#Booktour: Ghostly Interference by Jan Sikes

Today, I am delighted to welcome award winning author, Jan Sikes, to Robbie’s Inspiration to discuss the importance to book titles and tell us about her new book, Ghostly Interference.

Book titles

Hi, Robbie. Thank you for inviting me to your blog today to showcase my new book release. I sincerely appreciate your support and generosity!

Let’s talk about book titles. There are so many things to consider when you give your book a name, and I’m going to talk about some critical aspects.

First and foremost, your book title is a promise to the reader and needs to relate to the book’s subject. We’ve talked about this before with book covers, and the same principles apply to the title. For example, you wouldn’t want to have a sweet, sappy book title for a horror story. That is unless you wanted to show a stark contrast. Of course, with every rule, there are exceptions.

When I wrote Ghostly Interference, my working title was When Two Worlds Collide.

That describes the story perfectly from the first page to the last. An old Roger Miller song by that title depicts the difficulty of joining two opposite worlds…” Your world is made up of things sweet and good. My world could never fit in. Lord, I wish it could…”

So, why didn’t I publish under that title?

When The Wild Rose Press picked up the story and gave me a contract, the first change they insisted on was the title.

They gave the reason that there were too many of the same titles already in publication, making it more difficult to market. You can look at your book like a seashell in a vast ocean with other seashells. And, when it comes to marketing, how are you going to get your seashell noticed?

The simple answer is it has to be different in some way. In other words, it needs to stand out.

Even though I hated to let go of my working title, I understood, after eight years of marketing self-published work, the importance of having something unique.

So, after going back and forth with several different suggestions, the team and I all decided on “Ghostly Interference,” of which there were zero on Amazon. And, it does define a large part of the story.

Sam Jett’s ghost is determined to help his sister, Rena, open up to and find love. He does interfere in many ways. I’d love to hear from you about your process for naming your books. Do you take into consideration how many are already out there by researching on Amazon? Do you make sure it accurately reflects the content of the book? Let’s talk about it!

The Blurb

Jag Peters has one goal in his quiet comfortable life—to keep his karma slate wiped clean. A near-miss crash with a candy apple red Harley threatens to upend his safe world. He tracks down the rider to apologize properly. Slipping into a seedy biker bar, he discovers the rider isn’t a “he”, it’s a “she”, a dark-haired beauty.

Rena Jett is a troubled soul, who lives in a rough world. She wants no part of Jag’s apology, but even while she pushes him away, she is attracted to him. When he claims to see a ghost—her brother—can she trust him? And could her brother’s final gift, a magical rune stone with the symbol for “happily ever after” have the power to heal her wounds and allow opposites to find common ground—perhaps even love?

Ghostly Interference purchase links

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Ghostly-Interference-White-Rune-Sikes-ebook/dp/B08KW1KFMW/

BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghostly-interference-jan-sikes/1137871003?

KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ghostly-interference

iTUNES: https://books.apple.com/us/book/ghostly-interference/id1535082886

GOOGLE PLAY: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=PCwNEAAAQBAJ

Find Jan Sikes

Websitehttp://www.jansikes.com

Blog

Facebook

Amazon Author Page

Goodreads Author Page

Twitter

Published by robbiesinspiration

Robbie and Michael Cheadle are co-authors of the Sir Chocolate series of books. We both like to write and bake.

84 thoughts on “#Booktour: Ghostly Interference by Jan Sikes”

  5. Pingback: BOOK TOUR Day 19! GHOSTLY INTERFERENCE #romance #ghost #newrelease @wildrosepress @bakeandwrite @RRBC_Org – Writing and Music

    2. Hi, Gwen. Thank you for riding along to each stop along this tour and all in the midst of touring with your own book. I deeply appreciate your kind support! Hugs!

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  7. Hi Robbie, Hi Jan,
    Jan, I do like Ghostly Interference better because it adds to the intrigue in the story. I am glad you went with the title suggested to you by The White Rose Press.

    Robbie, thank you so much for hosting Jan.
    Wishing you both a great 2021.

    Shalom aleichem

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    2. Hi, Pat. Yes, having a publisher forced me to concede some things and I do believe for the better. Wild Rose Press has been fabulous to work with. Thank you for stopping by and commenting!

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  8. I agree with you completely, Jan. Book titles are so important. When I chose my titles for my series, I made sure there weren’t any other books with that title (at the time). For my short story, I could not give up calling it Breathless, but there are SO many stories with that title. I found that by adding “A Short Story” to the title, it pops up immediately. Unfortunately, readers don’t really add that when they search for books. Lol! Still, I wanted that title because it leads so perfectly to the title I want to use for the full novel.

    I love your book’s title. I’m happy you changed it. Although your original title would have worked, your current title pulls in the paranormal, which opens you up to more readers. 🙂

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    1. Hi Yvette, thank you for adding your thoughts. I checked after reading this article, and there are no other books out there with the titles of my books and I am pleased about that. Titles are also a potential reader’s first insight into a book, so very important.

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    2. You make a good point, Yvette. The new title definitely pulls in the paranormal aspect of the story. I can understand that “Breathless” was the only title that fit your short story. And anyone who reads it will understand that “Breathless” applies on several different levels. 🙂 Thank you for stopping by! Hugs!

