Many times when I tend to my ebook addiction and scroll through hundreds of titles to download a few dozen books, I find something that I think is odd: book titles such as “Vampires: A Novel,” “Romance: A Novel,” and “Meat Cleavers: A Novel.” Obviously, these titles aren’t exactly real (Although, I didn’t do a search ahead of writing this, so I suppose they could be real. If they are, please don’t sue me. I don’t have anything).
What’s my beef? I don’t necessarily get the “A Novel” part. I thought the fact that it was a novel was implied by the number of pages and the fact that it’s one continuous, fictitious story? What makes more sense is to find titles such as “Vampires: An Anthology,” or “Meat Cleavers: A Musical.” These denote something different from the norm, with the norm being the novel. So why do authors do this? I know it sounds like I’m hating on these people and their books, but actually, this is a cry for help. See, I don’t enjoy hating on something blindly and ignorantly. I like to have all the facts. So, if there’s a reason why authors add the “A Novel” at the end of their titles, I demand to know about it! I would appreciate an answer to this so I can either understand the phenomenon or continue hating, but in a more educated and informed manner. Thank you and good day.
journeyofjordannaeast 
Funny post. Lol!
Thank you, I try!
It’s tantamount to having a byline that reads “Joe Schmoe, a Noob.” It’s amateurish and shouldn’t be done for the reasons you cite. If they don’t know it’s a novel, you did it wrong.
Oh, so it’s not just me being a word that rhymes with “bunt?” Good to know.
Bill Jones, a blog commenter.
Forgot to sign.
Lmao, niiice.
I’m not sure why people would insist on clarifying a book is a novel, but I agree that it is the sign of an amateur. Some subtitles are understandable (like with Animal Farm: A Fairy Story; in that case, claiming it is purely fictitious was a defense for the author), but adding “A Novel” to a title doesn’t add anything.
It is amateurish, isn’t it? I just thought it was dumb, but that seems like a better explanation. Although if it’s a series, I don’t mind something like “A Detective Bob Novel.”
That is true. It could be especially useful if you end up writing a few series.
Oh absolutely. It’s just the ”A Novel” tagline by itself that befuddles me.
I plan on adding “A Novel” to any books I write (which will most likely be zero). Mostly because it will be easier and less confusing for other takes on my story to branch out; movies, tv shows, kid stories, radio programs, and pamphlets. So when you see on the big screen “The Amazing MJ: A Movie,” you know to look for my book under “The Amazing MJ: A Novel.”
Awesome! Very funny response, thank you. I hadn’t thought of it that way.
Love it. Regards to Paul Harvey.
Thanks! I don’t get the Paul Harvey reference though. Care to elaborate?
Harvey was a commentator on NPR. “Thank you and good day” was his trademark closing.
Urgh..I’m old.
Oh, ok, I knew it came from somewhere, just didn’t know the name. You’re not old, I’m clueless. Haha.
Totally with you on this one hon!
What IS the point? Lol
Xx
Thank you! I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. For someone to come and call me a meanie pants because all of their novels and any novel they’ve ever loved had the “A Novel” tagline in the title.
Hmmm, perhaps it’s time I use a bit of self-description. From now on, I will be Carrie: A Woman. And I think I’ll title my next book Novel: A Novel.
Great ideas you’ve given me. 🙂
You’re welcome! I think I’m going to change all of my facebook albums to “____: An Album.”
Now you’re talking. 🙂
Maybe they do this so the reader knows they’re getting a novel and not a novella.
That’s what I thought at first too, but then it goes back to page count, no? I can ascertain which one I’m getting based on whether it’s 100 pages or 279 pages. Also, I think it would make more sense to use “A Novella” as a tagline, rather than “A Novel.” If you use the “A Novel” tagline, I hope I didn’t offend you.
I actually hadn’t really thought that far ahead. 🙂 I just thought that maybe for some readers who don’t really know the difference of a novel versus a novella (which wouldn’t some romance aka Harlequin novels be novellas?) I dunno. I guess I hadn’t really given it much thought. Since I’m writing a series, I’m calling it the Hayden Series. Maybe that’s another reason why they put “A Novel” because it’s not a series and only a single book?
Maybe. I just thought of another instance where it makes sense. If the title is something that sounds like non-fiction. Like, “George Washington: A Novel.” That way readers know not to expect a a memoir or biography or whatever, right?
Going against the grain, as an author who DID include that in their title (Gifted, a Donovan Circus Novel), I’ll defend at least my reasoning: I did it because my book is a series. “Gifted” was a pretty broad term and already the title of other books, so I didn’t want it to get lost. Plus, I wanted to include the circus part so it’d be easily recognizable. This way when people search for my books (when I have more up, that is), they’ll know they’re part of that story group.
I understand that. I believe I replied to another comment above that when it’s part of series tagline, like ”A Detective Bob Novel,” it’s acceptable. Thanks for stopping by and good luck with your books!
My Comment: A Reply. 😛
Awesome sauce!