Catalog copy for new book–help w subtitle?

October 4, 2008   |   21 Comments

This is how Simon & Schuster will describe my new book in their catalog. It includes the title, subtitle, brief description, and some very nice quotes to give me credibility and make me sound cool.

Next step is to submit the manuscript (Oct 15) and then begin revisions based on editor’s comments and vision, which I look forward to very much. Then at some point, cover ideas will start floating around, probably in early 2009.

Nobody (meaning me, my agent, my editor at S&S) really loves the subtitle. I’m thinking of something more along the lines of “Discovering the True Path to Love” because it points to the wisdom journey that you take when your heart is broken and is less prescriptive. That said, people definitely want to know why it hurts and how to make it stop. Most of all, I think when your heart is broken, you want to know that you’re going to be okay. You will love again. You will stop desiring this particular person or mourning the relationship. But how to say that in a catchy (but not cutesy) subtitle? I open the floor to suggestions!!

The Wisdom of a Broken Heart
Why It Hurts So Much and How to Make It Stop

The New York Times bestselling author of The Hard Questions and relationship columnist for Body & Soul looks at the hardest part of a relationship—heartbreak—and provides a practical, steadying, compassionate plan for emerging a stronger, braver, spiritually transformed person.

“The heart that is broken has been broken open,” writes Susan Piver. “When my heart was broken, it changed my life…From this most painful experience came the ability to find and appreciate lasting love.” The anguish and disappointment of a broken heart is devastating and overwhelming, but as Susan Piver reveals in The Wisdom of a Broken Heart, it can also create an opportunity for genuine spiritual transformation, paradoxically leaving one both stronger and softer—and capable of loving even more deeply than before.

Filled with on-the-spot practices, exercises, funny stories (often drawn from her own experience), poems, meditations, and down-to-earth, practical advice on how to cope with day-to-day miseries, The Wisdom of a Broken Heart offers a priceless prescription of solace and encouragement, wisdom and humor. Like an infinitely patient, trusted friend, it tells its readers in a thousand different ways the most important thing to remember and the easiest to forget: “You’re going to be okay.”

Praise for Susan Piver:
“Susan Piver is a deeply intuitive and innovative thinker. She has both tenderness and acuity regarding what concerns us. I could not recommend her more highly.”
—Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way

“Susan Piver shows us how to create a fearless life.”
— Andrew Weil, M.D., author of Healthy Aging

Susan Piver’s bestselling books include The Hard Questions: 100 Essential Questions to Ask Before You Say ‘I Do,’ and How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life. A graduate of a Buddhist seminary, she writes the relationships column for Body & Soulmagazine and is a frequent guest on network television, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, and The Tyra Banks Show.

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21 Comments

  • Posted by:  Sarah Jackson

    Hmmm…I keep thinking “Sanity” and “Compassion”.

    The Wisdom of Heartbreak: How to regain your sanity with blah, blah and compassion.

    Not final copy, but something like that…

  • Posted by:  Leanna

    What about something like: “feeling it fully and moving on”? Or “diving in and coming up on the other side.” It might just be me, but this is what I had to do when my heart broke. I kept visualizing myself diving into a pool, and knowing that I’d have to touch the bottom so I could get the momentum to push myself back up out of the water.

    I think the “discovering the True path to love” might not resonate with someone in the midst of a broken heart. they might be thinking, well I had found the true path to love and it did this to me.

    And “why it hurts so much and how to make it stop” doesn’t seem to go with what is in the book.

  • Posted by:  bob

    How about borrowing a little from Leonard Cohen’s Anthem, e.g.: “… it’s how the light gets in.”

  • Posted by:  susan

    Thanks for wonderful comments. I really think there’s something to work with on the “How to regain your sanity” front. And the concept of diving in and coming up on the other side is pretty much exactly the theme of the book. Subtitle needs to somehow express this sentiment. Maybe something like “Finding sanity without losing your mind…” (I’m not very good at titles…) And, Bob, one of the chapters is called “How the Light Gets In” and is based around that line!

    Thank you all for the tasty food for thought.

  • Posted by:  Martha

    I like the ideas of coming out the other side and keeping or regaining one’s sanity. But really the whole idea that after plunging in, one will (eventually) really be okay, to me that would be a great message.

  • Posted by:  shula

    “What to do with the pain… and how it will lead you back to your own [wisdom]”

    …or something like that? I was trying to find a better word than wisdom, or sanity, because although I think those are true, perhaps they might scare people away (“I’m smart, wisdom’s not my problem” or “That book must be for crazy people”). I agree with Leanna’s words about how people might respond the first two subtitle ideas. It seems to me that something like “What to do with the pain” speaks to the longing behind the feeling of “how can I make it stop” — that frantic, frantic feeling of needing to DO SOMETHING about it — without offering the false hope of “making” it stop. I would buy in an instant a book that told me some things I could DO with the pain of heartbreak… I wish I could read it right this second!

    Best wishes with it.

  • Posted by:  Michelle

    I keep thinking of the idea of a broken heart teaching me something…the idea of living with it and letting it teach us the value that comes with the risk of opening your heart to begin with.

  • Posted by:  Nicole Lynn Lewis

    That’s a toughy, but what a great book idea. So many people need a how-to book for getting over a broken heart. I could have used one from time to time!

