel 'The Virgin Tudor Mistress', sticks a beautiful dress on the cover with a headless woman and hey presto, people rush out and buy the thing in droves. One came out in the UK not so long ago,that was repackaged like this and it has sold in large quantities (despite a lot of very stinky reviews). Publishers wouldn't do it, if it didn't sell books, so obviously the wider market is driving the trend. It makes the brand instantly recogniseable, if not necessarily the author, and it's like a useful shorthand for pickup while supermarket browsing with one eye on the clock. Literary historicals might buck the trend - Wolf Hall for e.g. but then most of them are unlikely to sell in the sort of quantities the genre novels do, unless they win the Booker.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard nI chasront
'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'
Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal
www.elizabethchadwick.com
- MLE (Emily Cotton)
- Bibliomaniac
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- Interest in HF: started in childhood with the classics, which, IMHO are HF even if they were contemporary when written.
- Favourite HF book: Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger
- Preferred HF: Currently prefer 1600 and earlier, but I'll read anything that keeps me turning the page.
- Location: California Bay Area
- Miss Moppet
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[quote=""EC2""]I think it absolutely will, no doubt about it. I really don't like it, but 'doing what it says on the tin' appears to be here to stay at the moment. I am good friends with many M&B authors through the RNA and they have no say in their titles and are not keen, but that's the way the market pushes it. [/quote]
The M&B titles seem to have got more prosaic over the years and I wonder if that's due to changing social mores and a wider variety in what readers want and expect. For example, I don't remember any Virgin title from the 60s or 70s - readers would expect an unmarried heroine to be a virgin. Now they don't, necessarily, and some like it and some don't, so if the heroine is a virgin that has to be in the title so people know what they're getting.
The other thing that bothers me is when a Queen or Princess gets shoehorned into the title when really, they are peripheral to the story. If you buy a book called Pregnant by the Ruthless Italian Tycoon you know the heroine will get pregnant by a ruthless Italian tycoon. If you buy The Queen's Sorrow by Suzannah Dunn you get a story about a sundial maker in which Mary I has a walk-on part. The book has a two star average at UK Amazon and lots of complaints about the misleading billing - I know it's Amazon and reviewers may have had other issues, but still. No doubt that these title and the headless covers sell books in the short term, but how much do they do for the author's long term career? On the other hand, without sales they won't have a career at all.
ETA: Dunn's Queen of Subtleties, which has got a queen narrator (Anne Boleyn) has a two star average as well. So perhaps they just don't like her at Amazon.
The M&B titles seem to have got more prosaic over the years and I wonder if that's due to changing social mores and a wider variety in what readers want and expect. For example, I don't remember any Virgin title from the 60s or 70s - readers would expect an unmarried heroine to be a virgin. Now they don't, necessarily, and some like it and some don't, so if the heroine is a virgin that has to be in the title so people know what they're getting.
That's what bothers me - authors need book sales, but is it more difficult to stand out from the pack when the titles and covers are so similar? Harlequins having a shorter shelf life (although that might change with digital publishing) perhaps it's not such a problem for them.EC2 wrote:It's like the Tudor books. On forums people keep saying if they ever seen another one set in this period they will puke, but then a publisher brands their novel 'The Virgin Tudor Mistress', sticks a beautiful dress on the cover with a headless woman and hey presto, people rush out and buy the thing in droves. One came out in the UK not so long ago,that was repackaged like this and it has sold in large quantities (despite a lot of very stinky reviews). Publishers wouldn't do it, if it didn't sell books, so obviously the wider market is driving the trend. It makes the brand instantly recogniseable, if not necessarily the author,
The other thing that bothers me is when a Queen or Princess gets shoehorned into the title when really, they are peripheral to the story. If you buy a book called Pregnant by the Ruthless Italian Tycoon you know the heroine will get pregnant by a ruthless Italian tycoon. If you buy The Queen's Sorrow by Suzannah Dunn you get a story about a sundial maker in which Mary I has a walk-on part. The book has a two star average at UK Amazon and lots of complaints about the misleading billing - I know it's Amazon and reviewers may have had other issues, but still. No doubt that these title and the headless covers sell books in the short term, but how much do they do for the author's long term career? On the other hand, without sales they won't have a career at all.
ETA: Dunn's Queen of Subtleties, which has got a queen narrator (Anne Boleyn) has a two star average as well. So perhaps they just don't like her at Amazon.
I have added it, thanks MLE.MLE wrote:You missed Queen of Swords by Sarah Donati. I presume it's about the heroine, who wasn't a queen.
Loads. I nearly started a King thread as well, but it is sufficiently time-consuming keeping track of the Queens.Nefret wrote:I wonder how many use King in the title.
- boswellbaxter
- Bibliomaniac
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[quote=""Nefret""]I wonder how many use King in the title.[/quote]
We really could use a "king" thread--so I started one!
We really could use a "king" thread--so I started one!
Susan Higginbotham
Coming in October: The Woodvilles
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/
Coming in October: The Woodvilles
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/
http://www.susanhigginbotham.com/blog/
- Miss Moppet
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Btw, Donati's Queen of Swords takes its name from the tarot card with that designation... which represents a strong, sharp-witted woman. The meaning, in turn, reflects the character of the novel's two heroines, one of whom is a tarot reader... and the Queen of Swords card figures as a clue within the ongoing story. Anyway there's no royalty involved.