Are you wrestling with the problem of naming a publication? If you are getting ready to publish a new handbook, or a newsletter, short and snappy may not be your best qualities for a title.
 In the first place, there are only so many words to fit in short titles: Quality (or Annual) Report, Handbook for Excellence, etc.--and besides which these are so dull. Furthermore, short titles may say little or nothing about the content you offer your reader. A long title may be just the thing to tell your readers exactly what to expect, and attract the ones interested in what you have to say. Consider using nine or ten words in your title, including a subtitle. Here's one example: Abraham Lincoln's Favorite Pastime: Storytelling in Mid-Nineteenth Century America. The first phrase intrigues because it mentions Lincoln and makes the reader want to know more. The second phrase is not mysterious, but highly specific: readers will learn about storytelling in the mid-1800's. And note that the topic is specific: not stories themselves, but their telling. Now let's suppose you are ready to issue a report on your quality management progress in the past year. Here's a possible example: How Quality Comes About: Teamwork for Improvement at Stratton Hospital, 2011. The first phrase is poetic. It has a pleasing rhythm, and it states, if indirectly, that quality was achieved. The second phrase gives the specifics: Teamwork did the job, it happened at Stratton, and in 2011. Now the reader is curious: how exactly did teams bring about this success?
It's a little like solving a puzzle: find the pieces for an opening that romances the reader, and then close it with solid information.
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