Can you judge a book by the tag-line?

[ken magee]

They say you can't judge a book by its cover, but can you judge it by its tag-line?



What's your favourite tag-line? What makes you want to read the book?

PS My favourite from the movies was from Twins - Danny DeVito & Arnold Schwarzenegger were the twins and the tag was 'Even their mother can't tell them apart.' You just have to see the movie after that.

[Neil Ostroff]

Be afraid! Be very afraid~ The Fly.

[Atunah]

Are we talking about movies here or books. I don't really know what a tag line is on a book. I see titles and author name on the books I read. Sometimes there is a short line from another author in praise, is that what you mean? I have no clue.  

eta: Am I seeing signatures double or is that my computer.

[Krista D. Ball]

Atunah - some books have a tagline on the front cover. It's very common in urban fantasy and thrillers (though I've seen it in others, too).

[Atunah]

Ah, thanks Krista. I looked at some of my books on my shelfs and I didn't see anything like that. Of course I only have one large bookshelf of paper books left in the house. Haven't seen it on the books I been buying recently, unless I missed that, which is entirely possible 

I don't think it would have effect on my book buying though.

[jumbojohnny]

Nope, you can't really judge a book by anything but the content. I've read tons of books with the plainest of plain covers, some most would say bad, yet the content has been brilliant. I know covers are not tags, but it is all the same in principle. Snazzy smart tags - could and often does end up being a naff book, unimaginative tags and blurbs and all the rest don't do justice to the nugget inside, and then those that do give the game away, there are some. All we have really is, we think, or we hope, the content matches the expectation we get from the tags or any blurby content indicators.

[Sean Patrick Fox]

Of course not. A great tag-line, however, is generally an indicator of careful consideration, which usually results in something reasonably well written.

[Todd Trumpet]

Alistair MacLean had his own tag line:  "Master Storyteller"...

...which I always had mixed feelings about.  MacLean in many ways did indeed fit the description, but generally speaking, someone who has an apparent attribute doesn't have to label themselves with that attribute.

While those who don't apparently have that attribute...

Todd

[Borislava Borissova]

I have to say it has happened to me to judge new books by their covers or tag-lines. Especially when I have not had any initial information about the story or the author and decide to buy or not. 

[ken magee]

I obviously wasn't clear in my use of the term 'tag-line'. I was thinking of the words used as a teaser for a book. I use 'Ancient Magic meets the Internet' or the longer version that is in my signature. Sometimes the tag-line can be on the cover and sometimes not. I had a quick rummage through the bookshelf beside me and found plenty of examples, so here are a few...

Clare Francis Unforgotten - Over any family, dark shadows can fall
Lynne Truss Eats Shoots & Leaves The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Beverly Barton The Fifth Victim - One by one he kills them...
Richard Wiseman :59 Seconds - Think a little. Change a lot.
Lynda La Plante Deadly Intent - A prime suspect presumed dead. A body count that keeps rising.
Pete McCarthy McCarthy's Bar - A journey of discovery in Ireland

Personally I like them as a concept. They are just one of the many hooks which help me decide whether to try a book or not.

[ken magee]

I should have mentioned that the tag can be as simple as...

Terry Pratchett The Light Fantastic - A sequel to The Color of Magic

[tamaraheiner]

I love taglines and think they should be standard on books. A good one definitely tells me about the book and reels me in!

[jbcohen]

Be afraid! Be very afraid~ The Fly.

I might go read that book, who is the author?

[Tony Rabig]

I tend not to notice them on books; don't know why.  I do notice them on movie posters, though, and the one that came to mind first when I noticed this thread was the one for The War of the Roses, with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.  Here it is:

Once in a lifetime comes a motion picture that makes you feel like falling in love all over again. This is not that movie.

[Tony Richards]

Nope, you can't really judge a book by anything but the content. I've read tons of books with the plainest of plain covers, some most would say bad, yet the content has been brilliant. I know covers are not tags, but it is all the same in principle. Snazzy smart tags - could and often does end up being a naff book, unimaginative tags and blurbs and all the rest don't do justice to the nugget inside, and then those that do give the game away, there are some. All we have really is, we think, or we hope, the content matches the expectation we get from the tags or any blurby content indicators.

While I agree with the sentiment, a survery years back showed that -- author recognition apart -- one of the main factors (70-80%) that got people picking up books in stores was a good cover. No one, to the best of my knowledge, has done any such research re ebooks. As for tag lines ... never really noticed them before. I'll go take a look.

[Dara England]

I usually ignore tag-lines but every once in awhile I'll see one that sounds interesting enough it'll make me take a closer look at the book. It has to be something pretty striking or unusual though.