what if the name of your book already exists?

[spaze]

So what happens if a book with a same name as your book already exists? Is it allowed like in music business?

[Worldwalker]

Yep. There are plenty of books that share titles. Otherwise, we'd probably run out pretty quickly when it came to things like "Field Guide to Birds" or "History of World War II".

[jbcohen]

Repeat titles are most common in the area of academic text books with textbooks called Calculus and American History all of the time. What you need to do is when you go market your books to perspective customers is always present them with the title of the book and by with the name of the author.

[Dr. Drib]

Sometimes an article makes all the difference:


"The Invisible Man"
"Invisible Man"




Don

[G J Lau]

I faced a similar issue with my book title. I did a little research and found that one key is the genre. My book has exactly the same title as an earlier book, but mine is an adult suspense novel whereas the earlier book was written for children. Fortunately, no other book that I was able to find bears that title.

But as noted above, duplicate titles are commonplace. I would rather have a unique name, but like so much else in this digital age, it is hard to find something that hasn't already been used before.

[neilmarr]

Titles aren't copyrighted, but many are trade-marked, so be sure of your ground. Repeat of title is very common, though. The big problem is that now -- with internet and online print and ebook stores -- there can sometimes be search complications and confusions. Always do a thorough search on your proposed title before it's carved in stone. Neil

[HarryT]

This is why a book has an ISBN. That's the "unique identifier" for the book, not the title.

[neilmarr]

Certainly, Harry. But many folks (not library pros, retailers, etc) searching for a book will enter title rather than ISBN. Sometimes, for more casual browsers (which I strongly suspect make up the majority of actual buyers), it sometimes helps if title and author are entered into the search.

[spaze]

I'm pretty sure some names are protected in some way even though they are not trademarked.

Otherwise I will write my own opus and call it The Holy Bible.

[carld]

Originally Posted by spaze

I'm pretty sure some names are protected in some way even though they are not trademarked.

Otherwise I will write my own opus and call it The Holy Bible.

They're not. Titles can be trademarked but they're not otherwise protected.

Edit: Well, aside from an army of lawyers if your name is J. K. Rowlings or something. You can do a Trademark search here.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by spaze

I'm pretty sure some names are protected in some way even though they are not trademarked.

Otherwise I will write my own opus and call it The Holy Bible.

I saw a Holy Bible 2 a while ago, presumably an unauthorised sequel. Can't find it now.

I was quite annoyed when I found out my first choice of title had already been taken (quite recently too), but I did pinch it from an old radio show, so I guess that's fair enough.

What about writer names? Would you get away with calling yourself Stephanie King or Jamie Herbert?

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by carld

They're not. Titles can be trademarked but they're not otherwise protected.

Edit: Well, aside from an army of lawyers if your name is J. K. Rowlings or something. You can do a Trademark search here.

What does it mean if a trademark is "dead"?

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield...001:s3db7b.3.2

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by spaze

I'm pretty sure some names are protected in some way even though they are not trademarked.

Otherwise I will write my own opus and call it The Holy Bible.

You are entirely free to do so. Whom do you imagine is going to stop you?

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by spaze

I'm pretty sure some names are protected in some way even though they are not trademarked.

Otherwise I will write my own opus and call it The Holy Bible.

You can. No doubt someone has. And, Rule 34 being what it is, it was probably porn.

Think of how many books are called The Holy Bible. They're not all the same book, or close to it. Some are different versions of the same text. Some are different translations of the same sources. Some are the, um, less mainstream opinions of various groups with only a nodding acquaintance with either of the first categories. And, yeah, some are probably not only way out in left field but over the wall, across a couple streets, and doing something unmentionable in an alley.

Of course, the big problem isn't what you call it; it's whether people buy it. Someone who's searching for The Holy Bible probably wants what you would normally think of under that name, and isn't going to want some whacked-out cult's edition, let alone some random book that isn't the Bible at all. And someone who wants to read something else probably isn't going to be looking under that name, either. If someone's friend tells them "hey, I just read this great mystery novel, except the author for some unaccountable reason called it the Bible" and that person goes to search for it, they're going to find thousands of the "other" Bible with yours buried in there somewhere, and give up. So you want to pick a name that people can find. Realistically, that requires trying for one with as few mistaken hits, as few collisions, and as little confusion as possible. You want the people trying to give you money to be able to do it as easily as possible.