[Richardcrasta]

I don't know whether the subtitle "The New International Slavery" adds to or deducts from "Impressing the Whites", the main title about racism in the literary and larger world, especially from the point of view of brown people and brown men the world over. (It did very well in India for a while, but I have paid a heavy price for my brashness and honesty.) I have been under the impression that nonfiction books do better with longer, explanatory titles. Especially IF the words in the title count in the search function. My Dutch friend is of the opinion that shorter titles are better, "you shouldn't feel like you have to explain everything in the title."

Also with "Benzo Land", which had the subtitle "How Doctors and Drug Companies Enslave Us," and which I've shortened to "How Drug Companies Enslave Us," and is part-memoir, part discussion/expose. In a way, Benzo Land alone is mysterious is title.

I have also felt compelled to add "A Novel" in "The Revised Kama Sutra: A Novel," because some automatically think of the book as a serious attempt to revise the Kama Sutra.

I am willing to change the titles rather than not reach readers; artistic integrity lies in the contents, and not in the title. I feel great regret for the title "The Revised Kama Sutra", which was supposed to be comic/ironic, but lost me thousands of readers, as one can glean from just this one review: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-revised-kama-sutra-richard-crasta/1103565972?ean=2940012972170

 

[Kathy Dee]

Long titles or short titles? My vote goes to catchy (hooky) titles! But with a proviso: somewhere between cover & title, you have to have enough to signal genre and create a certain amount of impact, otherwise your blurb does not get read - and we all know where that leads.

 

[jb1111]

I think with non-fiction you want the title that explains what the book is about. And the shortest part of it should probably be catchy. Most of the non-fic books I've seen with catchy titles at top usually had a longer, more explanatory subtitle below.

 

[Decon]

The Scratch of the Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America, (Pivotal moments in American History)

This non-fiction uses a lengthy sub title, but it tells you what it is about.

 

[Crystal_]

I would generally say short, hooky titles, but non fiction books often have long subtitles.

Maybe you can do both. Shorty, hooky main title. Longer, more descriptive subtitle?

That's what non-fiction readers expect IME (as a regular reader of non-fiction).

 

[Bite the Dusty]

My reply doesn't apply to the OP, and other people covered it (short and hooky works), but depending on what you're writing and the tone of it, long and quirky titles work too. All I can think of right now is that cute Netflix movie with the Downton Abbey actress, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. But there's more where that came from.

 

[MorrowWriter]

In Amazon, take advantage of the subtitle field. A lot of non-fiction subtitles are ridiculously long. One advantage is that the subtitles are searchable. On the product page, the title and subtitle are separated by a colon, e.g.

Benzo Land: How Doctors and Drug Companies Enslave Us

Sounds like a good read, btw 

 

[unkownwriter]

You want it to fit on the cover well, be a hook to get interest, and easy to remember. Then you can fine-tune in the subtitle, but you don't want it to be a synopsis of the book. I'm seeing that a lot in fiction, and it drives me crazy. Fiction doesn't even need a subtitle, but who cares?

In the end, most of us experiment and change things up a bit, until we hit what works for that book. Most of that should be done before publishing, through critique groups and/or beta readers, maybe in a reader group. Remember, for print, you can't change titles (among other things) without getting a new ISBN.