Titles, what are they good for?

I thought I’d bring up something I’ve always found interesting- book titles.

Some authors have all their titles set up before they dive in, series titles, individual book titles, etc. Yeah, me not so much ;).

My first series (which might come out some day- it's not my first ever book --which no longer exists ;)) is the Chaos series...yeah, doesn't really have a name. But the books do: Essence of Chaos, Division of Chaos, and Destruction of Chaos. Sort of a story arc in title form. Chaos in this world refers to magic and those titles fit.

The Lost Ancients series started out with a very long title for the first book: The Glass Gargoyle of The Last Elven King. Yeah, that got axed. I trimmed the title for an event before I published and realized that worked much better--and shows up in a thumbnail for the cover much better ;). The rest of the books all are named after other relics. The series name was just something quick to gather all the books--and the whole series does revolve around those long lost ancient folks ;). The faeries wanted to call it the drunken faery chronicles, but I out voted them.

The term Asarlaí is an Irish term that means sorcerer, wizard, or magician. I was looking for a term like that, and I liked the way the word looked. The accent over the ‘I’ is a pain as I have to adjust it everywhere I mention the series ;). (Note—might want to stay away from accented words ;))

The titles in the series are Warrior Wench, Victorious Dead, and Defiant Ruin. I wanted titles that were short and could hold double meaning. All three titles are names of  space ships in the books, and they also speak to what’s going on in the series.

My main character Vaslisha Tor Dain is not someone who would take being called a Wench lightly, but with a ship of that name it does happen. Victorious Dead concerns not only the name of her beloved ship, but people lost in the first book. Defiant Ruin sort of explains what happens when everything in the Galaxy goes to hell in a handbasket.

The steam punk that will be out later this year, is an open ended series-- not in a set number of books. I only have one title set so far—book one: A Curious Invasion. I wanted something again fairly short, but also that fight with the whimsy of a lighter steam punk (and there is an alien invasion as well ;)).

I see my titles as important as the cover in setting my brand. As a reader I enjoy books in a series that share a style of title. Adds to the cohesiveness for me.

What about you? What are your feelings about titles—both for series and for specific books?