Promotional content added to the actual TITLE of a book

[Dr. Drib]

What are your thoughts on the Author and/or the Publisher promoting a book by adding promotional content to the TITLE of the book?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088WF2TGJ?tag=mr061-21

[Sirtel]

Yuck.

[cfrizz]

If it's only on Amazon's page and not in the book itself...who cares. Amazon exists to make money; authors are there to sell their books and make money if it helps generate a sale then it's all good. Don't like it, don't look or buy the book.

This isn't rocket science or anything to get bent out of shape about.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

If it's only on Amazon's page and not in the book itself...who cares. Amazon exists to make money; authors are there to sell their books and make money if it helps generate a sale then it's all good. Don't like it, don't look or buy the book.

This isn't rocket science or anything to get bent out of shape about.

Oh, I realize it's not IN the book. I"m talking about it as a promotional gimmick.

HUMOR ALERT: Ok, but what if it had actually BEEN a book on rocket science?

ANOTHER HUMOR ALERT: Maybe some authors should take photos of themselves in their underwear to sell their books.

I don't like it. But your binary solution doesn't add anything to my accepting this idea.

YUCK, INDEED!

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

If it's only on Amazon's page and not in the book itself...who cares.

Although it's not on the book cover, it is part of Amazon's metadata, so the download file has an insanely long name, and sometimes that full text appears on the Kindle, so you end up with stuff like the following as the title in the UI:

Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death: The First Mitch Tobin Mystery (The Mitchell Tobin Mysteries Book 1)
The Mahjong Spies: A gripping espionage thriller set in Hong Kong from 'the heir-apparent to Le Carre' (The Simon Young trilogy Book 1)
Pay Dirt: A V.I. Warshawski Novel (V.I. Warshawski Novels Book 22)
The 23rd Midnight: If You Haven't Read the Women's Murder Club, Start Here (A Women's Murder Club Thriller)

As you can see, it's not just lesser-known books/authors that get this treatment.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

If it's only on Amazon's page and not in the book itself...who cares. Amazon exists to make money; authors are there to sell their books and make money if it helps generate a sale then it's all good. Don't like it, don't look or buy the book.

This isn't rocket science or anything to get bent out of shape about.

How does it help sales? The information is slightly down the page. It totally breaks the Kindle & paper Book stores.

It's extremely annoying. Especially when they also make it part of the filename for Downloads, including a ":", which is legal in Linux filenames, but not Windows. Makes backup on Linux fail.

There is even a place for the blurb just down the page.

It also makes Amazon's search even more broken.

Only one of a few annoying things about Kindle. Others are:
* No shopping basket
* difficult to get updated version
* "in your face" promotion of KU with actual price shown 2nd.
* "misleading" includes free Audible
* Search on title or Author in Kindle store is nearly useless
* Things that are not actually reflowable ebooks sold as Kindle
* Reviews from unrelated formats or different editions
* One edition each shown of ebook, paperback and hardback, even if there are more, and may not be from same publisher.
* Locked to a Marketplace that might not be your own currency or country (but only for Kindle, not DVDs, CDs, paper books etc). Kobo does that better.


This list is not complete.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Although it's not on the book cover, it is part of Amazon's metadata, so the download file has an insanely long name, and sometimes that full text appears on the Kindle, so you end up with stuff like the following as the title in the UI:


As you can see, it's not just lesser-known books/authors that get this treatment.

Yes. It's stupid. Mostly I have to edit filename on Download. I ONLY download Kindle purchases, never use "Whispernet".

I suspect the publisher is doing it, not Amazon, but I'm not sure.

Also series data is often wrong.

[theducks]

Triple YUCK!

Same goes for loading the description with all the OTHER work by the Author.

This is Amazon, you can click on Series, Author and get this.

It is 2024, not 1963, where this kind of stuff would be in the backmatter or flap

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

Although it's not on the book cover, it is part of Amazon's metadata, so the download file has an insanely long name, and sometimes that full text appears on the Kindle, so you end up with stuff like the following as the title in the UI:


As you can see, it's not just lesser-known books/authors that get this treatment.

Hah! They do it with the titles/filenames/UI-display of award winning non-fiction as well.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents became: Caste (Oprah's Book Club
and Wilminton's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy became Wilminton's Lie (WINNER OF THE 2021 PULITZER PRIZE): The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy