A Soldier's Freedom vs. Freedom || Title Change Explanation

As promised, I'm here today to explain the reason behind the title change of Freedom (formerly, A Soldier's Freedom).

It's really not too big of a deal, but I want to explain everything to y'all so there's no confusion as we move on toward the cover reveal (signups close in 7 days!) and then the blog tour in a few months.

I have several "reasons" for the change—one being that I was never totally sold on the original title—and I could ramble about it all day. But the cut and dry of it is this...

Marine vs. Soldier

James is a Marine. Not a soldier.

Yes, there is a difference. Marine are, well, Marines. Soldiers are Army. Airmen are Air Force....and so on. Don't feel bad if you didn't know there was a difference—I didn't for the longest time. But there is, and because I want this book to be as true and right as I can make it, "soldier" in the title has got to go. 

Yes, yes, some of y'all already pointed this out to me. Yes, I was aware of it then. But I was hesitant to mess with the title when I wasn't sure how I was going to change it. (Nothing is quite as confusing as when an author changes the title of their book a half-dozen times. A time or two doesn't bother me so much. But when it's continuous? Make up your mind, people!)

I considered A Marine's Freedom, but I've never been a fan of how that sounds. I didn't realize the title I wanted was staring me in the face the whole time...

Freedom IS This Book

...but it was.

Y'all, freedom is this book. It's the word, the theme, the meaning that has been stuck in my head concerning this book for, like, ever and ever amen. It's the essence of all this book is.

I even kept saying I wanted "freedom" to be in the title. (What a droolin' idiot!**) It was literally slapping me in the face until one day (or night—I honestly don't remember) I went, "wait, what if Freedom is the title?" And the rest, as they say, is history.

And one word titles? So much #yassss.


** Pardon the grossness, peeps. It's a joke. One which approximately 0.07% of the people reading this will understand. xD 

Correlating Series Titles

Speaking of one word titles, something else I dealt with while configuring a new title for this book was that I wanted the title of each book in the trilogy to correlate in some way.

Freedom is, or will be, the first book in the Liberty's Battlegrounds series. Book #2 is in the works at an on-and-off sort of stage, while the only attention book #3 has received is a bit of brainstorming here and there.

I wanted each of these books to have titles that make it somewhat obvious that they're connected. At first I was thinking, A Soldier's Freedom, A Soldier's Future, and A Soldier's Faith. But, not only is that a bit redundant, it's easy to confuse.

Right now, I'm thinking each book will have a one-word title, beginning with F. Future and Faith are examples and possibilities that may or may not stick around. ;)

so there's that! 

thoughts on the new title? how do YOU choose titles for your WIPs?