The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

I'm seeing more light novels follow that stupid Japanese trend of putting the entire novel description into the title, so perhaps they then ran out of things to put on the back summary.

I've noticed that with movies on TheMovieDB site.
Seems restricted to Japanese adult content, so won't post a direct link. But for those that are curious and know how to look up by ID... 1340069

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Any examples of books in English that have this type of silly title? Thanks.

Nothing as egregious as the Japanese ones (my understanding is those came about because someone discovered that the majority of customers will look at the "shelf" of light romance novels and never bother to pull them off to turn them to the back--hence putting the whole description on the front), but a recent one that came to mind:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTZ2N4B8

And then, as others have mentioned, on Kindle especially, the core title may be left alone but the subtitle will go on forever. See:

https://www.amazon.com/Bookshop-Corn.../dp/B019WVTM4W

https://www.amazon.com/Fangirl-Down-.../dp/B0C4LHVJ82

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Nothing as egregious as the Japanese ones (my understanding is those came about because someone discovered that the majority of customers will look at the "shelf" of light romance novels and never bother to pull them off to turn them to the back--hence putting the whole description on the front), but a recent one that came to mind:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTZ2N4B8

And then, as others have mentioned, on Kindle especially, the core title may be left alone but the subtitle will go on forever. See:

https://www.amazon.com/Bookshop-Corn.../dp/B019WVTM4W

https://www.amazon.com/Fangirl-Down-.../dp/B0C4LHVJ82

Fortunately those are not the sort of books I read.

[ekbell]

Books that are published in paper format, titles should fit on the spine of a book.

Books that are only published in electronic form, titles may work best if they contain enough information to catch people browsing a list.

My pet peeve is not so much long descriptive titles but publishers like Joffe Books, who pad out the titles with such meaningless material as "a gripping murder mystery full of twists" (see https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0DNR615PV ).

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ekbell

Books that are published in paper format, titles should fit on the spine of a book.

Books that are only published in electronic form, titles may work best if they contain enough information to catch people browsing a list..

No.
There is the rest of the page, unless you have a mysterious only 1 to 4 line high web browser.
The title should be what it actually is, and the same for ebook or paper.

I should only get audiobooks if I'm searching for audiobooks! Kobo and Amazon!

I agree about Joffe. It's often in the meta too.

[Cactus Chef]

After posting my previous examples, I distinctly remember that one of them had something like "perfect for Winter 2024!" shoved somewhere in the title. I can no longer find it, but the following example shows I am not crazy:

https://www.amazon.com/Float-Test-La.../dp/B0D1R21LYH

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

After posting my previous examples, I distinctly remember that one of them had something like "perfect for Winter 2024!" shoved somewhere in the title. I can no longer find it, but the following example shows I am not crazy:

https://www.amazon.com/Float-Test-La.../dp/B0D1R21LYH

Yes, the publisher is stupid and you are not crazy.

The Float Test: A Layered Novel about Betrayal, Love, and Climate Change, Perfect for Winter 2025, Discover the Kenners' Secrets

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

After posting my previous examples, I distinctly remember that one of them had something like "perfect for Winter 2024!" shoved somewhere in the title. I can no longer find it, but the following example shows I am not crazy:

https://www.amazon.com/Float-Test-La.../dp/B0D1R21LYH

You cannot read that book if it's not Winter 2025. So after Winter 2025 if you bought it and you have not read it, delete it as it's now spoiled.

The Winter 2024 book should have been taken down as it's spoiled given Winter 2024 is over with.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, the publisher is stupid and you are not crazy.

He can still be crazy and the publisher can still be stupid.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

He can still be crazy and the publisher can still be stupid.

I won't sit here and have my sanity called into question by a talking dog!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

I won't sit here and have my sanity called into question by a talking dog!

Cactus can't sit.

[JSWolf]

Another rant is when books pat spaces before and after em dash, end dash. ellipsis. That looks so wrong.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTZ2N4B8

Even major publishers suffer from this, at least on the Amazon title listing. From the department of redundancy department:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTH8GBH3/
The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel (A Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch Novel Book 6)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Even major publishers suffer from this, at least on the Amazon title listing. From the department of redundancy department:

I understand the title for the Ballard and Bosch book. They went with what's on the cover and that is also the series name.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Another rant is when books pat spaces before and after em dash, end dash. ellipsis. That looks so wrong.

Spaces around an em dash is blasphemy. Spaces around en dashes are accepted practice. And a lot of people rather than inserting an ellipsis seem to feel 3 periods with or without separating spaces is an acceptable substitute. IMNSHO, that is not an acceptable substitute.