Joe

I'll add Bridge of Clay: Surprise, It Wasn't Worth the Wait & The Book Thief It Ain't Shiver: Teens, Apparently, Will Have Sex With Anything Supernatural A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Neither of These Things Is True Hatchet: If Only The Plane Crash Had Killed Him

Posted : Dec 19, 2018 04:16

Elizabeth Law

No, I very much doubt that traditional publishing will go that way with subtitles. But our descriptive copy and the bolded tag lines that open Amazon reviews are going to be a lot more in your face and less discursive, at least if we are doing our jobs. Meanwhile, how about The Fountainhead: You'll Wonder What You Ever Saw in It

Posted : Aug 22, 2018 03:54

Elizabeth Law

But, ok, I've got a few. Twilight: 650 Pages of Yearning The Salt Line: It's Not as Good as Station Eleven, but It's Something Moby Dick: The Chapters Are Really Short Northanger Abbey: Everybody's Least Favorite The Little Friend: Ignore the Murder, it's Just about a Kid Today Will Be Different: You've Seen this Before, as the Author's Previous Book

Posted : Aug 22, 2018 03:44

Elizabeth Law

Rather than contribute to your wonderfully witty list (and get off it with your beef about Daughter of Time, already), I want to defend the subtitles you see on Amazon. Editors and publishers, and especially people who self-publish, have been taught all about how Amazon algorithms work and that the first 25 words in any book description--including its title--are crucial. If you get a hook into your title, then people who type in "books that are heart-stopping" or "Gritty crime thrillers" are more likely to see your book in their search results. Editors of my era, who were trained for years to write copy that sells to librarians and teachers, who were the primary buyers of our books, are now learning to write copy for the internet-shopping parent, grandparent or teen. And those authors you list have clearly caught on, too.

Posted : Aug 22, 2018 03:39