How do you choose your books?

[Jules]

Although I don't buy a book because of its title or cover, I will certainly NOT choose a book if the cover or the title say the wrong things to me. If I'm browsing in a shop, I will probably look for authors I am familiar with, or some eye catching cover that makes me want to pick up the book and read the blurb. If the blurb sounds good then I will probably buy it. If I'm looking at ebooks, I will usually look at cover and title, read the blurb, then put it on my wishlist until it goes down in price, if I like the look of it. If its a cheap book that catches my eye, and its not one from my wishlist, then I rely on critical reviews. I prefer to read the ones that pull the book apart. It doesn't mean I won't buy it but I can at least scan for things that will really detract from my personal enjoyment of it. I should probably add that I don't buy many paper books anymore unless they happen to be a good deal, ebooks are quite often cheaper.

[Sarah]

To be really honest the cover/artwork will be the first thing I see, and I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, some pretty covers aren't that great and some ugly covers are amazing books lol.

After that it's the blurb/description on the back and then price and lastly reviews. I don't really consider anything else..

[Olga]

Thanks Jules. It's good to know...I'll keep it in mind.
Olga

[Craig]

I'm a history buff and love historical fiction, so I often look for fiction stories based on the particular period that I'm interested in at the time and then look for reviews of them online to see if the stories are actually decent. If I like the sound of the stories and they have received at least decent reviews, I then often opt to read them.

[Olga]

Thanks Craig. Have you found there are many more books based on a particular period? Here in the UK I've noticed a lot of fiction (and also movies and TV programmes) based on the Tudor era but I'm not a studious on the subject so there's probably a spread but maybe not so well advertised.

[Craig]

Olga wrote: "Thanks Craig. Have you found there are many more books based on a particular period?"

Hmm... I'm not sure if I have enough experience of browsing historical fiction to judge accurately, but I have noticed an awful lot of historical fiction that is set either during the Wars of the Roses or, as you say, Tudor times. I haven't seen nearly as much historical fiction set outside those periods, maybe because they aren't seen as quite as exciting to write about for historical fiction authors or they have just attracted more attention from relatively little-known historical fiction authors rather than big names like Philippa Gregory.

[Olga]

Yes...You probably need to be fairly more specialised to write about other eras as it would also depend on available background information and historical books...

[A.L.]

There are a few in Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt. If you like mystery the Cadfael books are in 12 century England

[Olga]

Thanks Alexandra. Yes, you're right. I had forgotten about those.

[Ian]

Hello, I mainly cheese my book by the synopsis of the book. If the synopsis sounds good, I will definitely get it and read it. If it is an author I really liked and have read books of in the past I will usually get the book anyway as I automatically feel the book is probably going to be good due to the authors past works. I don't often go on reviews because that is an individual person's opinion, just because one or two people say a book is bad does not mean I will feel the same way. All saw I choose a book depending on how easy it is to get in a format that is accessible for me.

[Olga]

Thanks Ian. I do follow certain authors too, although normally I need to read at least two books by one before I decide if I just liked that book or their writing. I agree on matter or reviews. Unless I try the reviewers I'll try the book if it sounds interesting...

[Adam]

I sometimes pick books after hearing about them on other blogs or on here or sometimes just pick them out at random.

[Olga]

I must say I've been very lucky with picking random books sometimes, particularly as you don't come to them with any kind of expectations...
Thanks Adam.

[Olga]

Thanks Diana! I chose this cover for my new book...What do you think?

[Ian, Moderator]

I like it Olga - the upside down bit makes it intriguing.

[Olga]

Thank you. I always assumed it's taken from above...It was the cover designer who came up with it and I liked it from the start...

[[deleted user]]

Generally, I go by the cover, blurb and reviews. Being able to read a bit on Amazon, I also find helpful. But mostly it's the cover that attracts me...or not.

[Olga]

Thanks Y.I. I find some covers go straight to the particular genre whilst others can be intriguing or attractive in their own right (or confusing, I guess)...

[Andy]

There are many ways I might choose a book to read. I think a good cover is important, but the blurb even more so. I veer towards a mix of classics and contemporary, and like to go for a challenging read whenever I can.

[Olga]

Thanks Andy. Nice to see you here. I might look at a book because of the cover but don't think I've ever chosen one (unless it was an illustrated one) based mostly on that...

[Mark]

Y.I. wrote: "Generally, I go by the cover, blurb and reviews..."

Me too...

[Olga]

Thanks Mark. I wonder if Amazon readers reviews have the same weight with people as 'recognised' reviews...

[Mark]

Olga wrote: "Thanks Mark. I wonder if Amazon readers reviews have the same weight with people as 'recognised' reviews..."

