Robin D. Laws says:
> For that matter, the name of any product should be
> readily understandable to gamers who don't know
> Glorantha at all, but might pick up a supplement to
> steal bits and pieces of it for their non-HQ games.
> It's always a bad commercial mistake to include made-up
> fantasy names in the title of any product. "Atlas of
> Dragon Pass" would gain some crossover traffic.
> "Kerofinela" would not. At the niche press level,
> every sale counts. And if you suck in a few dragon fans,
> they might become Gloranthaphiles when they see
> that this setting has the most freakin' cool dragons in
> all of gaming.
>
> Titles should be generic as possible.
>
> The people on this list already plan to buy the
> book. They don't need the sales job. Titles are
> about marketing. Marketing is about reaching out
> to new people.
Perhaps, although it could seem a bit cheap, the primary title could
convey generic (and tastily markettable) wording, while a subtitle could
inform Gloranthaphiles about the specifc area of focus (be it regional
or cultural). Something sort of like:
DRAGON PASS
A Kerofinelan geography
Or:
SORCERER KNIGHTS
Religion, Culture, and Society the West
Although clearly I am no market specialist (or even very creative when
you get right down to it).
I worry that "weird" subtitles might still be enough to chase away
unbelievers though.
--
John Machin
(trithemius_at_...)
-----------------------------------
"Nothing is more beautiful than to know the All."
Athanasius Kircher, Ars Magna Sciendi.