# 11 reasons to buy a book (UK results are in!)



## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

From a number of posts, forums and blogs, I've collected a selection of reasons why readers buy books.

I thought it would be interesting to place 11 of them in a poll and see what comes out on top and I think the result will help authors see if they hit the spot with their respective books.

I posted a similar poll on the UK Kindle Forum - I wonder will the results be the same?


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

For me, "first few paragraphs" is more like the first few pages or chapters - ie, the sample. Also, there was no option for the book's overall rating (not necessarily reviews) which I also consider from both Amazon and Goodreads.


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## J.R.Tate (Jul 20, 2010)

Genre has a lot to do with my choice.  I'm not a huge fan of fantasy or sci fi books, so if I see that is the main genre, I usually don't download it.  Also, I like to skim through the independent reviews of a book.  It might sound strange, but I go and look at all of the lower rated reviews first.  I feel that if a book has too many gushing reviews, that something seems suspicious with it.  I like looking at books that have diverse opinions that get people talking. A catchy blurb usually helps too.  

Covers aren't real important to me. I guess I do believe in the saying, never judge a book by its cover.


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## Aenea (Dec 24, 2011)

I went with Genre, Blurb, Price and Recommendations. Those are what influence me the most.


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## Elmore Hammes (Jun 23, 2009)

I clicked several categories, but the reasons vary for a specific book. For an unknown author, the cover, blurb, price and personal recommendations I receive from friends are critical. For an author I already read, the blurb will be the primary factor.


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

I chose several, but the most important thing to me is the book description.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Aenea said:


> I went with Genre, Blurb, Price and Recommendations. Those are what influence me the most.


I went with those too. And Independent Reviews and Read others by author.

Ok, I'm just lazy


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

The book cover seems to always get me first.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

Recommendation, read others by author and blurb are my main reasons to buy. Rarely is it the cover, although I might not buy a book with an off-putting title (unless it's on Kindle), even if I like the blurb.


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## Borislava Borissova (Sep 9, 2011)

Blurb, genre, recommendation, someone good written review are the ways to be attracted and buy a book. I also love to read any part, a chapter, first or not first from it, to take a sense of the writing style. If I like the excerpts even an ugly cover or one star review could not prevent me to choose the book.


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

With the first few chapters being so important, particularly with the Amazon 'look-inside' feature, maybe we should always start with our 'best' chapter, even it the story has to be twisted to accommodate that?


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## psychotick (Jan 26, 2012)

The cover and the genre are what first attract me to a book. Then the blurb, the first page or two to see if I like the writing, and of course the author if I've read him or her before and liked the work.

Cheers, Greg.


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## tahliaN (Nov 6, 2011)

Interesting results. It shows how important the blurb is. I wonder exactly what people mean by recommendations. Are they emails from friends, facebook posting, twitter conversations or good old face to face chatting. I would have thought that reviews would have had more sway.


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## jwest (Nov 14, 2011)

This is a really interesting poll. I know for me I usually start by browsing in the genre I want to read, and then I flip the book over to read the blurb. If that seems interesting, I read the first few paragraphs or flip through a few pages. If I'm still interested, I buy it!

I'm curious to see what other people do when they are browsing for a book


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## lauralouise (Feb 6, 2012)

This really does show how important the blurb is! I think reviews is a strange one these days, because as JR Tate said below, people are wary if a book has too many glowing reviews which seem too good to be true. Also people tend to be motivated to write a review if they really love it or really hate it! Cover seems less important to me when choosing kindle books rather than browsing in a book store. In a book store I used to sometimes feel drawn to the quality of a cover, but if you aren't going to be holding it in your hands and feeling the quality, a thumbnail illustration of the cover just doesn't matter so much.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

I'm surprised that people are surprised (it seems) that the 'blurb' is so important. It's a description of the book, isnt it? It's supposed to tell you what it's about, what you are buying. Reviews/recommendations may be about quality, but some of that can come out in the blurb as well...but really....dont people want to know what the book is about before buying it?

Unless it is an author that I really like, I dont just buy books, even in my favored genres, without knowing what they are about. Do people really do that? 

(And this holds true for why covers mean almost nothing to me....many times it really says little about the content.)


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## amy_saunders (Aug 8, 2011)

The cover and title usually get my attention first and then the blurb and sampling seal the deal.  I tend to be wary of books that get a lot of hype and will often ignore them completely.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

Ken brings up another point. Sometimes blurbs (book descriptions) are written by a marketing team or Web site, sometimes by the author. (Sometimes we see both). I'll tell you one thing...if I _know _the author wrote the description, and it's not a well-written and attention-grabbing blurb....I wont buy it.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

Interesting how little importance readers place on advertising. 

