As readers, bloggers, bibliophiles, and book lovers, we all know the power of a (not so) beautiful cover – because, admittedly, we judge books by their covers. There’s no shame in that. Covers are partly marketing tools, so our general immediate feelings regarding an ugly or pretty cover are, essentially, productive feedback.
But I think there’s something we’re leaving out of this equation: Titles.
Titles are just as much marketing tools as covers, especially when no cover is present. This, of course, refers mostly to online book browsing/shopping, but could be applicable to outdated publications. Cover or no cover, I believe a title is important. This post over at The Guardian thinks so, too. (I enjoy the bit about there being a “‘samey title’ virus” and that each genre or age category has title trends.)
If you haven’t already noticed, YA novels tend to have short, sweet and simple titles. Heck, most are just one word. (Divergent, Delirium, Bumped, Rampant, Matched, Wither, Twilight, etc.) Going by one word alone, do you really have any idea what the book will be about? I’m betting no, and that’s all right, because we’re not supposed to. One-word titles are some of the best attention grabbers; they’re mysterious and draw you in. There’s a reason they choose a word like Twilight and not, say, Star (it just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?).
At the same time, longer titles can be just as mysterious, but not necessarily as captivating upon first glance. In my own experience, longer YA titles often first elicit curiosity from me. For example, when I go through a recently published list of titles, these longer ones stand out to me, but don’t exactly get me too excited: 37 Things I Love (in no particular order), Flora’s Fury: How a Girl of Spirit and a Red Dog Confound Their Friends, Astound Their Enemies, and Learn the Importance of Packing Light, The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, etc. Do I know what these books are about because their titles are longer? No, and again, that’s all right. I have a bit more to go by though, and can make some educated guesses.
Even though longer titles don’t impact me as greatly as shorter titles, it doesn’t mean I rule them out. I just approach them both differently. It’s because of this that I think titles are just as important to evaluate as covers. Plus, you typically can’t have one without the other – they’re a package.
How do you feel about titles? Do you think covers are more important?
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Interesting post! I’ve never really thought about it. I think long titles can work too like For Darkness Shows the Stars and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. One word titles are easier to type out and like you say, they do add a certain punch although all they can get easily lost in the pile of other one-worded titles.
Yea, as punchy as they are, they are easily lost and/or mistaken for another.
It’s kind of hard to tell because I’m so often introduced to titles and covers at the same time (GoodReads search anybody?) but I honestly think titles affect me even more than a beautiful cover will. Something about the sound/look of the words together can be so beautiful, and often I’ll choose to put a book on my list just from hearing/seeing the title.
Personally, I like the titles to be sort of medium length. The one word ones can be good and really mysterious. The long ones can be very unweildy an d lead me to expect a kind of quirky novel, which can put me off sometimes if that’s not what I’m looking for.
Great discussion idea! *wanders off still thinking about it*
I was more of a sucker for the one-liners when that trend began. Now, sometimes, they’re too misleading and interchangeable.
We think titles are more important than covers, actually. Because covers change from hardback to paperback, or from first printing to second, or when a movie comes out, etc.
But titles stick. And titles are what get tweeted, blogged, Facebooked, texted, chatted about over coffee or on the phone.
We don’t have a preference for long vs. short or whatever, but we do like to get a “sense” of the story — meaning its tone, or subject matter, or voice. Obviously a title can’t tell us EVERYTHING about a book, but just that little bit of insight can really help set our expectations and get us excited (or not).
Good point! I didn’t even think about how covers can be left out of tweeting, Facebook, chatting, etc.
I think titles are very important. I can immediately be put off or attracted by a title. I really like short and snappy titles like “Divergent” and “Infamous” but I do find slightly longer titles equally appealing. At the moment, I really love “The False Prince” and “For Darkness Shows the Stars” – which is almost poetic in a way, I adore it! Great post :).
“Short and snappy” – love that phrase! Good way to put it! :D
YESSSSSS! I guess I had never really stopped to consider this before, but titles are definitely important, and they ARE marketing tools. And sometimes we hear titles before we ever see the cover (e.g., on Twitter).
Great post, Alissa!
Titles need love, too. :P
[...] Alissa (The Grammarian’s Reviews) talks about the importance of titles. SO TRUE! [...]