So, I’ve been working on setting up Fury in the Gulf, and have run into a couple of snags. Part of the entire plan to begin with was to utilize Amazon Marketing Services extensively, and Facebook ads to a lesser extent, to spread the readership wider. However, I seem to have run afoul of both entities’ ad guidelines in the process.
While the messages I’ve gotten have been extremely vague and non-commital, it appears that the title Brannigan’s Bastards isn’t passing one of their filters for “vulgar and/or profane language.” Considering that it’s the series’ title, this presents a problem.
Now, I’ve got two possible courses of action here. I can either say, “Screw it, drive on,” and try to continue the current, mostly word of mouth model, keeping everything as-is. Or, I can attempt to re-brand the entire series, so that it gets past the filters and can actually get to readers who might not have heard of my stuff before.
Now, trying to think of a different title was a problem. Part of the initial inspiration for Brannigan’s Bastards as a series title was the old Marine Black Sheep Squadron, which the pilots initially wanted to call “Boyington’s Bastards.” There was also an old, WWII pulp adventure series entitled “The Rat Bastards.” (Apparently, that would not be allowed today.) “Misfits” would be a fitting replacement for “Bastards,” but “Brannigan’s Misfits” just doesn’t have the same punch. “Mitchell’s Misfits” might work, but it would mean completely renaming the lead character.
However, I had an idea. Brannigan’s Blackhearts could still work, being close in sound, similar in meaning and punch, and wouldn’t require a great deal of tweaking in the files already set. And, it’s something of a callback to an old 1st Recon Bn callsign from ’03-’04.
I’d like to hear your thoughts, readers. How does Brannigan’s Blackhearts sound?
Doesn’t have the same gut punch impact, but still works.
As a fan of action series I’ll buy it no matter the title. I like the connection to old series’s of books and battalion names.
This sucks, and while this won’t help, Bastard is actually a name:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastard_(surname)
Blackhearts works but damn they are giving you the no-go for bastards? Sad, really sad. I will be reading it either way, thank you PC police.
That’s what it appears to be, anyway.
I’ll buy it either way, but yeah, bastards is way better, IMO. ‘Blackhearts’ just sounds too… literary? to me. I have a hard time imagining a bunch of US ex-military types choosing ‘blackhearts’ to name their outfit. Self-labeling as ‘bastards’, OTOH… The type of humor and self-irony I’ve observed from the US service people I know fits this a lot better.
I think the main reason I picked Blackhearts was the fact that “Blackheart” really was the 1st Recon callsign about thirteen years ago. And there are a lot of Recon Marines who are damned proud of that callsign.
I’m not happy about having to change the title. I liked Brannigan’s Bastards for a reason. It’s punchy, and it’s definitely a callback to several historical and “literary” predecessors. But business has to take some priority here. And if this is the only major change I HAVE to make, that’s not too bad. Imagine what some of the mainstream publishers these days would demand…
As others have said, I will buy it regardless of title since I love your work. Blackhearts should do the job for marketing, etc…
Like everyone else, for me the Title isn’t as important as the Author, and if that whats needed for the business side, then so be it. I think you could even use this, Bastards is pretty much self-explanatory, but Blackhearts hints at a backstory, how Brannigan’s Bastards became Brannigan’s Blackhearts…
As others have said I’ll buy this no matter the title as I’m already hooked on your writing. That being said, I do like the original title better. Could you just re-brand the advertisements on social media but keep the book name in place? Just a thought.
I thought about that, but the series title on the listing being different from the title on the cover and in the book just seems jankety and unprofessional to me. Professional presentation is going to be part of what sells.