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HELP!...I need a title.

C

Chuck Hagerty

Well Known Member
?You know it?s a bad landing when you?re upside down? is the title I used on this forum last November, and the thread was read over 13,500 times. Now I need some help. After the nose-over and the ensuing injuries, I had a lot of time on my hands, so I wrote a book about the whole experience. We are in the final stages of editing, and I hope to have it published before Christmas. My challenge at this stage is to come up with an appropriate title.

The book is divided into thirds: the first third tells about building, flying, and the crash; the second third tells about hospitals, surgeries, and recovery; and the last third tells about the lessons learned through all of this.

I?ve thought about using ?You know it?s a bad landing when you?re upside down? and I?ve also thought of ?Bad Landing ? Broken Neck ? Borrowed Insights.? I have several others, but I didn?t want to put them all out here. We have so many sharp people on the site and quite a few wordsmiths?someone recently proposed a title for the future book that Vlad needs to write, and I thought it was well done.

So if you come up with a good idea, please pass it on. You will have my undying gratitude, and the privilege of seeing your creative efforts on the front of a book. Thanks for thinking about this, and I don?t want to tie up the site, so if you want to respond off-line, that would be great.

Thanks also for your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes. Keep them going for Doug and his family.
 
Of all the ideas floated so far I think ?You know it?s a bad landing when you?re upside down? is the best by a wide margin.
 
Title

How about shortening the title and adding a little suspense.
"You know it's a bad landing when..."
 
"Built Right
Landed Wrong"

The insights of a long journey to build a plane right and suddenly learning in a short span of time how things can go terribly wrong. The tale of ending upside down in the plane the author built.

Pat Garboden
Katy, TX
 
How about "Flipping my A".
Everyone in the RV community will know exactly what the book is about!
Chuck, I look forward to reading your book and about your experience. If we can learn anything from it, it is to have a sense of humor!
Having needed two neck surgeries and fusions, I know some of the discomfort you went through. Best of luck with your book. Let us know how we can get it when it comes out. Oh, you can use my title free of charge!! Ha!
 
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I will vote with Dale on this one, I think you already have your title in your first line. Its an attention getter. Then maybe a brief description of the other things in small print under the title.
Ryan
 
how about...

"Turning your life upside down"

"Meeting the Ground"

"Getting upside down to get right side up""

"Crashing into Life"
(ooh.. I like that one. Maybe I should write the story of running into a few old trees...)

:eek:

CC
 
Based on your description of the story, I would go with,

"Rightside Up Again"

(But on the other hand, if you have the wherewithal to write a book, coming up with a title is certainly within your skill set...)

-Paragon
OH
 
Paragon said:
Based on your description of the story, I would go with,

"Rightside Up Again"

(But on the other hand, if you have the wherewithal to write a book, coming up with a title is certainly within your skill set...)

-Paragon
OH
Click to expand...

"Rightside Up Again: A survival story."
"Rightside Up Again:putting yourself back together"
"Looking back on walking away."
"Stopping short & walking away"
"Stopping short; a story of the headache"
"Stopping Short; Tips for your head"
"Over the top, slowly"
"Looking over the nose, at the sky"
"Runway Aerobatics: The ground roll"
"Don't look back when you are on a roll."
"Upsie Daisy: The climb out"

A picture of the bird upside down on the cover.

Just some teasers to stimulate the thoughts. Good luck!
 
Book Title Process

In the book marketing biz for 26 years. We do extensive surveys to our customer lists for titles and advertising bullets.

For titles we send a letter that is like this:

"Imagine you are shopping for an aviation book for yourself or a friend. Which of the following titles do you think would be most likely to be purchased and read?"

You could list the titles suggested and do a survey right here on this website.

Blessings!
 
I'm still agreeing with whoever said "you know it's a bad landing when you're upside down" is the best so far.

Odd how the first instinct is usually the best one.
 
Depends who the target audience is.

If it's pilots, then of course ?You know it?s a bad landing when you?re upside down? is the title of choice.

If it's a more general audience, perhaps a more general title might be appropriate. The ?You know it?s a bad landing when you?re upside down? would be a good subtitle on the cover, but a photo would get that message across without those words, and would suggest that the book might appeal to non-pilots too.

Dave
 
It's a great day when you've lived to tell about it......Upside down on a runway!
 
+1..

...on your original title, "You know it's a bad landing when you're upside down." Maybe you could preface it in bold with one of the other suggestions:

CRASH COURSE!
"You know it's a bad landing when you're upside down."

I wish you success with your book.
 
Another vote for "You know it's a bad landing when you're upside down." 13,500 forum hits can't be wrong!
 
In the book marketing biz for 26 years. We do extensive surveys to our customer lists for titles and advertising bullets.

