Book subtitles are getting ridiculously long.

[APP]

It has definitely gotten out of hand! But no one--including Amazon--seems willing to put an end to this marketing strategy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-subtitles-are-getting-ridiculously-long-what-is-going-on/2019/06/04/3150bcc8-86c3-11e9-98c1-e945ae5db8fb_story.html?utm_term=.1e348d822357

[RPatton]

Except the cases the Post commented on are mostly tongue-in-cheek. Yeah, there are benefits of getting into search terms, but at least it's not word soup. I have two long subtitles, both are tongue in cheek and not just a combination of keywords.There are some long subtitles I love when I read them because they make me snort out a laugh. And then there are those that cause me to roll my eyes and snort in derision.

However short of limiting the characters to X, there will always be people who take advantage of the situation. Although, Amazon is also a blame here. They came down on subtitles a while ago. You couldn't use a subtitle that was also a category. You can't subtitle your book, A Romance. Some of those multi-word subtitles is a way to get around that Amazon restriction, and while annoying it's at least understandable.

[APP]

I agree the examples are tongue-in-cheek, but when you want to call people's attention to what you perceive as a problem, you tend to choose outlandish samples.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

I think that using a genre as a sub-title would be most helpful to readers. How often do writers submit a cover and ask if it fits the genre? If the genre was on the cover it would be clear to everyone.

If I was scrolling down the bestseller list I wouldn't click on romance, sci-fi and other genres I don't read, so it would save me at least on click to check out the genre if it wasn't clear from the cover.

[She-la-te-da]

It's Amazon's fault for making subtitles searchable. People are told to stuff them full of search terms, so they do. Heck, I've done some stuff with subtitles for some of my short stories. Unless Amazon stops it from working, I'll keep on. (Nothing like stuffing it full of search terms, but I do call the shorts what they are, and it's on the covers, too. So, skimming around the rules a bit.)

[JRTomlin]

I've always had my main category as a subtitle. When I first did it, it just seemed logical to make sure readers knew what I was offering. Now it is kind of part of my branding. But I have ONE subcategory and it is on the cover as a subtitle. After a number of years, Amazon has never objected.

The ones that absolutely irritate me are the subtitles that say: "exciting, character-driven crime fiction with lots of twists" to which I tend to say "Oh, really" before I move on.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

I've always had my main category as a subtitle. When I first did it, it just seemed logical to make sure readers knew what I was offering. Now it is kind of part of my branding. But I have ONE subcategory and it is on the cover as a subtitle. After a number of years, Amazon has never objected.

The ones that absolutely irritate me are the subtitles that say: "exciting, character-driven crime fiction with lots of twists" to which I tend to say "Oh, really" before I move on.

Well at least it saved you from clicking on it.