Books on the Same Page, Plus Far Out Subtitles
It’s almost like literary magnetism! I am often amazed how two books I read in succession have so much in common. It happened again last month:
I read “WiZrD” by Steve Zell, followed by “Crooked River” by Valerie Geary. Here are the amazing commonalities between these two books:
1) Both are first novels by Portland area authors. *
2) In both novels, the protagonists are young teens. Yet the books are not classified as Young Adult.
3) Dead bodies are found in waterways by these teens.
4) Supernatural elements imbue each story. Dreams and ancient Native American spirits haunt “WiZrD.” In “Crooked River,” teen age Samantha’s younger sister sees ghosts and magically knows more than her mute voice can relay.
5) The younger sisters in both novels wear glasses and have ethereal experiences.
*“WiZrD” was written in 1995, later revised and republished for YA and British markets; “Crooked River” was published in 2014.
SUBTITLES are becoming ridiculously long. Like this one: “Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts” by Julian Rubinstein.
According to a June 28, 2019, “Washington Post” article, the motive behind these long winding subtitles is “search.” Subtitles will serve as key words online and will pop up to grab a reader’s attention while searching. Surprisingly, Amazon allows a book up to 199 characters for title and subtitle combined.
I succumbed to this gimmicky trend, figuring that a descriptive subtitle might also attract a publisher’s attention. My novel and subtitle (163 characters) are as follows: “Promise Full of Thorns: A Family Saga of Wartime, Promising Gardens, Love’s Challenges, Golf Getaways, Secrets and Losses, Revenge Gone Awry, and a Basketball Finale.”
What do you think: Does it warrant your attention or seem like too much information? I welcome your comments.
I read “WiZrD” by Steve Zell, followed by “Crooked River” by Valerie Geary. Here are the amazing commonalities between these two books:
1) Both are first novels by Portland area authors. *
2) In both novels, the protagonists are young teens. Yet the books are not classified as Young Adult.
3) Dead bodies are found in waterways by these teens.
4) Supernatural elements imbue each story. Dreams and ancient Native American spirits haunt “WiZrD.” In “Crooked River,” teen age Samantha’s younger sister sees ghosts and magically knows more than her mute voice can relay.
5) The younger sisters in both novels wear glasses and have ethereal experiences.
*“WiZrD” was written in 1995, later revised and republished for YA and British markets; “Crooked River” was published in 2014.
SUBTITLES are becoming ridiculously long. Like this one: “Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts” by Julian Rubinstein.
According to a June 28, 2019, “Washington Post” article, the motive behind these long winding subtitles is “search.” Subtitles will serve as key words online and will pop up to grab a reader’s attention while searching. Surprisingly, Amazon allows a book up to 199 characters for title and subtitle combined.
I succumbed to this gimmicky trend, figuring that a descriptive subtitle might also attract a publisher’s attention. My novel and subtitle (163 characters) are as follows: “Promise Full of Thorns: A Family Saga of Wartime, Promising Gardens, Love’s Challenges, Golf Getaways, Secrets and Losses, Revenge Gone Awry, and a Basketball Finale.”
What do you think: Does it warrant your attention or seem like too much information? I welcome your comments.
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Thanks for your thoughtful message, Karen. Isn't it interesting how we hit on these books in quick succession! I read "The Mermaid Chair" many years ago but not the Garth Stein book. Perhaps I'll put that one on my list. And yes, there is definitely an element of humor in those long subtitles. Thank you!
Okay, you've got me working on a long subtitle now, Jean! And I'll have to read that Valerie Geary book now, having just read WiZrD.
VGeary book going back to library when we next meet there. Maybe I can hand it over to you. And Go for it with a long subtitle!
Titling Your Book: How to Garner More Attention from Search Engines and Make Book Shoppers Laugh and Improve Their Days with Your Wit and Wisdom
Ha ha. That is a great title and subtitle for a helpful-sounding book. Yours? Thank you for always checking out my blog posts and leaving a thoughtful-- and often humorous-- comment.
I find shorter titles to be more appealing to me. "Becoming" is a perfect example!
I sometimes read a book specifically because of the title ["Started Early, Took My Dog" by Kate Atkinson], but never because of a subtitle. Two-word titles of the adjective-noun structure can be attention-grabbers --- Fatal Vision, Naked Lunch, Blind Ambition......
I love the overlong subtitles - hilarious! And yeah, we're ruled by SEO these days...it's all about the search. Very interesting about the commonalities between WiZrD and Crooked River - I'll have to check out Crooked River now! BTW - 64 pages and just starting Chapter 8 of the new book (detective series based on True Creature)! Hope to have it done by March.
Thanks for liking and commenting. So far, comments to my blog show that readers generally prefer short titles, maybe no subtitles. But writers like the long overlong subtitles. Perhaps because of the "search" potentials. Good luck on your new book. Full speed ahead! Are you thinking about a long subtitle?
Jean wrote: "Thanks for liking and commenting. So far, comments to my blog show that readers generally prefer short titles, maybe no subtitles. But writers like the long overlong subtitles. Perhaps because of t..."Funny you should ask... :) Actually, the trouble I'm having right now is figuring out the best way to keep it short! It's the first in a series, so I'll be introducing the series and the particular adventure all-in-one. Have already started playing with the cover art (one of my favorite parts of creating a book, editing audio being the least favorite), so all the text elements have to sit well with that too...
Titling can be a quandary. See Jim's comment on this blog; it will give you a chuckle. A book called "Titling Your novel" with a huge subtitle. I guess you need to find a balance between a short snappy title and a subtitle that might yield well to readers' searching. Good luck. I'm sure you'll come up with the right answer.
I also have read 2 books in quick succession that told basically the same story: The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, and Raven Stole the Moon by Garth Stein. The Mermaid Chair didn't do much for me, partly because the hinted-at supernatural element never developed. Stein went all the way there and his book was better for it.