What makes you choose the book? Is it the cover or blurb? The reviews or referral from a friend? I look for story line. To me, all the book covers today look the same. They all have half naked people on them, or transparent faces with starts or gleaming lights. The colors do not stand out form the rest either. I do not care about reviews at all. Strangers who do not know me will not be able to tell me whether I will like it or not. What about you.. what attracts a book to you?
That attraction to a book depends on a lot of things. Number one is the topic. If it is within the genres I like, then there is a chance that I will get it. These days I am getting finance and self-improvement books. Next, the blurbs. If the words there on the blurbs praise the book a lot, then it will increase the chance of me buying it. The last one is "attraction". There are a lot of times that I feel like a certain force is attracting me to a book. Somehow like a magnet. Cannot really explain it though. Most of my books were bought by the first and third criteria.
Whenever I look or search for a book to read, usually I find a author who is interesting and may hold valuable information in a book I can read, otherwise I browse for a specific subject and find a quality book I had sensed from reviews or from my gut feelings. The title of a book is a secondary factor, because I have judge many books in the past from their covers, and many times after reading such books with bland covers, my perspective flipped 180 from my initial outlook of it. I also look at the thickness of a book, because I rather not read a 1000 long single book, if I can read three 300 +- books, that had more accumulated and valuable information than the ridiculously long-read book. Then, I read the prologue or foreword to a book if the author provided it, because it helps me discern if a book will help me and be valuable in content, or not. Lastly, if I am a buying a book, I do also look at the price, because I ain't rich and require the best I can get form a book for the money I shall spend for it.
I'll say this first: I don't buy books anymore. I don't download books illegally either. So since there are a number of sites which list a lot free books and I believe that every author has a good story to tell, at the moment I'm pick a book at random, download and read it all no matter how bad it is. That makes me appreciate the good books more when I get [to read] them.
For me, there's two things that I consider when choosing a book. First is the recommendation of friends. If a friend recommends a good book to me, I will trust their judgment and get the book for myself. Also, I rely on the synopsis of the book as well. If the story looks really interesting, regardless of the popularity of the book or the author, I'd buy it no matter what.
Usually, I look at the author. Once I discover an author whose book I liked so much, I tend to look for his/her other books. I then move on to another author. Of course, I mix things up and switch genres too. When searching for a book in a library/bookstore, the most important deciding factor for me is the blurb. The cover doesn't matter much but if it shows the movie adaptation of the book, I don't even consider purchasing it.
I always chose a book either based on the reviews written on the book or due to the brief summary of the book. I think both the ways are really great way if knowing about the book. Also, most of the time I end up buying a book that is quite good and rarely regret for my choices. I have been selecting this way for years.
I usually choose a book based on the blurb written about it on the back cover. Then I do a little research about the book on my phone. If it has favourable reviews, I'll give it a bit of a read. If I think it's worth getting and there are promotions going on for the bookstore, then I will buy it.
I don't much care what the cover looks like as long as it isn't something really creepy that I'm going to dread looking at it every time I pick up the book. Well, and as long as it isn't R rated, since I read all over the house and lay my books down. I usually stay in mostly the same genre, so it tends to be whoever is the popular writer in that genre at the time. Often, my mother suggests a read or even sends me a book she has recently finished, since we share similar tastes in reading materials.
I choose a book mainly based on content. You know, the plot snippet at the back cover. I try not to give too much importance on the facade lest I end up disillusioned and regretting my purchase. I have a habit of choosing best sellers, so this basically spares me from the hassle of weighing the pros and cons of buying a particular book. With best sellers, you're assured of a quality cover as much as a quality story.
