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The short answer is that there is no right answer. The hardest word choice in any book is the handful of words that make up the title. And if I were allowed to give advice then the advice I would give is to trust in magical word angels who will eventually whisper in your ear and tell you what the title should be. But let's say that the whispering word ...

Book titles are often duplicated quite by accident, and there is pretty much no way of preventing other people from publishing a book with the same title. It happens all the time, and as long as the title isn't something trademarked (like something in the Star Wars universe), it's generally not a problem. I'd recommend you concentrate on writing the book, ...

My book, Writing The Science Fiction Film, is due out in April 2013 but it already has an ISBN number. I didn't deal with it my publisher MWP organised it, but it shows that it is possible to do. They've also told me that it will appear for pre-order on Amazon etc. very soon (this is 6 months in advance of publication date!) and it obviously will need one ...

I have trouble coming up with titles, too! Yet titles matter. Busy agents and publishers aren't going to spend much time looking at material that appears uninteresting, and your title (in addition to your cover letter and perhaps your first few sentences/pages) is one of the few opportunities you have to catch their attention. Even if the title is changed ...

Find a key word or phrase and then start searching through Bartleby's and Shakespeare to see if any good quotes come up. Even if they don't, just looking at poetry might shake something loose.

The truth is (as usually) not nearly as simple. There are different styles of writing and different audiences you're aiming at, but not only the split doesn't go along the line of "online/offline", the line is not nearly as clear-cut as you're trying to make it. Some of the longest books even written never reach paper and have avid audience online. And ...