    Thanks,

    Nicole Lynn Lewis
    Check out my blog: http://nicoleink.blogspot.com

  • Posted by:  susan

    Michelle and Everyone, I like the idea of living with it and letting it teach me, too. That’s exactly right. Here are some options I’ve come up with and mainly they suck, but hey, that’s brainstorming for you:

    Why it Hurts So Much, How to Make it Stop, and What You Can Learn

    Why it Hurts So Much and How Listening to it Can Make it Stop

    Making Friends with Heartache

    Relax. See Where You Are. Be Where You Are.

    Finding Sanity and Recovering the Will to Love

    Regaining the Will to Love

    Finding the Meaning and Healing the Hurt

    Dive In, Learn the Lesson, and Let Go

    Letting the Hurt in to Let it Go

    Feel the Feelings, Learn the Lesson, and Let Go

    Your Heart is Smarter Than You Think

    Listening to What Your Heart has to Tell You

    What it Can Teach You and Where to Go From Here

    Discovering the Truth About Love When You’ve Lost It

    A Guide to Love When You Think You’ve Lost It

    Surviving Lost Love Without Losing Your Mind

    From Brokenhearted to Wholehearted

    When the Heart is Broken, the Teacher Appears

    How to Hear What It’s Trying to Tell You

    If You Listen, it Will Tell You Everything You Need to Know

    You are Already Strong Enough to Heal

    The Intelligence of Sorrow and How it Can Heal You

    What it Can Teach You About Love, Life, and Self

    If You Open to It, It Will Heal You

    Opening To It, Learning From It, and Letting it Make You Stronger

    Undergoing Life’s Most Powerful Transformation and Discovering the Truth About Love

    Discovering Your True Self When You Think Love is Lost

    Beyond Surviving: Discovering Your Power to Heal

    How the Worst Thing to Ever Happen Teaches You Everything You Need to Know

    Doggone it, Get Over it! You Betcha! (Wink, Wink)*

    *Just kidding about that one

  • Posted by:  shula

    Here’s what I’d vote for… I really, really like the (unintended?) pun in the first one:

    A Guide to Love When You Think You’ve Lost It

    Finding the Meaning and Healing the Hurt

    Discovering Your True Self When You Think Love is Lost

    Good luck! Thanks for your work. I discovered an article of yours in Shambhala Sun while in the midst of a heartwrenching separation where there’s (still) deep love and connection on both sides. Your articles have been a source of nourishment and wisdom. Thanks.

  • Posted by:  katrin

    I had the same agony trying to decide on a book I just published, and finally our publishers came up with a title that we hated at first and then grew to like when it was paired with the cover image. It’s sooooooo hard to get right!

    What about something simple like: Leave the Pain Behind by Embracing its Healing Power.

    Katrin
    co-author “Mothers Need Time-Outs, Too” (McGraw-Hill 2008)
    http://www.momstimeouts.com

  • Posted by:  Shahnaz

    The Wisdom of Heartbreak: Let your Loss Guide You to Healing and Loving Again.

  • Posted by:  Shahnaz

    I also really like “A Guide to Love When You Think You’ve Lost It”

  • Posted by:  Louise

    I’ve been reading your blog–it’s always so interesting. There must be many flaws in a relationshiop that ends up with someone having a broken heart. I would think that one must be struggling all the time to please the other. I don’t know how to phrase it, but what I hearned from a broken heart was how much stronger I was when I fell in love with Dad—fifty-five years ago! I APPRECIATED his loving me and, to this day, I value his love. I felt so safe and secure. I can’t find the words to express it. In looking back I’m glad I had a broken heart—I learned so much.
    I love you, Susan,
    Mother

  • Posted by:  susan

    My mom commented on my blog!! That is the best thing, ever. Not to mention a great example of how heartbreak can bring wisdom…

    And am I ever happy it did, otherwise I wouldn’t even be here.

    I can attest: my mom and dad really, really love each other. And I love them. They’ve taught me so much about how to love.

  • Posted by:  susan

    Shula, Katrin, Shahnaz, Michelle–thanks so much for the empathy, not to mention the suggestions. I passed them along to the publisher.

    I so appreciate the ability to brainstorm with you guys!

  • Posted by:  susan

    And thanks to Bob, too!

  • Posted by:  leona

    Embrace the pain so you can embrace love again.

  • Posted by:  Liz

    Congratulations on another book. Just finished your last one and loved it.

    Title thoughts: I wouldn’t use the word Stop at all. (especially not as the header of the book). Stop is negative (and very un-Buddhist; they would want you to embrace and love the pain, not stop it). Start with positive. Heal. Open. Find.
    Offer hope. Balance negative words with positive words – heal/open.

    The Wisdom of a Broken Heart
    Re-discovering Joy after Heartbreak.

    others…
    Healing the Pain. Discovering the Joy.
    Embracing the Hurt.
    Moving beyond the Pain.
    Moving from Pain to Peace.
    Finding Joy after the Pain.
    How Suffering leads to Healing.
    Healing the Pain. Opening Your Soul.
    Re-discovering Joy after Heartbreak.
    From Pain to Hope.
    Moving from Heartbreak to Hope.

  • Posted by:  susan

    liz, thank you so much!! this is really helpful. i especially like rediscovering joy after heartbreak.

    hope you’re well and great to hear from you!

  • Posted by:  Liz

    Thanks, Susan. Yes, that was my favorite, as well. It flows well with the title. If you use it, feel free to squeeze my name (Elizabeth) into that list of people you thank in the book. I hope you’re well too! Time for palm trees…

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