I think they do for me, but it's more a question of weight of numbers than any particular criticism and insight. If I see a book with a 100 5 star reviews, even if 90% of them are just a couple of lines, I'll check out the book. That carries more weight with me than a single 'professional' review, unless I know the reviewer's previous work really well...

[Olga]

Thanks Mark. Many people dismiss 5 star reviews as some are assumed to be by colleagues or friends of the writer. The same with 1 star reviews (mostly badly intentioned and they don't mention reasons or content at all. Just 'I couldn't read past page 3' or something like that...).
I don't think I'll ever accumulate that amount of reviews if I were to live to 1000

[Philip]

I had mixed reviews for my first book, some justified some not. My second book has had nothing but four and five stars - none from friends or family but no professional reviews from the press either. Does that mean my book is over-rated or under read?

[Olga]

I would guess it's probably a good book. Some people go down the route of paying for reviews (I don't mean disreputable reviews, but something like Kirkus reviews) but I'd rather see what readers think. The problem if you're not well known is getting readers to read the book as you well know. Also not everybody feel confident enough to leave a review. I've had people contact me in Facebook or tell me (people I know in passing but not friends) that they've liked my books but they haven't written reviews. Fellow writers seem more inclined to write reviews though and some people would rather not provide a rating than give a low one...
Many people look at the content of the review rather than at the number of stars as that provides more useful information (somebody might hate a book for all the same reasons that somebody else might love it, and a detailed review might give a reader a better understanding of their affinity with the material). If I'm interested in a book I'll read what the reviews say and if I'm considering two books the rating might guide me, but like with movies, I'll make up my mind based on description, whatever I might know about the subject and people involved and sometimes...what I fancy at the time. It's not a marriage or buying a house. If you don't like it, not much harm done.
Some people seem to get very irate if they don't like a book. There are many things in life I don't like. Some I'd fight for. In some cases...I'll move on.
Sorry, I digress...

[Carly]

I generally choose by author or genre. I tend to stick to what I know (boring maybe) & it might narrow my field a bit but I've managed to keep going this way all my life without running out of books to read so it works for me! X

[Olga]

There are books enough to keep everybody going several life times. I used to feel sad at the thought thad I'd never catch up with everything...Maybe if somebody employed me to do reading full-time...

[Adam]

Carly wrote: "I generally choose by author or genre. I tend to stick to what I know (boring maybe) & it might narrow my field a bit but I've managed to keep going this way all my life without running out of book..."

I can be a bit like that as can be seen on my most read authors on goodreads.

[Olga]

If I find a novel I really love I'll investigate the author and read more. Sometimes it doesn't work but in many cases it becomes a life-long love affair.

[Renuka]

When I write, I read mostly around the subject, which is probably not a good thing as variety is the spice etc.

Otherwise, in a physical bookshop, it's author that first draws me or I often pick a book at random based on the cover. The deciding point is always the content. The first page is important and I flick through the rest to see if it all holds my interest.

If I buy online, I look at top 100, rely on reviews and the look inside feature for style and content.

[Olga]

Thanks Renuka. Good method. With paper I would definitely look at how book starts...(Also I always remember Hemingway's advise of starting your book with a 'true sentence' whatever that might mean...Not that easy in practice).

[[deleted user]]

A recent survey of readers has come up with some interesting statistics. There is a post about this on my latest blog update if you would like to have a look; it is too long to post here.

http://www.tanyarobinson100.blogspot.com

[Bill]

I enjoyed your Blog very much, Tanya. Interesting statistics. Thanks for posting the link.

[Philip]

Tanya wrote: "A recent survey of readers has come up with some interesting statistics. There is a post about this on my latest blog update if you would like to have a look; it is too long to post here.

http://..."

Very interesting results.

[Olga]

Thank you Tanya. Very interesting. I must say giving my book free in the past hasn't resulted in reviews or any evident change in its status. It might work better for people who write more in specific genres. According to an article I read, for a giveaway to make a real difference with regards to numbers in Amazon you would need to give away 25000 or so. Of course as Amazon change their system quite often that might be no longer relevant.
I must truly admit to not understanding social networking. I only joined Facebook and Twitter when I started publishing and can't see myself as a candidate for becoming a hit in any arena. I don't have cats, babies, puppies, I am really bad at taking pictures...

