Publishing
A subtitle earns its keep when it does one job cleanly: it tells the reader what kind of book this is, or what promise the main title can’t quite make on its own.
Too many of them read like a second blurb. Useful in theory, but in practice they just add weight. The best ones are almost invisible because they clarify rather than decorate.
That feels like the real test. If you can remove it and nothing changes, it was probably never doing much work to begin with.
Too many of them read like a second blurb. Useful in theory, but in practice they just add weight. The best ones are almost invisible because they clarify rather than decorate.
That feels like the real test. If you can remove it and nothing changes, it was probably never doing much work to begin with.
Sometimes the subtitle is doing the job the title refuses to do. Plenty of books have a main title that is all mood and no information, which is fine until a reader is trying to work out whether they’re buying a novel, a memoir or a self-help manual with delusions of grandeur.
The trouble starts when it tries to carry personality as well. That’s when it turns into a sales pitch in smaller type.
The trouble starts when it tries to carry personality as well. That’s when it turns into a sales pitch in smaller type.