For titles we send a letter that is like this:

"Imagine you are shopping for an aviation book for yourself or a friend. Which of the following titles do you think would be most likely to be purchased and read?"

You could list the titles suggested and do a survey right here on this website.

Wow!...I wasn't expecting that many of you to take the time and think about this selfish request. Thank you for some very stimulating ideas. Vern's suggestion (above) was an especially helpful piece of advice.

Watch for the book and don't spend all your money on plane parts because remember, I didn't work for nine months and have to make up for some lost time! Thanks again.
 
Select an audience and have your title appeal to them not to just anyone.
Test a few titles with your target audience. Make sure your test is statistically significant before you make a decision on a title.
I like your original title, especially because that thread had so many views. It's already somewhat proven.

Lenny
 
"Butter side down"

Around the very formal breakfast table of my youth, when the toast fell on the floor - the call was either a victorious "butter side up" or "butter side down" which meant the culprit had to clean up the mess. Sadly the 5 second rule was not applied.
 
More Suggestions...

Wheels Up Landing
The Flip Side of Landing
Not Walking Away From This Landing

Yes, I know, I'm not planning to quit my day job...

Ed
 
Thanks Lenny, several have said that they like the original and I do too. I am going to do some surveying before making up my mind.

I don't think either one of us should give up our day job just yet Ed!
 
I think there are some really good suggestions. I would offer that your book is more about the things you learned through the accident and recovery. That will have a broader appeal than anything about airplanes. I would title it as such....
 
Just thought of one in case the original just isn't going to work for whatever reason (though I still think it's best)...

"Feet Skyward"
 
They keep coming!

Every time I get online and check the site there are more comments, and I appreciate that. Someone (I won't mention who just yet) even has a wife who is an editor and she offered to read through the book.

I'm already working with an editor, but an extra set of eyes is always valuable.

You're right Jon, I hope this will appeal to a broader group than just our airplane bunch and I'm trying to factor that into the decision. The building part that is so appealing to us is to esoteric to attract many other folks, but plane crashes seem to gather a crowd.

I'll definitely have a picture of the upside down debacle on the cover...that much is decided.
 
I recently flipped one of my planes as of June of this year so I know the feeling.
So how about "upside down and nowhere to go"
 
In the Blink of an Eye
Lessons learned after an airplane crash

You'll want a simple title and a subtitle with a little more context, but only enough to lure folks in. Good luck with the book! And worth mentioning...blogs see better income these days. So if you want to see some return on your investment, maybe consider releasing a chapter a week and get some advertisers on there. :)
 
More good advice.

Bruce, "Upside down and nowhere to go" was definitely the essence of the problem. Hope you weren't hurt.

Paul, as you know, writing something is only the first step. Next you have to get it published, and then you have to market it. I've figured out the first two steps and have been working on the third, but this is an entirely foreign subject...I hadn't even thought of a blog. Here's the first paragraph of the introduction. I hope it grabs peoples attention.

Everything was upside down, my right hand didn?t work, and my neck hurt. It was mid June 2013 and I was in the grass, beside the runway of a small airport in Pennsylvania. Disoriented and dazed, I looked at my wife and her eyes were closed. Lord, no. Several bright spots of blood were starting to seep from shallow cuts on her face. She opened her eyes, touched her cheek, looked at the blood on her hand. ?Am I disfigured?? she whispered. I told her she?d be OK, and that we needed to try to get out. I hated myself for hurting her, and I could smell gas.
 
Chuck Hagerty said:
Bruce, "Upside down and nowhere to go" was definitely the essence of the problem. Hope you weren't hurt.

Paul, as you know, writing something is only the first step. Next you have to get it published, and then you have to market it. I've figured out the first two steps and have been working on the third, but this is an entirely foreign subject...I hadn't even thought of a blog. Here's the first paragraph of the introduction. I hope it grabs peoples attention.

Everything was upside down, my right hand didn?t work, and my neck hurt. It was mid June 2013 and I was in the grass, beside the runway of a small airport in Pennsylvania. Disoriented and dazed, I looked at my wife and her eyes were closed. Lord, no. Several bright spots of blood were starting to seep from shallow cuts on her face. She opened her eyes, touched her cheek, looked at the blood on her hand. ?Am I disfigured?? she whispered. I told her she?d be OK, and that we needed to try to get out. I hated myself for hurting her, and I could smell gas.
Click to expand...

Wow, Chuck. I just got chills reading that. I would lose the "mid June" statement as it's not relevant and it interrupts the power of that sentence.
Whichever way you go, I bet it'll be a winner! Good luck.
 
The Journey

1. The Journey started when I crashed.

2. The Journey started upside down.

3. My favorite:

I didn't really fly until I was upside down.
(My story of life after an airplane crash)

Hope these give you food for thought, I will read your book, whatever the title is.
 
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