[Tori]

Hi Olga,
Just read your last post. I'm an independent author too and admit to not understanding social networking either. It's taking all my time just to navigate my way around Goodreads! I'm really bad at taking pictures, so I don't take them. I only joined Facebook when I published in July and don't know what Twitter is/does. I don't know widgets from whatsits and wouldn't thank anyone for dumping a puppy on me. One cat, four kids I do have, but I don't see how that helps me market books. So, I do sympathise. What I have got in my favour (I hope) is that I can write. I hope it counts for something. I've got great reviews on Amazon.co.uk I'm very grateful to those who read and review. Before I published, I never thought about reviewing all the great books I've read. I've changed my mind.
How do I choose a book? I'm totally boring. We all have favourite authors don't we? I choose books like I choose curries when I go for an Indian. I stick with what I know and love until someone strongly recommends I try something different (and points out how dull I am). I'm a self-confessed Lee Child fan, for example. I love the Jack Reacher books. Lee Child is English, albeit Jack Reacher is American. You can see the dry English wit a mile away in those books. I love them. I've read them all. The bottom line is this: I know I can trust Lee Child to give me a great, satisfying read. I know it will be well-written. Great 'voice'. I know it will be plausible. I know the time will pass quickly and the pages will turn. I know I'll want more. And that's what I really want when purchasing/reading a book - certainty. Quality. Entertainment. Value. I have other favourites but won't bore you with the details. Didn't like Lee's recent novella High Heat, having said that :( I thought it let him down. His very latest novel redeemed him though. Way to go, Lee!

[Olga]

Believe me, the kind of things people share in Facebook and TWitter are not supposed to be related to what you do. They say (they being these people who say they know about marketing) that one should only spend about 10 or 15% of time talking about your books and all the rest socialising, being whatever...
Followers in twitter, likes in Facebook don't necessarily mean anything with regards to sales either.
Hate to disappoint you but writing good books doesn't always mean you're going to get read or you're going to sell. As you say lots of people go by people they know and getting yourself known is very difficult. Sometimes it might be writing about the right thing at the right time and somebody picking on it. We all know of badly written books that have done well...
But saying all that, I wish you all the best of luck. And I hope you do well...
And keep writing. And reading.

[Tori]

Will do, Olga. How can writers do otherwise? It's in the blood, got to do it whether the subject-matter is popular or not. Yes, I know that good writing isn't a guarantee to selling books, but it has to help. People recognise a good book when they read it. Visibility and exposure help a lot too. I appreciate a good review more that anything else. The fact that one person at a time has taken the time to sit and read my novel and appreciate it, means everything to me. Compared to that, who cares how many people 'like' my Facebook page? Best of luck to you too, and all the other authors and aspiring writers out there. Writing and reading is important to us all. That's why we're here.

[Chatterjak]

I think a really well written synopsis (crucially it really mustn't give TOO MUCH away though!) can be a great hook - I've often read a new author because the synopsis is intriguing or, interesting. Personal recommendations are a mixed blessing - I have about a dozen ex-colleagues who just wouldn't stop raving about '50 shades', but I'm never going to read it! Book club recommendations definitely sway me - I'm a bit of a radio 4 fan too, so any review/discussion on there can draw me to a book or author. I'm not sure how I've never discovered A.M. Homes until hearing her mentioned on there, and recently finished reading her brilliant 'May we be Forgiven' - ill be reading more of her!

[[ J o ]]

I genuinely do judge books by their cover and almost always regret it if I judged it SOLELY on the cover. I am a magpie-anything shiny and It. Will. Be. Mine.

Friend recommendations are my biggest source of new books, but a couple others are... Cheap price! This combined with a shiny cover is very deadly. The blurb is a very good way to tell, and sometimes I often read the first couple of pages, too.
I actually don't pay attention to "official" reviews (i.e. those in newspapers, bookclubs) but peer reviews, like on GoodReads, I enjoy much more. It may be the less-than-perfect way they are written, but they seem to convey the personal feel of the book much more than a journalist in my experience.

And, of course, if it's on a certain subject or by a certain author, then it's pretty much in the bag.
Sadly, you can't always tell if it will be written well until you read it, and relying on others to let you know if it has been written well is a bit complicated since it usually comes down to personal preference; unless you trust them!

(I'd just like to add a bit to the whole Facebook/Twitter thing... I follow a couple of authors that I already have a liking of, but their constant pushing of their own work, or links to this, that and the other, is very much off-putting. Just chatting and being a bit random is more what I'm looking for, with minimal sharing of links and promoting of books. I've completely forgotten what this topic is about.)

[Olga]

Thanks Chatterjak and Saoirse. Yes, I guess personal recommendations go by how much you share your tastes with the people. That probably goes for 'official' recommendations. I remember hearing a film critic years back saying it's a matter of finding somebody you have affinity and similar tastes to and then following their recommendations, that I guess it's true, even if there will still be cases when it won't work.
I was a bit puzzled during my recent trip to Barcelona (I'm from there but have been living in the UK for so long I'm now more of a visitor than a native when I go) checking in bookshops and seeing a book that is a bestseller, checking the blurb at the back and description and being non the wiser as to what the book was about. It was all so vague and general that I couldn't make head or tail of it.
If you're an author it's a bit difficult to know what to do with regards to promoting your books. Everybody tells you (and it makes sense) that you must have an on-line presence and be there in social networking sites (the famous platform and never ending discussions of 'branding') but it's true I, as a reader, would find never ending 'buy my book' tweets or posts boring...
Oh, what does being social mean these days?

