What gets me to read a book is me. Recommendations, publicity, and marketing often repel me. I converse with my local booksellers to hear their suggestions, but I usually need time to peruse and see titles paired with book covers. NPR recently caught my attention though when they titled a review “In ‘The Apology,’ a South Korean grandmother makes amends from the afterlife.”
Thanks, John. Resonates. I’m a UK writer looking to connect more broadly with a US readership for my new novella. Any and all steers gratefully received.
I feel like there are two kinds of blurbs. There is the obligatory log-rolling and hustling that makes a lot of the low rungs of publishing look like a very sad MLM scheme. Then there is occasionally genuine buzz about something that gets transmitted through the professionals. That kind of thing you can't really put on a book cover, but when I hear at least a reasonable rendition of it, I'm inclined to get the book. For example, the pre-publication, pre-completion-of-manuscript excitement around the publication of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell among certain sff writers convinced me to go out and read the thing.
Almost anything can get me interested in READING a book. In order of priority: recommendation from my trusted literary group, it being on a lot of trusted lists, recommendation from a personal friend I trust, down to finding the plot or topic interesting (whether that’s from an online blurb or reading it at the bookstore or library).
What makes me BUY a book? Some of the same factors but the #1 factor is that my library doesn’t have it or I know they’re unlikely to get it (if it’s a new book) because it’s a niche interest - like I buy a lot of classical education books sight unseen. I rarely buy new books; I buy a ton of books, mostly classics, at used bookstores based mostly on the criteria above.
I tend to look for new books by authors I've enjoyed in the past (Elizabeth Strout, Richard Russo, Anne Tyler, Brock Clarke, Jean Hanff Korelitz). But I often get intrigued by reviews I read in the New Yorker or the NYT Book Review. I'll buy those books, and if I enjoy them I look for other books by the author. I read "Now is Not the Time to Panic" by Kevin Wilson, which led me to buy some of his earlier books which I also enjoyed. The same with Sue Miller; I bought "Monogamy" because of a review and went on to buy and enjoy "The Arsonist," "The Senator's Wife," and "The Lake Shore Limited."
It has changed over the years. 60 years ago I trusted the NYTimes list. Then I followed NPR. I began developing a list of friends whom I could trust but now I am not so interested in what is popular and look for the unusual. Podcasts and newsletters like this one, have a lot of good suggestions. I often check the reviews on Goodreads especially the lower ratings. My favorite is to roam through an independent bookstore like Changing Hands in Phoenix and look for the little tags where a bookseller has recommended a book and why. Also try to read all the books in the Tournament of Books.
Thanks so much for the mention. I’m not a fan of blurbs, but book publishers insist on them for salespeople to use. Personally, I’ve never decided to read a book based on blurbs. In fact, many times I am not familiar with some authors who provide blurbs. I’m probably going to write about the topic sometime soon.
What gets me to seek out a particular book can be a recommendation from a trusted bookseller, one of our town's librarians, my family, my book club and The Tournament of Books. I peruse the NYT's top books of the week and do take notice of what Reese's book club is recommending.
As a reader (and writer, of course), I tend to agree: I can't imagine even finding out a book without a bunch of reviews unless someone told me about it. From there, it would largely depend on the weight I'd ascribe to the recommender, coupled with reviews from others, as to whether I'd even consider spending many hours on something.
Okay unpopular opinion--but I do look at best seller lists. In the same way I like to go to see tourist places when I travel. Also if I come across a book mentioned more then once in the many newsletters I read I’ll give it a look-see at the library. I also have a trusted friend who I swap recommendations.
Positive - recommendations from people I trust to recommend good/intriguing/unusual stuff; recommendations from people in my book club; recommendations on Substack; sometimes reviews in good newspapers or websites; excellent covers e.g. I'm a sucker for the British Library Crime Series.
Negative - I'm most put off by those pages of pages of amazingly positive comments at the beginning of even the slightest novel. If it needs that much puff it can't be that good; too much pushing by authors themselves; 'bandwagon' books -'ooh that was successful, I'll write one much the same and have a very similar cover'.
I'm also always nervous about fiction by 'celebrities', famous people who are not famous for their writing; etc.
What gets me to buy a book? Recommendations from trusted literary friends (and sometimes from Substacks I follow), new books by authors I've enjoyed previously, occasionally a NYT or WaPo book review (especially from Ron Charles), long and short lists of awards like the Booker, National Book Award, Women's Prize, Pulitzer, PEN etc...and to be honest, sometimes the algorithms do get it right: "if you liked this, you might like this..."
PS a few years ago my first time "playing" the Biblioracle for a book recommendation, you also recommended Cities I've Never Lived In - thanks! (For more excellent short story collections that deserve attention, check out Press 53... Full disclosure: Press 53 published my collection :-).
