Ask a Book Editor: Why Your Nonfiction Book Needs a Subtitle
Everyone respects the value of a strong and memorable book title, but have you given much thought to the power of a well-crafted subtitle? It’s often overlooked and woefully underused. And that’s a shame because its purpose is essentially to close the deal.
Keep in mind that this applies to nonfiction only, as 99.99% of adult fiction merely gets “A Novel” somewhere on the cover, so there’s no confusion for bookstore shelving and those who might think Where the Crawdads Sing is a travel guide. Curiously, children’s and Young Adult fiction (plus the “Classics”) generally omit any front cover category tag.
So what’s the big deal about nonfiction subtitles?
They’re extra opportunities to hint at what’s inside.
They can help explain poetic or otherwise cryptic titles.
They may hint at format, structure (e.g., The 5 Secrets to…), tone, or intended audience.
They can clarify a theme, a subject, or its scope.
They can make a promise—especially useful for how-to and self-help titles.
Or whatever else the title alone can’t convey.
To illustrate, let’s look at a few current New York Times Best Sellers.
Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill intentionally sounds (and even looks) like a thriller but Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators promises it’s thrilling and stranger than fiction.
Finding Chika by Mitch Albom is catchy yet vague, unlike Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family.
And Hoda Kotb’s I Really Need This Today: Words to Live By clues you in that she’s offering inspiring words of wisdom, not a valentine to that first cup of morning coffee.
Sure, prospective readers can flip a book over or scroll down to the book description online, but plenty of us are fickle (or overwhelmed with choices), and thus have already decided if we’re interested or not based on the front cover’s content alone.
Is a subtitle always necessary?
When a title is super clear, no. Or if you’re a major public figure (Michelle Obama’s Becoming did not exactly suffer without one). But otherwise, whether it’s as simple as “A Memoir” or a tailored clue to what will be learned or earned within its pages, it can’t hurt to lead the audience.