[[ J o ]]

I think people very much confuse having a presence online with constantly pushing your work. Of course, if someone discovers you through social media and they have not heard of you before then an occasional reminder of what you have do/will be doing is very helpful! But a constant presence that consists mainly of saying "hey, I have a book, here it is" or "hey, I wrote this thing" every single time is counter-productive in my opinion.

But, of course, this does not mean that you should shy away from creating an online presence altogether. If you are being followed on Twitter or Facebook, or have a solid group around you, for instance here on GoodReads, then by all means you SHOULD promote your books or work there, but there are so many different ways to promote other than simply stating that you do have a book published. A few e.gs: things like giveaways, perhaps writing short stories that develop a single character, poetry if that is your thing, drawings, other artistic forms etc

And then we get into the realm of "socialising" itself. Obviously you can't befriend every single person you meet who has read your book, or who might want to read your book, or whom you have spoken to online. I suppose we need a new word for these kinds of people that we would deem as being acquaintances in Real Life. And some people do seem to be very interested in knowing simply what has happened to you in the day. If you use a mix of "this happened to me today..." along with "I'm working on this new book..." and "I have already written this book..." then I think you can keep a lot more people happy.

Just one last point, gosh I've written a lot already, I do apologise:
Talking about other things you like other than books or whatever it is you're selling is also a great way of showing you are indeed a Human Being and worthy of being listened to, as opposed to just some corporate institution who has a certain amount of books to sell in a month.

[A.L.]

I am not entirely convinced reviews are that influential, at least not for me. I am looking for reviewers to interview. People review for different reasons, put different emphasis on what is important. Convince me why they are influential, talk about why you review and where.

Anyone interested email me at libraryoferana@yahoo.co.uk and put reviewer interview into the subject line.

[Olga]

Thanks Saoirse and A.L.There are different schools of thought with regards to giveaways. I think lots of people (I can confess to doing it myself although it tends to be writers I know or friends) will download books that are free and then Don't have time to read them. I've given quite a few of my books away and have seen not much in return. Because of my job (I'm a forensic psychiatrist) I'm understandably reluctant to give too much away with regards to my personal life. I'm happy to talk about what I like but other things I would have to know more... Privacy is difficult these days.
Everything has been done to death and I know many people who read who don't use social media to check books or at all. I've read far too much advice on marketing and I have very little time so I think I'll keep writing and be what may.
L.A. it's very interesting your question as to reviews. I don't know if you have posted it elsewhere but it's worth bring shared. Good luck!

[Chatterjak]

A.L. wrote: "I am not entirely convinced reviews are that influential, at least not for me. I am looking for reviewers to interview. People review for different reasons, put different emphasis on what is import..."

Reviews are a prickly one. If I'm browsing through physical books in a shop, I'll usually have a look at where the reviews are from rather than what they actually say. If the reviews are from Heat or Glamour magazine, they'll immediately be plonked right back on the shelf. If there are at least a few reviews by the broadsheet newspapers I'm much much more likely to give it a go, whether the review is glowing or not (I appreciate they're not going to put bad reviews on the back cover!). This is still fairly hit and miss - sometimes the review from a broadsheet can be hideously snobbish, and a negative review will sometimes perversely have the opposite effect on me, I'll make my own mind up thank you - I always feel a bit indignant on behalf of the writer if they give a bad review (even if I've never read them before & they may be spot on!) - perhaps it's a propensity to cheer for the underdog? Sorry, this all got a bit waffly. I suppose I'm just looking for an indicator towards the quality of the writing - past that I'm willing to try reading almost anything,

[Olga]

Most people seem to go for personal recommendations if you trust the person, or if they give you a good insight into what the book is about. There are some reviewers I'm happy to go with, but normally need to hear more than just I like it or not. Detailed reviews, either positive or negative, can give you enough information to make your own mind up about the content and probably style. I'll normally try and read a bit to see...
Yes, sometimes reviews seem to be about the reviewer more than the book and then they sometimes have the opposite effect to the intended one on me.

[Dks]

It's a gut feeling, coupled with what I wish to read or following up on a series. I follow about 8 authors, I buy their books religiously. The love for me is finding the author through the gut feeling and finding a great read. One that I come back to.

[Olga]

Yes, it's always a good feeling. I remember once seeing a book in a charity shop that I looked at the back and sounded interesting. Then I left it half out whilst I looked at something else and somebody else came and bought it. I found another copy months later somewhere else and I really enjoyed it. I had been right the first time around!

[Olga]

Yes, I have certain authors I've followed for years but sometimes you might read something about a book that makes you try it even if it is out of your comfort zone. Thanks Smelleykins!