AAR

[Elizabeth Rolls]

[Eggletina]

I wonder if verbs were less common in older books? It seems to be more of a trend in more recent titles, especially in romance. Or is that my imagination?

[Eliza]

@ladynaava: I'm reading a book now which speaks to the point you made about titles having key words pop out. The cover title is literally: the FIREMAN who LOVED ME.

@Eggletina: I think your point about advertizing and marketing is addressed with that point, too, along with the spine and title page both of which have this: the FIREMAN WHO LOVED ME. The word "who" got a promotion, but not the poor first word "the."

@MMcA: All's not lost, though. The actual pages of the book have the correct book title style for the right-hand page headers: The Fireman Who Loved Me. Which at least speaks well for the editorial staff and author.

@Elizabeth Rolls: I did go back to look at all genre titles as you suggested and came to these conclusions: (1) Non-fiction and literary titles are the most accurate (no surprise perhaps), (2) genre fiction had more mistakes than the first category (mass market gets less attention?), and (3) romance titles had the most mistakes overall, more than any other genre (even though romance sells well, it doesn't get the same attention or respect?) Or just chaos theory?

As for shorter titles, anything above two words means a decision has to be made about capping the middle words (since the last and first word are always supposed to be capped). So, if the verb was the first or last word--no problem. All the problems were with the inbetween words--even for short titles.

@Eggletina: I couldn't spot anything about the length of titles increasing, but I think your instinct is correct.

Note to web masters, database folks and book reviewers: When you refer to a book title in text--not on an actual cover--title case rules. If the cover "art" (*snort*) is unclear, look at the title headers inside the book, which will also keep you in line with that book's style.

In fiction, the author's name is on the left-hand page, and the book's title on the right-hand page.

For non-fiction, the book title is on the left, and the chapter title is on the right. If a non-fiction has book parts, the book part is on the left instead of the cover title.

Eggletina said it best:

[PatW]

[Eliza]

[dick]

So I'm an old curmudgeon. Sue me, but I can't abide the use of "snuck" as the past and past participle of "sneak." What the word conjures up has little to do with "sneaking."

[Elizabeth Rolls]