Subtitles Are Superconductors
It takes a LOT to set a book apart these days. Agents, editors and publishers are inundated with pitches, so take every opportunity you can to make every little part of your book stand out, starting with your working title.
But don’t overlook your subtitle’s importance.
A good title and subtitle do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to grabbing an agent’s or acquiring editor’s attention.
These people are busier than anybody. They do their actual work by day—editors working inside their authors’ pages; agents ironing out deals, reading about other agents’ deals and building their networks—which means they typically read submissions on evenings and weekends.
Some agents receive more than 100 pitches a day.
They’re not a lazy bunch.
Rather, they’re machines of efficiency, with a keen eye for talent and fresh ideas. They want to be GRABBED. An agent’s brain makes critical judgment calls with every second they spend looking at your query letter. If they see creativity and cleverness in a title / subtitle pairing, they’re more likely to read to the end of the query letter.
If your query is strong, an agent or acquiring editor might request your proposal. That’s a GREAT moment for any nonfiction writer.
But if your title / subtitle pairing is meek and milquetoasty, you might not get the tap.
Subtitles are superconductors. Your subtitle should act as a clear directional arrow to what you’re offering inside the pages of your book. Here’s an example:
The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams by Deepak Chopra
A subtitle plays a surprisingly big role in helping a reader decide whether they want to take a book home or not. Picture them standing in the aisle at the bookstore, holding your book in their hands and asking themselves, Is this going to help me fix my issue?
Part of Tim Ferris’s meteoric success with The 4-Hour Workweek was due to its title, of course. But its subtitle got a little more granular, setting out a few very clear promises for the reader: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich.
Pretty compelling.
Your local bookstore is a great place to look for examples of strong subtitles. If you can’t get out to browse in person, Amazon has thousands of others. It’s well worth your time to browse.
A few techniques for making your subtitle pop?
Build in the transformation you’re promising:
The Courage to be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon that Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness (Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga)
or
Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life (Emily Nagoski)
Build in some information about how you’ve structured the book:
Dopamine Detox: A Short Guide to Remove Distractions and Get Your Brain to do Hard Things (Thibaut Meurisse)
or
The Wealth Money Can’t Buy: The 8 Hidden Habits to Live Your Richest Life (Robin Sharma)
Build in some detail about how long this is going to take:
Your Big Leap Year: A Year to Manifest Your Next-Level Life…Starting Today! (Gay Hendricks)
Build in your point:
Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work and World (Ginni Rometti)
Build in specificity and detail. You’ll also hear me saying this when I’m giving you feedback on your anecdotes and stories. Sometimes you’ll hear me saying it so much you’ll want to scream. But it’s because our minds like clarity. Would you have enjoyed watching Game of Thrones if it was just a bunch of blurry grey and brown shapes?
No. You wanted to see details. Up close.
Our minds like to see pictures. They gravitate to clear containers and easy ways to categorize and understand ideas. They gravitate to promises. Specificity and detail is what delivers this clarity. These pictures, these containers and categories. These promises.
Agents and editors know this, too.
Your subtitle is an opportunity to make your book’s promise clear—to readers, yes, but first of all, to the people who have the power to get your words in front of those readers.