In 1953, an unknown writer called William Golding wrote a novel.
He sent it to around twenty publishers, one after the other
And, one after the other it came back.
The rejection letters used phrases like “absurd, uninteresting” and “rubbish and dull”.
Eventually, a young editor at Faber & Faber read it.
Charles Monteith liked the book, he agreed to pay £60 for it, but it needed changes.
Golding agreed the suggestions improved the book.
But Monteith’s big problem was with the title.
The book was called: ‘Strangers from Within”.
Monteith thought this was dull, he asked Golding to think of a new title.
The story was about children on an island, so Golding wrote a list of possibilities:
Island Impact
Hunt the Island
They Came to an Island
Island Refuge
Offspring of an Island
The Foster Island
Beast in the Jungle
The Isle is Full of Noises
Fun and Games
Beast on the Island
Trouble Island
The Beast on Coral Island
Island Trouble
Island Story
My Island
Let’s Play Islands
Smoke on the Island
New Coral Island
Coral Island Renewed
Nightmare Island
The Island’s Mine
An Island of Their Own
All these titles summarised what the book was about: children on an island.
But Monteith thought they were all dull.
Then another young editor came up with a title that wasn’t a summary of the contents of the book.
Alan Pringle realised the job of the title wasn’t to encapsulate the story.
The job of the title was to provoke the reader.
To summarise the mood of the story, but in a way that made it sound intriguing.
In short the main job was to make the reader want to read it.
He suggested the title: ‘Lord of the Flies’.
It didn’t mention islands, or hunting, or trouble, or beasts, or children.
It didn’t fill any of the requirements of encapsulating the story.
But it did capture the mood in a way that sounded gripping and unsettling.
The book went on to sell many millions and is now a set text in the school curriculum.
It’s worth remembering the lesson of that title.
When conventional wisdom says our job is to summarise the contents, or the ingredients, or the consumer insight, or the brand.
Remember our job isn’t any of those things.
Our job is to stand out, to provoke, to get noticed, and get remembered.
Our job is impact.
As Alex Taylor used to say “Take the logo out of the Ad” Now can you tell who it is? If not, you’ve failed.
Interesting. My novel, about insects and death, was initially titled ‘Insecticide’. I now see that it was a bit shit, but then the publisher suggested ‘Instinct’, to which I replied: ‘What’s Instinct got to do with it?’ He said, ‘Not much, but it’s a good title’. So I deferred to their experience.
Then he wanted a subline. I liked ‘They fought nature. Nature fought back.’ He countered with ‘Only God can destroy what man has created’. I again said that had nothing to do with the story. His response made a lot of sense: ‘People will pick up the book based on that subhead. Then, ideally, they’ll read it. If they enjoy it they aren’t going to care if the subhead (or title) was accurate. If they don’t enjoy it, they won’t care about the title either.’
So now I have a novel with a title and subhead that don’t make sense with the story, but it seemed to work.
Nice to know I’m in good company!
Superb as ever, Trotty..
Hi Dave,
Hope you’ve had a good week.
I love reading your blog. So inspiring. I work as a copywriter at innocent (the drinks people) and I am in charge of our Writers Club which involves gathering our writers from all across Europe and chatting about our work/sharing ideas/listening to speakers etc. Some of them work in-house and some are from agencies who also work on other brands so there’s a real mix.
You can probably tell where this is going.
I would love for you to come in and give a talk/workshop all about copywriting to inspire all of our writers. I haven’t settled on the date yet but a Friday morning in April/May is the current plan.
If you’re up for it, let me know how much it would cost and when you’re free. Or feel free to say no. I won’t mind.
Thanks very much,
Anna
As always, a great post. Although I would argue that that ‘Lord of the Flies’, one of the names of Beelzebub, the devil, DOES encapsulate the theme of the novel, but in a sideways, more subtle way. The way the boys become dehumanised and thereby evil, is surely the point of the book. Of course, you have to know who Beelzebub is/was to get the full meaning, and as you say, the title is gripping and unsettling.