More than Just a Rating discussion

How much do you pay attention to titles?

I think that mostly I do so to initially screen a book to see if there's a chance it's possibly going to appeal to me, then I read the blurb and probably forget the title.

I seldom remember to check whether the title helps focus or explain the story. Most titles are fairly innocuous, it seems. Or mysterious. I'm reading the Murderbot series right now and I have no idea what All Systems Red means, and the occurrence of the phrase Artificial Condition in the text doesn't really help my understandings, either.

And then there are the very catchy ones, like A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons.

Oh, and in non-fiction, I occasionally notice a title that way over-promises what will be delivered, and that really frustrates me.

I do pay attention to titles, but I don't read blurbs or descriptions usually. If I do, it's just to get a very vague or general idea of genre and topic. I almost never want to know as much as the description provides.

Regarding "All Systems Red", I take this to mean that there's a malfunction or failure across the board, or the systems are not operating as intended. All systems green would mean that everything is functioning as it should, no issues, but red is a warning/error/failure indicator. Like a pilot would do pre-flight checks of engine systems, navigation systems, fuel lines, etc, and hope that those statuses all come back green, meaning functionally within design specifications and as intended.

Relevant to Murderbot, (view spoiler)[the SecUnit was programmed with specific protocols and actions, but given that it jailbroke itself, and has subverted those programs means that technically any status checks are no longer returning green, because it is operating outside of design now. (It hacked those too, of course, so that nobody would KNOW it's operating out of scope.)
Artificial Condition likely refers to the sentience/self-awareness it has now. It's not human, but is also not only a machine anymore either. (hide spoiler)]

Thanks! Everything you say helps me! I may or may not have to visit in SFFBC to get help with the others.

The other thing that bugs me is when there are a dozen books with all the same title and the one I want is on the second page of search results because GR thinks that exact title match is less relevant than popularity. If I were an author I would certainly run my title thru GR and thru search engines to make it as unique as possible.

Glad to help!

I’m completely with you on the popular title thing. I hate when a book is hard to find because there are so many other similar titles.

Cheryl wrote: "How much do you pay attention to titles?

I think that mostly I do so to initially screen a book to see if there's a chance it's possibly going to appeal to me, then I read the blurb and probably ..."

I would say I pay attention to both title and author and associate the title with the story but may not always remember if it's some time later. That's why I keep lists of authors, books, and series.

An exception is when I read book bundle of a series. I look at the individual books titles but think of it by series name.

Cheryl wrote: "How much do you pay attention to titles?
..."

Title caught me!

It Was All the Cat's Fault

Free helped but it was the title that grabbed me.

Ah, good one! Thanks, I want to investigate this now, myself!

I did recently enjoy Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World and believe it to be a perfect title for a terrific book. (I don't use the subtitle when recommending this to other readers.)

Similar reaction to the wonderful Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?.

Cheryl wrote: "Ah, good one! Thanks, I want to investigate this now, myself!

I did recently enjoy Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World and believe it to be a..."

Thanks. Bumped Better Living Through Birding to top of my list.

Cheryl wrote: "I did recently enjoy Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World and believe it to be a perfect title for a terrific book. (I don't use the subtitle when recommending this to other readers.)"

Why not? If the person you're recommending it to is the type to be offended by the title, they'd likely realize it was more than just a bird book as soon as they saw the cover or description and would be just as unlikely to read it. Same result, just an additional step for them. Unless that's your objective, just to get them to look at it?

Personally, I have little interest in birding (I like birds, but wouldn't be interested in reading a book just about birdwatching), but I AM interested in his story and experiences and would hope that there's something a bit memoir-y about it. I added it based on the subtitle but wouldn't have given it a second look based on the title itself.

You make good points. I hadn't thought about it that much. I don't hang out with people likely to be offended so that issue didn't occur to me.

To clarify, first, of course I use the full title online.

But irl, I've been just using the catchier brief title, and talking about the book in more depth than just a short subtitle. And most times I've had the book in hand, to be ready to show them after I introduced it. (Mother, sons, and about a dozen members of library book club have been exposed to it this way.)

Ah well that makes sense for sure. I never use subtitles in IRL conversation either. It just feels weird!