Bill Morris wrote an essay on the overwhelmingly long subtitles that seem to be part of the current book-perusing experience. This lengthy subtitle trend has extended to the reaches of the book cover and there isn’t much room for it to get more out of control. He theorizes on their origins—from publisher’s marketing departments to google search visibility.
“After discovering dozens of run-on subtitles, I naturally began to wonder what was at work here. My initial theory was that this sudden gush of wordiness is a natural by-product of book publishing’s desperate times. In a marketplace glutted with too many titles – and in a culture that makes books more marginal by the day – publishers seem to think that if they just shout loudly enough, people will notice their products, then buy them.”
Read the entire essay here.
