An old adage says “Do not judge the book by its cover” this is partially true with selecting book to read. We must be careful. Titles can be also deceptive. Sometimes they are like Forest Gump’s chocolate box “You will never know what you’re going to get.” Titles of book must have an appeal to the market or marketable. It looks like a chocolate coated cookies that really pleasant to the eyes, unless you taste it… munch it… and chomp it, you will never really know what you get from it.
I have learned about the good titles the hard way when I was a marketing director in one of the Christian publishings. We spend a lot of time to formulate the titles that not only reveal the subject and content of the book but to attract readers. More often the titles bears with subliminal message that invites us to open the book even we are not familiar.
I recall, for instance, the title reads “ T*** R***** Y*****.” Upon reading the book, however, I tasted that recipe was a spoiled and not worth to spend my money, an enormous waste of time to read. On the other hand, we should not ignore book on the basis of their titles. For instance, Oswald Chambers wrote a book entitled “My Utmost for His Highest” in a current market terms, the title may be too high or too long to catch a reader’s eye to retain in the memory and the cover is not mouth-watering for the young reader like me, however, it is consistent with the text of the book and once you reads it, the spiritual impact will never be forgotten.
There is no doubt that this Book deserved to be number one devotional book. It has sold million copies and still best selling daily devotional up to now… and continuous to influence lives, I am immensely thankful for this book. It has been inviting me to a deeper spirituality and yet not afraid to express in a man-on-the-street language. As I followed Chamber down that trail and I am really deeply grateful.
