Lulu's Title Scorer

[notthatamanda]

http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php

"Scientific" Analysis of your title. 

[Post-Doctorate D]

My results:

The title In Search of the Legendary Phineas Ray has a 10.2% chance of being a bestselling title!

The title Dan's Lame Novel has a 51.4% chance of being a bestselling title!

The title Bloody Love has a 69.0% chance of being a bestselling title!

The title Bad Fiction has a 41.4% chance of being a bestselling title!

Hmm.  So I should probably be getting more sales than I actually do . . .

[Maggie Ann]

All the titles I've picked for my new series only have a 10.2% chance. That does not bode well.

My two top sellers have a 45.6% and 34.8% chance and two of the bottom sellers are 14.6% and 10.2%. One that doesn't sell at all is right up there with my top sellers at 35.9%.

Well, that was fun!

[Post-Doctorate D]

All the titles I've picked for my new series only have a 10.2% chance. That does not bode well.

I wouldn't worry.  Bloody Love has a 69% chance of being a bestseller and I've sold 260% more copies of the one with only a 10.2% chance and 560% more copies of the one with a 51.4% chance.  And Bad Fiction has a 41.4% chance of being a bestseller and it's my worst seller.  I can't even give it away.

[elleoco]

Well, I'd have to question Lulu. I got 26.3 on both my over-the-years bestseller Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold (published in early 2010, still sells more than any of my others except the first few months when something is new) and 26.3 on Without Words, which was a bestseller in one of its categories its first month but hasn't sold as many over its first few years as Eyes did in the same first years. My worst seller and disappointment got 41.4.

I wonder if the actual words count for anything or if it's all a matter of what you fill in for the choices below - not enough to test various combos, but I wonder.

[Maggie Ann]

Well, I'd have to question Lulu. I got 26.3 on both my over-the-years bestseller Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold (published in early 2010, still sells more than any of my others except the first few months when something is new) and 26.3 on Without Words, which was a bestseller in one of its categories its first month but hasn't sold as many over its first few years as Eyes did in the same first years. My worst seller and disappointment got 41.4.

I wonder if the actual words count for anything or if it's all a matter of what you fill in for the choices below - not enough to test various combos, but I wonder.

I was thinking the same thing about the word types.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Pretty neat little gizmo.  Since I have a trilogy with similarly-constructed titles, I figured my books would make for good test cases for the algorithm.  All three book titles have the same picks on the drop-down menus.  They all start with the same letter, too.  The results:

Clouds of Venus:  35.9%

Caverns of Mercury:  35.9%

Cities of Mars:  35.9%

So there you go.  The actual words don't matter so much as the type of words and how they're slung together.

Here's how the Wheel of Fire books scored:

Hostile Planet:  69.0%   

Mind Games:  63.7%

Ruined Worlds:  41.4%

And here are the short stories:

Buddy:  45.6%

Mr. Wilson:  55.4%

The Lattice:  35.9%

[notthatamanda]

Someone smarter than me could have some fun trying to come up with some high scoring, complete nonsense titles.   

[Post-Doctorate D]

So there you go.  The actual words don't matter so much as the type of words and how they're slung together.

I think you've successfully deduced the pattern.

Hostile Planet:  69.0%   

The title Bloody Love has a 69.0% chance of being a bestselling title!

Ruined Worlds:  41.4%

The title Bad Fiction has a 41.4% chance of being a bestselling title!

It is kind of disappointing it doesn't do a deeper analysis than it appears to do.

[twicebitten]

hysterical, since any book has about a .0001% chance of being a best seller! But for S & Gs, I tried:

The Girl on the Train: 10.4%

Harry Potter and the (whichever noun)'s Stone: 14.6%

[tayler]

Maybe it's not just the title, but the title/cover combination (IMHO). Even with a great title, it seems a not-so-good book cover would affect interest, yes?

[The Masked Scrivener]

The title %%%%% has a 63.7% chance of being a bestselling title!

May the odds be ever in my favor

[Laughing Elephant]

My Results:


Title: The Toilet Bowl

The title The Toilet Bowl has a 10.2% chance of being a bestselling title!

1st choice: Literal
2nd Choice: Grammatical Complete Phrase
3rd Choice: Preposition, Article
4th Choice: Proper Noun

#

The title The Toilet Bowl has a 35.9% chance of being a bestselling title!

With These Changes:

2nd Choice: Noun with Noun
4th Choice: Proper Noun

#

The title The Toilet Bowl has a 63.7% chance of being a bestselling title!

With These Changes:

1st Choice: Figurative
2nd Choice: Noun Modified by Noun
4th Choice: Other

#

So I guess I should go write about being a fish trapped in a toilet bowl filled with water but not connected - such is life.