The Curious Case of Catchy Titles and Trashy Books.

A long time ago, there were those epics and sagas, those dramas and novellas, those epistles and treatises, and today, we have a plethora of writers and yet substandard books. Books that fail at winning the readers but "SELLS" or are made to sell, shall I say?

So, I have been bombarded with the ads for the book "Do Epic Shit." by Ankur Warikoo. The ads are almost everywhere targeting the book-reading audience.

Screengrab of Audible Do Epic Shit

The trend of using cuss words in the book titles only to use more such words in the main content has gone up in recent years. I wonder how writers like Dr Johnson, Coleridge or Shakespeare may have reacted to this trend had they lived.

Profanity in Books

There are those who will argue that the title is only a way to attract attention and it has nothing to do with the quality of the book. To that, I say poppycock! If the title is catchy enough, it can make even a trashy book seem like a masterpiece. A good example of this is "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck", and then came "Everything is F*cked" by Mark Manson, and then this author went on to become an "international bestseller", yeah, what irony, best-"Seller" you see whether fiction or non-fiction, profane language is the way to go if you wish to sell a story.

Profane Titles of Books

And What about the Content of the Book?

Any avid reader would agree that books are supposed to leave something with the reader, and these "Self-Help" books, which seem to provide advice and counselling for a lifetime, falls flat on its face. Why would anyone take advice from someone who can't communicate their point without using crude language?

Having read the complete book "Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck", it honestly had the text of various books rephrased and written in swear words. It was like being sermonised by a drunk person in a bar who was just done with life. You can read the review here.

So, is it official now that Art and Literature are dead?

It is my humble opinion that if a book cannot be sold without using such language, then it is not worth reading in the first place.

Some excellent worth-reading books became best sellers without tasteless language in the text, for example, Ikigai, Atomic Habits, Life's Amazing Secrets and many more. I think the thumb rule should be not to fall for such catchy titles; content still remains the King.

A good title can make a book, but it cannot save a bad one. Reading a book is like a journey. World over, readers will be interested in what the book has to offer, and it becomes the responsibility of the author not to collude with the bookseller, publisher and other parties to present nicely packaged trash to the reader.

It is not that I am a prude, but the overuse of such words does take away from the sanctity and the beauty of language. It is like music; too much of anything is bound to be cacophonic. I believe in titillation, but not at the cost of literary quality or standards.

So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think that a catchy title can make a difference to the quality of the book, or is it just another way to sell substandard literature? Let me know in the comments below.