All I read is non fiction..novels are rare, but they do happen. usually the books and authors i read most often are found within the text of the book I’m reading; a reference, a footnote. If I’ve read a book by someone and they write something else, I may give it a look depending on its topic. Steve coll, Barbara Tuchman and William Manchester are examples. I subscribe to emails that advertise books and i read essays that will review a book or an author..usually I will not give a blurb any seriousness. It’s, pat my back, non sense. It’s why I don’t read introductions either. Just a point; good established authors can and have written bad books, but even a bad book will teach you at least one thing you didn’t know if you read closely, so I’m not discouraged by a strike out every now and then. I’m stubborn so I continue to read it even though I’m screaming and banging my head. My pet peeve is the over use of the word, decade, and the use of percentages instead of real numbers.
Aug 28, 2023·edited Aug 28, 2023Liked by John Warner
I like to pretend that I choose books on my own. I will sometimes even go to a well-curated bookstore and use a random number generator to choose a random book just to avoid whatever's being marketed. But I realized I had been marketed into reading a book when I did the "this book keeps showing up in random places" delusion and convinced myself the universe wanted me to read the book. Turned out to be a great one, but I also felt guerilla marketed like a punk.
It depends on whether I'm choosing it for professional or personal reasons. As a book review editor for a lit mag, I pick books that will speak to our audience and fit our editorial goals. I ask questions like: Why should our readers care? Does this book offer a new or underrepresented perspective? How does it align with our other coverage? Have we run something like it in the recent past? The question I don't ask is: Will anyone buy this book? I don't believe it's my job to sell books. (Sorry, authors.) Obviously, I have to maintain good relationships with publicists, and I certainly respect and appreciate their work, but my real duty is to my magazine's readers and reviewers.
I recognize that outside of a few major book review outlets, book reviews aren't most readers' frontline resource anymore, and it bums me out but I get it. BookTok/Tube/stagram and Goodreads exist, and trad media ain't what it used to be. But I find it interesting that booksellers and librarians--the people those beloved word-of-mouth recommendations come from--still rely on (trade) reviews for their selections. Re Kathleen's post, I wonder why that doesn't translate into sales (either from bookstores and libraries or from word-of-mouth recs).
I find blurbs so useful - if any use the word "propulsive" I immediately throw the book out the window. Just because its so over used and annoying. Petty? You bet! I also judge books by their covers. Say now maybe I am the worst type of reader...
What gets me to read a book is me. Recommendations, publicity, and marketing often repel me. I converse with my local booksellers to hear their suggestions, but I usually need time to peruse and see titles paired with book covers. NPR recently caught my attention though when they titled a review “In ‘The Apology,’ a South Korean grandmother makes amends from the afterlife.”
Thanks, John. Resonates. I’m a UK writer looking to connect more broadly with a US readership for my new novella. Any and all steers gratefully received.
I feel like there are two kinds of blurbs. There is the obligatory log-rolling and hustling that makes a lot of the low rungs of publishing look like a very sad MLM scheme. Then there is occasionally genuine buzz about something that gets transmitted through the professionals. That kind of thing you can't really put on a book cover, but when I hear at least a reasonable rendition of it, I'm inclined to get the book. For example, the pre-publication, pre-completion-of-manuscript excitement around the publication of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell among certain sff writers convinced me to go out and read the thing.
Almost anything can get me interested in READING a book. In order of priority: recommendation from my trusted literary group, it being on a lot of trusted lists, recommendation from a personal friend I trust, down to finding the plot or topic interesting (whether that’s from an online blurb or reading it at the bookstore or library).
What makes me BUY a book? Some of the same factors but the #1 factor is that my library doesn’t have it or I know they’re unlikely to get it (if it’s a new book) because it’s a niche interest - like I buy a lot of classical education books sight unseen. I rarely buy new books; I buy a ton of books, mostly classics, at used bookstores based mostly on the criteria above.
I tend to look for new books by authors I've enjoyed in the past (Elizabeth Strout, Richard Russo, Anne Tyler, Brock Clarke, Jean Hanff Korelitz). But I often get intrigued by reviews I read in the New Yorker or the NYT Book Review. I'll buy those books, and if I enjoy them I look for other books by the author. I read "Now is Not the Time to Panic" by Kevin Wilson, which led me to buy some of his earlier books which I also enjoyed. The same with Sue Miller; I bought "Monogamy" because of a review and went on to buy and enjoy "The Arsonist," "The Senator's Wife," and "The Lake Shore Limited."
It has changed over the years. 60 years ago I trusted the NYTimes list. Then I followed NPR. I began developing a list of friends whom I could trust but now I am not so interested in what is popular and look for the unusual. Podcasts and newsletters like this one, have a lot of good suggestions. I often check the reviews on Goodreads especially the lower ratings. My favorite is to roam through an independent bookstore like Changing Hands in Phoenix and look for the little tags where a bookseller has recommended a book and why. Also try to read all the books in the Tournament of Books.
