Vote on the Book Title

2007 August 29 – 12:26 pm | Categories: Book| Leave a comment

First of all I’d like to say thank you to all those highly creative people who played “Name the Book.” If you haven’t already seen all the title suggestions, I suggest going back to have a look. Some of them are hilarious!

I’ve chosen my top 4 favorites (a tough task), checked Amazon.com to make sure there wasn’t already a book published with that same title (sadly, some of the good ones you suggested were taken), and put together a little poll.

“Hey! Why didn’t my title suggestion make it to the poll?!”

I don’t know. Maybe it was just too silly. Or maybe it was a brilliant title for a book I haven’t written yet (some of them seemed like good cookbook titles). I know it wasn’t fair asking you to name a book you haven’t read, but you did great.

Chinese titles (like the name of this blog) won’t work for the book title because I think the market includes people who haven’t learned any Chinese and might say, “I don’t want to learn Laowai Chinese, I want to learn Mandarin Chinese.” If you already speak some Chinese and want to take it to the next level, you’re still in the market for this book. I just didn’t want to exclude beginners with an esoteric title.

Also, I would like to also emphasize that I, as the author, only have partial control over the actual title that gets printed on the book. It’s possible that the publisher will veto my title suggestion and pick their own (although it’s usually collaborative). That’s another reason I want to do this poll, to show some objective data about what the potential market thinks of various titles (that’s all of you).

“So What Happens Next?”

  1. Cast your vote below for the title you think best goes with the subtitle above the poll (newly updated).
  2. Check back on this site or subscribe to receive updates via email or RSS for all news related to the publication of my book including the winner of the “Name the Book” contest.
  3. Enjoy the other posts (like the Tone Changes one I just put up).

Vote Here

Here’s the subtitle that will go under the title:

A Handbook of Strategies for Speaking and Understanding Mandarin Chinese

By Albert Wolfe

What's the best title? (poll closed now, sorry)

  • Chinese on Your Own (18%, 15 Votes)
  • Mastering Mandarin (43%, 36 Votes)
  • Secrets of the Chinese Language (11%, 9 Votes)
  • So You Want to Learn Chinese (28%, 23 Votes)

Total Voters: 83

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  1. 13 Responses to “Vote on the Book Title”

  2. Joel CHINA said:

    I don’t like “on your own,” because learning a language requires lots of interaction with other people, and that title could be taken the wrong way. “Mastering Mandarin” doesn’t sound like beginner material. Of the remaining two, I picked “So you want to learn…?” but it needs a question mark at the end.

    Comment date: Aug 29, 2007

  3. Gaber UNITED STATES said:

    Chinese or Die is still awesome. Tyler deserves a consolation prize. As does Brandar and his book on Chinese in reverse that he did that you wrote.

    Comment date: Aug 30, 2007

  4. Ingo GERMANY said:

    I agree with Joel about “on your own” and “mastering”.

    Comment date: Aug 30, 2007

  5. Owen CHINA said:

    I may choose Secrets of the Chinese language and so you want to learn Chinese, both of which are more related to daily life and also show your mood when traveling around in China. Skill, tip or secret are better than “master”. I tried but couldn’t create any title for the book.

    Comment date: Sep 4, 2007

  6. Rosalie Wang CHINA said:

    Publish the book,Albert @.@

    Comment date: Sep 7, 2007

  7. Alison CHINA said:

    I’m sorry,I opened my email just now.
    In my opinion,I prefer the title of “so you want to learn Chinese”
    Besides,The Teachers’Day is coming .
    Happy Teachers’ Day!

    Comment date: Sep 8, 2007

  8. Jenbunch UNITED STATES said:

    Albert, I am so dang proud of you! I know nothing about Mandarin, but will still purchase your book–even if you do go with Chinese or Die. Holla to any of your old bandmates who are reading this!

    Comment date: Sep 9, 2007

  9. David UNITED STATES said:

    Albert,
    Glad to hear you are doing well. Congratulations on completing the book. Mastering Mandarin is a catchy title. Wish you well in finding a publisher.
    Take care,
    David

    Comment date: Sep 15, 2007

  10. Mom UNITED STATES said:

    Have you considered removing the first 2 words and making it just, “Want to Learn Chinese?”

    I’m so proud of you!

    Comment date: Sep 25, 2007

  11. Thomas AUSTRALIA said:

    Mastering Mandarin sounds best. As previous posters indicated it does sound somewhat like a book intended for an advanced audience. I suggest a subtitle like “A Beginner’s Guide to the Chinese Language” or whatever to clear up that ambiguity. Mastering Mandarin is an awesome title and I’m surprised it’s not already taken!

    Comment date: Nov 6, 2007

  12. John Tatum CHINA said:

    I think Mastering Mandarin needs something added like maybe A Simplified Method..or A Good Method …but I agree it is the best title…even if mastery is not the intended goal of the book.

    Comment date: Nov 24, 2007

  13. R. Price UNITED STATES said:

    I voted for Mastering Mandarin. But I vote we make the full title: “Mastering Mandarin: A Manual of Methods for Maximizing Mass Mimicry of the Main Modern Chinese Mode of Mouth Messages”

    Enough tomfoolery. This is a great site. See you soon.

    Comment date: Jul 24, 2008

  14. Albert CHINA said:

    I’m just posting the official title now. Thanks again for all the suggestions everyone.

    Comment date: Aug 4, 2008

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