I know that subtitling with ‘a novel’ is not a new invention in the publishing world, but has anybody noticed how prevalent it has become in recent years/months? It feels to me like 2/3 books published recently are titled as ‘Book Name: a novel.’
Take this for example, it is a link to a Goodreads blog outlining some upcoming releases over the next few months – from May to September/October: https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/3119-a-month-by-month-guide-to-summer-s-biggest-mysteries-thrillers?content\_type=all
Out of the 70+ books listed, approximately 55 of them are subtitled with ‘a novel.’ I know this isn’t particularly salacious, but I was wondering if anybody else had picked up on this too, or knew the potential reasons why? To me, it’s kind of silly because obviously I know it’s a novel – it’s a book!
by yes-spoilers
4 Comments
I have noticed this lately too and I don’t get it. I can see it if the novel has a title that might be confused for something else, e.g. “The Autobiography of Person I. Madeup: A Novel” of “The History of Fake Thing: A Novel”, but otherwise, I don’t see the point of it. Hopefully someone who knows publishing will comment here with an explanation.
Not all books are novels. “A novel” clearly distinguishes it from narrative nonfiction/memoirs, more than anything.
With how dumb the population is becoming, I liken it to something similar to the warning on toothpaste tube. Dont take internally, this book about aliens and dinosaurs is a novel, not a actual occurrence
I have a book coming out in late October and it has “a novel” in the title. It was the publisher’s decision.