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I know you are joking, but there is a sad, realistic side to this. The reality of publishing is that you don't even get new editions when there are clear mistakes because new editions don't happen very often - too costly.

Years ago I wrote on of the bigwigs in Alfred about a couple mistakes and received an answer something like this:

"We appreciated your suggestions, but unfortunately there won't be another edition for at least several more years."

So that's the reality. And that's why I do all my own music. Because it is mine, under my control, I can instantly change/improve anything, at any moment. I also don't have a company "suggesting" changes that would "standardize" what I'm doing.

Gary, imagine this: In order to keep the prices low, I print 10,000 copies of an edition. I won't print anything else until this print run goes out.

Unfortunately music scores don't move THAT fast, so it's an ongoing issue. Harry Potter gets a re-print every couple of months, music scores not.

On the other hand "standardizing" can be useful, as a sort of a quality control. I think there's so much material out there, and not everyone can thin it out...

This has really got me thinking a bit. I have only a modest yardstick on my own site and the stats for various titles. I have about ten percent pieces with frankly feminine names. About forty percent with classical titles such as "Prelude" or "Sonatina", another fifteen or twenty percent with titles borrowed from Quantum Physics and the rest are whimsy. All are written for younger or less-experienced pianists.

Astonishingly, the downloads for "Nikki's Waltz" show it as the overwhelming favorite with more than twice as many as any other title. It's not a particularly stunning piece. "Ivanka" is another popular one ( well before the elections ) The Quantum physics pieces and whimsical titles were immediately popular. While the classical titles did not fare so well. Preludes and Waltzes were popular but "Sonatinas" bombed badly with a lovely "Gigue" ( My favorite time signature) coming in an abysmal last.

As I remember you had wonderfully whimsical titles on your "Fairyland in Treble". I think that's the way to go. Humor and whimsy encode charm right from the get-go. I agree with AZN Piano that "descriptive" titles are very appealing and age well. And I've taken some great hints for myself in this thread. I've never given this topic enough thought and it IS an important one. I've just now posted "Whimsy & Descriptive" on my wall. As a reminder.

Another suggestion which may not be practical and since you are an Independent Publisher you may not find it appropriate. I offer advance apologies here before proferring it. But it does offer an alternative to printing out thousands of copies. I produced a self published book through Create Space, a subsidiary of Amazon. It took me 6 months to learn the details of producing a book, since I didn't want to pay a professional the quoted fee of over $4000. And I wanted the challenge. It was an odyssey.

But the result was so professional that I couldn't believe it, when I held the "proof" copy in my hands. The printing was clean as a whistle, the paper a beautiful heavy cream and every illustration or photograph reprinted to perfection. The whole project cost me a mere $2.99 ... the price of the one proof copy. ( And six months of my life!)

Now here are the bonuses

1) The book is printed "On demand" ... So I needn't invest in or stock thousands of copies
2) I can edit or correct at any time ( fortunately not yet necessary)
3) A certain amount of Google coverage acrues, since Amazon is printing and selling
4) Everything is taken care of. Shipping, billing etc. etc.
5) I was able to create my own publishing company. So there is no indication on the book that it is self-published.
6) Prices if I buy directly are very very reasonable. So I can resell easily.

Here are the drawbacks

1) Your profits are abysmally low. If Amazon handles the sales.
2) The formatting is very restricted. My book was the regular 9 x 6 inches. The largest available is the 8.5 by 11"
3) The coil binding, which I prefer for music, isn't available.

You have probably looked into all this ... but if not, I have had an exceptionally good experience going this route. But my book was a collection of short stories, and not a music score. I plan to produce an illustrated music score for the Quantum series and will "test it out" in the near future.

Since I can afford the only monetary requirement ... which is $2.99 for the proof copy.

...The "Ant"

Just call them love themes.

Maybe the girls will want to play them at age 10 and the boys won't, but then every boy in his teens will suddenly arrive at a point where he just needs to play something like this for hours and hours in the middle of the night. (I know you fellows have all been there.)


also, many happy returns Nikolas