Does anything other than an author's name matter?

[Joseph]

What I mean is this, do you even notice an author's sex, race, ethnicity, etc. when you find a book? I'm sure the subject/plot, the cover, etc. matters, but does anything other than the name of the author make a difference to you whether you read it or not? What brings this up is from time to time I come across bibliographies that focus on things like books by African-Americans, women, etc., but for me, I really can't say that it matters to me whether a woman wrote the sci-fi I'm reading or an African-American wrote the fantasy. Really, so long as the author is human is good enough for me. Just curious for your two cents.

[Lin]

Most of the time I do know if the author is male or female, but not whether they are married, straight or gay, live in the North, South or out of the USA. Have no idea if the vote or if they attend church. None of these things ever even enter my mind when selecting my next book to read.

[Louise]

I sometimes make a point of reading literature from different cultures - with a different perspective on things - so I might actively seek out an author not native to Europe/The U.S.
I might also be affected by the author's age (I probably wouldn't buy a novel about a complicated lifelong love relationship if I knew the author was 18 y old).

[Spanxmcb (Yovanka)]

For me, unless I'm familiar with the author, it's all about the blurb, general reception of the book, genre and cover art. If I like the book, I reserve finding out more about the author after I've finished the book.

[Eric]

Sometimes I do like Louise, but other than that, I rarely even know who the author is. I don't even do like Yvanka and read the blurb. I just read the description of a book and if it sounds cool, I check it out. The only time the author's name matters is if I want more by the same author.

[Lin]

If I read a book by a new me to me author and I like it, I tend to want to read everything by that author I can find, lol. Or until I get my fill of them. I definitely like reading all of those in a series.

[Lupe]

I don't care about who the author is in the sense that you are describing, but I am a lot like Louise in that I will sometimes conciously pick up books from outside my culture (i.e. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood or Maya Angelou) But once I find that I am reading a lot of books by the same author (like Neil Gaiman) I get obsessive for them...lol!

[Lin]

Just want to say a quick thank you to Joseph for posting an interesting topic for discussion. I am enjoying reading the comments.

[Kathryn]

I usually don't even know the name of the author of any given book that I'm reading. However, if I want to read more by that person I do often see if they have a bio somewhere and try to figure out not just how many books they've published but how often they release new books.

[Annie]

I usually notice whether the author is male or female but other than that I don't tend to know anything else about them.

[Eric]

One thing I forgot to mention because I got distracted is that if the book explores gendered situations. Men can write women and women can write men. But when I was recently reading a book with a teenage female protagonist, I was more confident the female-female (platonic) relationships were more genuine because the author was a woman. I'd probably also give more weight if I could easily find out age. There are certain things about teenager-hood that are universal, but there are also things that change every generation. (Eg: level of allowed promiscuity, level of acceptance of same sex relationships, level of use of technology - think of Polaroids in the 1970s vs sexting in the 2000s) So if I read a book that takes place now in which the kids aren't on SOME kind of social network and using cell phones to get in touch, I'd assume the author is far-removed from this age range.

[Lin]

Lol, you made some valid and numerous observations.

[Lára]

To be honest, I rarely recognise/tell one author from another, so no, that's not how I pick up the books I read.

I usually look for the cover; if it's one colored or odd, I'll pick it up, then I'll read the description. If no description is available, I'll probably take it with me.

But, there're times when neither the cover or description do the work - that books I value by the "genre". If fiction (fantasy) I prefer male authors (less romance), if non-fiction I don't mind the sex.

edit: I like to smell books and check/memorise the edition I have and the year it's printed. Stinky books are a no -_-

[[deleted user]]

After I read a book I really like I will look for the authors name to try to remember to keep in mind when shopping. After I have read two or more books that I really like by the same author, then I look up more info about the author and what other books he/she has written. By then I am already hooked their race,sex, etc is just them it doesn't change my view on buying or reading their novels.

[Thom]

Things, other than the author, may not make a difference but do influence my choice of books. For me size matters, it always has and probably always will. When perusing bookstores, I instinctively look for the big ones as I feel that the author has a lot to say and I’m more than willing to listen. Subject matter and genre influence my decision on what to buy and what not. Occasionally, but I really hate to admit this, I buy a book for its cover. Now I come to familiar authors. There sex, race, religion, sexual orientation or brand of toothpaste means absolutely nothing to me. The only thing that counts is their talent to write. I generally stay true to favorite writers (this doesn’t mean that I enjoy, rate and value all their works equally as some will always outshine others). I am constantly on the lookout to increase my list of favorite writers. As a footnote I would like to add that these opinions extend only to authors in the 20th and 21th centuries. All prior centuries were, in my opinion, male dominated. Give me Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Thomas Hardy over Elisabeth Gaskell, Jane Austin, Emily Dickinson and the Bronte sisters any day. This isn’t meant to be or given as a sexist statement but merely an opinion in quality of style, content and general readability.

[Melissa]

Unless I'm looking for a book by a specific author I don't even look at the name of the author. For me it is whether or not the description of what the book is about caught my attention.

I have from time to time bought books just because the cover was interesting, usually with cheaper used books.