People choose the books they read for a reason. Multiple factors can be involved in that decision-making, but that doesn’t mean we give equal weight to all those factors.
More often than not, we use one consideration of many in reaching the decision to buy or pass on a book. Of all the things any given book has going on to lure you to choose it above others, what do you feel most often influences your choice?
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Oh, definitely. 😀 (*adds to marketing platform*)
Oh no, you don’t, Laurie! Say, Lin, what’s your favorite kind of cookie? 😀
You didn’t have an option… Friends/family literally handed it to me or wrote it… I think 40% of my reading comes from books others put into my hands or are written by someone I “know”. Another 20% are research for genre for either myself or my clients.
Tasha, knowing in advance I wouldn’t be able to anticipate every conceivable reason, I included the choice “Other factor.”
That’s very interesting. So, once again, the fact that I can’t write a synopsis to save myself is a problem, lol. Gotta work on that. And, I voted for “intriguing book description” myself. Hmmm.
By “Bestseller status” I assume that you remember the IU post on buying a NYT best seller status.
Hi Newt! I do indeed remember that post. However, I believe the reason behind people being willing to buy bestseller status is because they believe it will better position them to actually sell books. I think some readers may be more attracted to a book that makes a bestseller claim. 🙂
My wife. If she recommends a book for me, I’ll try it.
Spoken like a survivor, Bill
I picked “Liked author’s previous work” — which is true for me whether the author is indie or trad-pubbed — but really, a constellation of factors influence my reading decisions. Recommendation by a friend is another big one; an intriguing description is another. Genre is a biggie, as I tend to look at fantasy titles first. Amazon reviews matter to me because I buy a lot of books there, but the negative reviews tell me as much about the book as the positive reviews. Price typically affects my decision only if it’s over ten bucks — I think long and hard about pleasure reading over that threshold. Another turn-off is bestseller status, unless it’s in my genre. Like Facebook says, it’s complicated. 😉
These days I know many authors on social media and this inclines me to read their books and review them. I recently read and reviewed Hollywood Park, a book by Marty Marcus, an author with whom I play Scrabble on line. Other on-line friends are David Blixt, Christopher Gortner and Jana Lin McBurney, each of whose book I have read and review, or are on my short list. I also give priority to books in the area of my own historical fiction era. Presently I’m reading The Cursed Legions by Santiago Postagillo and The Pride of Carthage by David Anthony Durham, both excellent novels about the Second Punic War.
I picked ‘liked authors previous work’ but, quite obviously, that would be one of a number reasons and it would depend very much on the situation; it could just as well be any of the above.