Thanks so much for the mention. I’m not a fan of blurbs, but book publishers insist on them for salespeople to use. Personally, I’ve never decided to read a book based on blurbs. In fact, many times I am not familiar with some authors who provide blurbs. I’m probably going to write about the topic sometime soon.
What gets me to seek out a particular book can be a recommendation from a trusted bookseller, one of our town's librarians, my family, my book club and The Tournament of Books. I peruse the NYT's top books of the week and do take notice of what Reese's book club is recommending.
As a reader (and writer, of course), I tend to agree: I can't imagine even finding out a book without a bunch of reviews unless someone told me about it. From there, it would largely depend on the weight I'd ascribe to the recommender, coupled with reviews from others, as to whether I'd even consider spending many hours on something.
Okay unpopular opinion--but I do look at best seller lists. In the same way I like to go to see tourist places when I travel. Also if I come across a book mentioned more then once in the many newsletters I read I’ll give it a look-see at the library. I also have a trusted friend who I swap recommendations.
Positive - recommendations from people I trust to recommend good/intriguing/unusual stuff; recommendations from people in my book club; recommendations on Substack; sometimes reviews in good newspapers or websites; excellent covers e.g. I'm a sucker for the British Library Crime Series.
Negative - I'm most put off by those pages of pages of amazingly positive comments at the beginning of even the slightest novel. If it needs that much puff it can't be that good; too much pushing by authors themselves; 'bandwagon' books -'ooh that was successful, I'll write one much the same and have a very similar cover'.
I'm also always nervous about fiction by 'celebrities', famous people who are not famous for their writing; etc.
What gets me to buy a book? Recommendations from trusted literary friends (and sometimes from Substacks I follow), new books by authors I've enjoyed previously, occasionally a NYT or WaPo book review (especially from Ron Charles), long and short lists of awards like the Booker, National Book Award, Women's Prize, Pulitzer, PEN etc...and to be honest, sometimes the algorithms do get it right: "if you liked this, you might like this..."
PS a few years ago my first time "playing" the Biblioracle for a book recommendation, you also recommended Cities I've Never Lived In - thanks! (For more excellent short story collections that deserve attention, check out Press 53... Full disclosure: Press 53 published my collection :-).
All I read is non fiction..novels are rare, but they do happen. usually the books and authors i read most often are found within the text of the book I’m reading; a reference, a footnote. If I’ve read a book by someone and they write something else, I may give it a look depending on its topic. Steve coll, Barbara Tuchman and William Manchester are examples. I subscribe to emails that advertise books and i read essays that will review a book or an author..usually I will not give a blurb any seriousness. It’s, pat my back, non sense. It’s why I don’t read introductions either. Just a point; good established authors can and have written bad books, but even a bad book will teach you at least one thing you didn’t know if you read closely, so I’m not discouraged by a strike out every now and then. I’m stubborn so I continue to read it even though I’m screaming and banging my head. My pet peeve is the over use of the word, decade, and the use of percentages instead of real numbers.
I like to pretend that I choose books on my own. I will sometimes even go to a well-curated bookstore and use a random number generator to choose a random book just to avoid whatever's being marketed. But I realized I had been marketed into reading a book when I did the "this book keeps showing up in random places" delusion and convinced myself the universe wanted me to read the book. Turned out to be a great one, but I also felt guerilla marketed like a punk.
It depends on whether I'm choosing it for professional or personal reasons. As a book review editor for a lit mag, I pick books that will speak to our audience and fit our editorial goals. I ask questions like: Why should our readers care? Does this book offer a new or underrepresented perspective? How does it align with our other coverage? Have we run something like it in the recent past? The question I don't ask is: Will anyone buy this book? I don't believe it's my job to sell books. (Sorry, authors.) Obviously, I have to maintain good relationships with publicists, and I certainly respect and appreciate their work, but my real duty is to my magazine's readers and reviewers.
I recognize that outside of a few major book review outlets, book reviews aren't most readers' frontline resource anymore, and it bums me out but I get it. BookTok/Tube/stagram and Goodreads exist, and trad media ain't what it used to be. But I find it interesting that booksellers and librarians--the people those beloved word-of-mouth recommendations come from--still rely on (trade) reviews for their selections. Re Kathleen's post, I wonder why that doesn't translate into sales (either from bookstores and libraries or from word-of-mouth recs).
I find blurbs so useful - if any use the word "propulsive" I immediately throw the book out the window. Just because its so over used and annoying. Petty? You bet! I also judge books by their covers. Say now maybe I am the worst type of reader...