13 - What sparks your interest in a book? Cover? Reviews? Blurb?

[Kaje]

What sparks your interest in a book? Cover? Reviews? Blurb? What would make you try a story from an author you'd never read before?

[Iamshadow]

To be honest, it varies. Sometimes a cover just grabs me, and I just have to hope that what's inside matches the expectation. Sometimes it's the blurb, but in an era when recommendations from other authors or newspapers are taking up more and more cover space, I'm relying more on other people's reviews, either on blogs, feeds or here on Goodreads. This is especially important as I don't have an independent bookstore close to me - the nearest queer-focussed one I can think of is a hour away by train or car - so I can't just pick a book up and browse it before I buy, knowing it's got queer content. Actually, the knock-on of following a bunch of queer Tumblr book blogs, is that I now recognise queer adult and YA books in places like Big W, Target, QBD, and Dymocks, where previously I wouldn't have known without picking them up! This is especially great for Under the Gaydar books that don't have the queer content in the blurb or on the cover. The day I walked into Big W and saw Queens of Geek for $12, I got so excited, you have no idea.

[Kaje]

I used to look at covers a lot more when I mostly bought paper.

I'm very much driven by friends' reviews here on Goodreads (which is a reason I also review so much, trying to pass that on.) A rave from someone whose opinion I trust is most likely to make me plunge into a new author.

Star ratings are often manipulated, so they only carry weight with me if they are really extreme; good books can have bad covers so those don't stop me, although a great cover may make me check out the book a bit more. I do look at blurbs, and I can be turned off a book by a bad (especially confusing or badly-worded) blurb. Blog reviews sometimes carry weight (but less so in YA for me, because I don't follow them.) An award win (Lammys, Rainbows) can make me take a second look at a book too.

[Rez]

As part of my job, I scan through various catalogs for upcoming books. I do it so much that I don't really recognize what it is that makes me notice a book anymore. I can rattle off the formula my job prescribes (known author, media buzz, sequel, awards) But I can also spot authors that turn out huge with no forewarning, and I don't know why (Jay Bell and Brent Weeks are two of my hipster moments).

And for heads-up: the Abertali/Silvera co-authored book is probably gonna be huge. Two others to keep an eye out for, closer on the horizon: Sometime After Midnight, and Cinderella Boy; are both looking pretty good.

[K.S.]

Cover and blurb.

[Kaje]

It's interesting that on general surveys covers are at the top of many lists... perhaps there are genres where browsing through covers is more common.

[Benjamin]

Title and reviews will grab my interest, but unless I already know and like the author, I'll always read some of the book (either Amazon preview or leafing through a few pages in the shop) before actually buying it.

[Paula]

If I'm looking in a bookstore or a GoodReads list, then the first thing that will grab my interest would be the cover. Second description of the book.

I don't actually read a lot of books I don't already know something about - it's usually the buzz around a book, or the book's status as a classic in its genre, that makes me interested in reading it, so I'm usually last on the ball. That's fine by me. That's why I'm in so many GoodReads book clubs ;)

[Kassandra-Fae]

Mostly for me, it's the cover especially if the design is beautiful and unique. I also am drawn to a book if it's by one of my favourite authors. It can also be a combination of the first 2 and an intriguing setting and story premise.

[K.S.]

Both.

[Jay]

I just read an interesting blog post by screenwriter and recent middle grade author, John August about the international covers for his book Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire. Here's a link if anyone is interested in cover variations and why they exist.

https://johnaugust.com/2018/youd-hard...

To keep this somewhat on-topic, John is an openly gay man.

[Brooklyn]

I am usually a visually oriented person, except where books are concerned. Some of the greatest books ever written had no cover art whatsoever. The description, or 'blurb' is what usually sparks my interest, and reviews a close second after that. I think that as I read mostly lesbian titles, I can safely say that associations to authors I have already read, sparks my interest when it comes to new authors. Being a new author myself, I try and seek out other new authors to see what's trending, or simply to get a fresh perspective.

[Kaje]

Jay wrote: "I just read an interesting blog post by screenwriter and recent middle grade author, John August about the international covers for his book Arlo Finch in the Valley of Fire. Here'..."

That's a fun look at the cover variations.

[Iamshadow]

Sometimes a cover will add something for me. For example, I've been meaning to read in forever, so I grabbed the copy from my shelf I paid $1 for years ago, and only when looking at it properly for the first time did I realise the cover art's a pastiche of Nighthawks, which really fits the mood (so far!) of the prose. As far as I can tell, the edition I own is the only one with this cover art, but it's just lovely and really fitting for the work. I like when there's a good harmony between inside and out.