Hey everyone
Today I am asking the question: What Makes You Want To Buy A Book? Is it the book cover? I buy books based on book covers. If I think something looks really nice, I go read the blurb.
Is it a book video? I love, love, love book videos but a lot of people argue that they don't sell books. When you see this book video, do you want to buy the book?How about contests? If I offered you Amazon money or a free read today would you want to buy the book?
I ask these questions because we, as authors, we really have no idea what books will sell and why. None. We can write a best-selling series and suddenly people stop reading. All of our books can languish and then suddenly a short story we wrote fast is eating up the charts. It makes little sense to us. The best we can do is always do our best work and hope. So, I'm asking you today, what makes you buy a book?
6 comments:
First, I look at the cover too. Then I read the blurb. This is if I am at the bookstore. Online, I have certain reviewers that I pay attention to because our tastes are similar, so if they like it, I will look into it. What really hooks me is an excerpt online. I've bought several books because I read the first chapter or two online and want to see what else happens.
Yes, I am like you too. I go to the section of books I want - sci fi, etc. - look at all the covers, and read all the blurbs. I compare the blurbs to each other. Which one sounds best? What kind of story am I in the mood for? I make my purchase based on that.
I never, ever watch book trailers. Sorry, but it's true. Sigh.
Free reads are great - I've found some new must-read authors that way. Of course, the only danger is that though you now love them, it's hard to find the time to go and buy their stuff!
Life is so....distracting.
But yes, covers and blurbs. I've seen some really great covers and blurbs that had nothing to do with the book, btw. And vice versa. In a way, part of book buying remains a crapshoot, which is kinda why we do it! LOL
Generally, I buy books in series that I enjoy. I either buy the books in the series to re-read as a new book comes out, or I buy other books in the series if I particularly like the third one and I want to see what happened. I discover new authors/ series to read almost exclusively from friend recommendations. Hope it helps.
Yes, it's a cover that will catch my eye if I'm roaming in a bookstore. Then I will pull it out and read the back, then the inside if it's hooked me by then ;-)
Gena Robertson
robertsongena@hotmail.com
The cover and/or title will catch my eye but the blurb will make the final decision. Sometimes I even seek out a excerpt because sometimes authors like to ramble about the scenery or keep repeating the same thing over and over but in different words (example: when a character is talking about their feelings). Like Bratty, I never watch trailers. Its the same thing as the blurb but with pictures.
I'm an author, but also a reader. I buy probably 99.99999999% of my books online. So the title is what catches my attention first. Truthfully, I find a lot of covers to be very generic -- they would would work for quite a few books -- so the cover for me personally is a secondary factor. The blurb is CRITICAL and so are the Kindle samples. That's what sells me. I've only bought ONE book in my entire life because of what I saw on a trailer.
Post a Comment