And What Universe Is This?

New York Magazine talks to Alicia Erian (left) about her debut novel’s title…

How did you come up with such a provocative title?
The book had a different title initially–Welcome to the Moral Universe. It comes from a speech that Daddy makes to Jasira. Then I turned the manuscript in, and then my editor said, “Okay, new title.” I was flipping through the book just looking for words, and the word that kept jumping out was towelhead, and I thought, Oh, that’s horrifying–I could never call the book that. But then I thought, Well, this is a publisher’s wet dream–this has got to be the way to go.

Another wet dream for publishers? Hearing authors give in to publishers’ “horrifying” “wet dreams” … Because, at every point along the writing process, the key word is submission.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.