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  9. Thanks for hosting Jan, Robbie. What I’ve loved about her book tour has been the different questions she’s answered along the route. I’ve learned so much about her and the book. It’s hard to let go of our working titles when we’re published traditionally. Now, I no longer title the book. My current WIP is Meg and Luke’s story. Boring yes, but it keeps me from becoming attached. Great tour, Jan!

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    1. Hi, Jill. It was my goal to make each post and each stop along the tour unique and different. It’s been a lot of work, but it has paid off. I love the working title you gave your current WIP and the reason. Maybe I should try that so I don’t get so attached. 🙂 Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment!

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    2. Hi Jill, it is interesting what you said about the working title of your books. To date, I’ve always had the titles of my books quite early in the process. I’ve checked and there are no other books on Amazon with the same titles. I have been lucky in this regard.

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  10. Titles are important. I wrote my first novel, Unseen Motives, under the working title “Willow Lake,” but never intended to keep it. While there wasn’t a novel by that name on Amazon at the time, I did come across a romance series called Willow Lake. I changed the town name to Driscoll Lake and set about finding a title. I had “Hidden Intentions” but there were several books title that. I thought of “Ulterior Motives” but even more titles of the same name. Finally, I used a thesaurus and got unseen for hidden and motives for intentions.

    By that time I knew I would write two more books of the series and I wanted cadence. It was easy to come up with Unknown Reasons and Unclear Purposes.

    Still enjoying your tour and a big thanks to Robbie for hosting!

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    1. Hi, Joan! Thank you for sharing your titling process. Using the Thesaurus is a great idea for finding words that have the same meaning, but are different. And I love what you said about the series titles having cadence. Great points! Have a great day! I appreciate your support!

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  15. Congratulations to Jan on her new book and on this post. It makes perfect sense and the title seems to suit the story quite well. I didn’t use to pay much attention to the existence of other books with the same title when choosing one of my stories, but after writing so many reviews for other people’s books, I must admit that sometimes it’s very difficult to locate a book using the title alone, as there might be many with the same or very similar names, but it’s true that some titles have plenty of appeal.
    Using a boring or nondescript title while working on the WIP and finding the right one once it’s ready might be a good option.
    Thanks, Robbie!

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    2. Hi Olga, thanks for popping past and commenting. I enjoyed reading about your experience with deciding on a book title. I’ve always had my title right up front, but that may change in the future.

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  17. I’m horrible with titles, Jan. With my first book, I decided on the title 5 minutes before I sent it to my publisher. The second book title came to me before I started writing it. Credit for the third title goes to my editor. Ghostly Interference sounds perfect for your book!

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    1. Hi, Teri. Titles can certainly be tricky, to say the least. I love it when the title comes before the story, and that has happened to me with short stories. I do think “Ghostly Interference” is a good fit for this book. Thanks for stopping by!

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    1. Hi, Jacqui. It has been a lot of work doing this extensive tour, but it is worth it to get the word out about the book. Just a few more stops and I wind the tour up next week. Thanks for coming along!

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  22. I got a kick out of your discussion of titles. When I was just starting out in college, my first creative writing professor was very dismissive about the importance of titles: Don’t worry about it. Choosing a title will give your editor something to do.

    I think his actual point was that we needn’t concern ourselves with titles to sell a story or a book until we’d learned the craft of writing one.

    You’re right, of course, about their importance now in such a crowded marketplace.

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    2. Hi Liz, I wonder if this is still the same or if titles have earned a place in the creative writing curriculum now. I think I must ask Prof French when I next speak to him. I think the title is very important, as is the cover and blurb. Thanks for visiting and enjoy your weekend.

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  23. Pingback: BOOK TOUR Day 20! GHOSTLY INTERFERENCE #romance #ghost #newrelease @wildrosepress @KimberlyBaer14 – Writing and Music

  24. Hi Jan.

    Just picked up my copy of Ghostly Interference and looking forward to reading it.

    Congratulations on your book launch and tour.

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  26. Pingback: BOOK TOUR Final Stop! GHOSTLY INTERFERENCE @4WillsPub @4WP11 @RRBC_Org @1rburkey @ChuckWesJ @SusanneLeist @shirleyharrislaughter @ @wildrosepress @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA – Writing and Music
  27. Pingback: BOOK TOUR Ended – GHOSTLY INTERFERENCE @WildRosePress – Writing and Music

  28. Although I am a songwriter, I found this discussion very helpful. I’ve never checked to see if one of my song titles has already been used — but I will henceforth! These days, because there are so many songs with the same titles, a significant amount of “metadata” is electronically glued onto one’s song when it is distributed so that it can (one hopes…) be accurately tracked regarding downloads, streams, etc. I have been experiencing a related challenge, however, which is that there is another person with exactly the same name who began releasing music after I first uploaded videos on YouTube. So now I am in the process of clarifying which recordings/videos I have released so that they can be connected with MY identity and which need to be connected with the other Will McMillan… Ahh, the power of names and naming!

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    1. Oh, wow, Will! What a dilemma. I think having a unique title would be helpful in keeping things like that straight. I’m so glad my post was of interest to you! Best wishes for getting everything fixed! And, thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment!

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