My book buying falls into 2 groups
- Looking for a good read => then I will look first at a genre I love (ie historical romance) and then go by a combination of cover/ blurb and author

The other group is:
- Interesting looking books that caught my eye. These may not necessarily be HR and here I'm heavily influenced by reviews and recommendation.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Hi, just a note from your friendly moderator...this is a discussion of reasons why readers buy books. If any author would like to discuss reaction to his or her blurb or cover, the Writers' Café is the place for that, thanks.

Betsy
KB Moderator

BTW, the main reason these days that I buy or (don't buy) a book from an author I've never read before is not listed above--my interactions with the author here on KindleBoards. If the author interests me, I'm likely to buy a book; if not, well....


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

I won't read a book for the cover or the blurb, but that MIGHT influence whether I will look at the sample. Word of mouth is the biggest to get me to try a new author.


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

tahliaN said:


> Interesting results. It shows how important the blurb is. I wonder exactly what people mean by recommendations. Are they emails from friends, facebook posting, twitter conversations or good old face to face chatting. I would have thought that reviews would have had more sway.


Recommendation for me is almost always referral by a friend or someone I hear raving about a book. I read the Amazon reviews, but the blurb has way more pull for me. I've seen books with great reviews and not be pulled in by the blurb and vice versa. Blurb tells me more about the book and the writers style than a review.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

I actually look at the writing and what others who have read the book think about it.  The cover doesn't mean a whole lot to me.

I . . . I'm so shallow.


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## Carl Ashmore (Oct 12, 2010)

Price, blurb, genre and cover


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## greatparenting (Feb 13, 2012)

I always download the sample and if I'm not hooked after reading for a few minutes, I pass. That works for fiction. For non-fiction, it's all about the information I'm seeking and finding a good title. I remember once a literary agent told me that no one reads self help books, they just buy them for the title. Maybe that's true.

_<<edited. Please, no self promotion outside the Book Bazaar, thanks! --Betsy>>_


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## Nana Malone (Dec 31, 2011)

For me, it's cover, then blurb.  The pretty pulls me in, then I check out the back.  Sometimes I also read the last page if it's a print book and I'm in a store.  But the blurb has the most influence.

Nana


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

Nana Malone said:


> For me, it's cover, then blurb. The pretty pulls me in, then I check out the back. Sometimes I also read the last page if it's a print book and I'm in a store. But the blurb has the most influence.
> 
> Nana


@Nana When you say "Sometimes I also read the last page..." surely you don't mean you read the end of the book? That's got to spoil the surprise is so many novels?


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## TheSFReader (Jan 20, 2011)

A few criterias I use (not listed) are : the presence/absence of DRMs, whether the author is an indie/self-published (Bonus), and on which retailers his books are available.


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## Nana Malone (Dec 31, 2011)

Haha, yes.  I promise you, by the time I get into it, I've totally forgotten the end.  Because it doesn't make sense anyway.  I'm also the same person who can read a book more than one or two times.  It helps me see if the ending is really abrupt and will annoy me or not.  Lol.

Nana


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

Nana Malone said:


> Haha, yes. I promise you, by the time I get into it, I've totally forgotten the end. Because it doesn't make sense anyway. I'm also the same person who can read a book more than one or two times. It helps me see if the ending is really abrupt and will annoy me or not. Lol.
> 
> Nana


STOP READING THE LAST PAGE!!! Sorry, did I say that out loud?

Nana, you need to read the first page first etc... that's how it's done!


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

For your interest, here are the results of the poll I ran on an equivalent UK site.

The top 4 points are the same, albeit in a slightly different order. There aren't really any big points to note, except that maybe Cover Design seems more important in the US.

What do you think?
*
..US..................................UK*
Blurb................................Read others by the author
Genre...............................Blurb
Read others by the author...Recommendations
Recommendations..............Genre
Cover design.....................First few paragraphs
Price................................_Price not included in poll_
Independent reviews.......... Forum buzz
First few paragraphs.......... Independent reviews
Title.................................over design
Forum buzz.......................Title
Advertising........................Advertising


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

ken magee said:


> For your interest, here are the results of the poll I ran on an equivalent UK site.


There are UK members on this site too...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

history_lover said:


> There are UK members on this site too...


And Australia, and Asia, and other parts of Europe.

But most are US persons.

And I expect most on the similar UK site are UK persons.

Perfectly reasonable to ask in both places.

Though, as it's basically a survey of people who are willing to take a survey, I'm not sure the results are statistically valid, though they may be interesting.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Perfectly reasonable to ask in both places.


Yes, I'm just saying it's not strictly a comparison of US vs UK results since the "US" site will also have contributions from the UK and as you pointed, around the world.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

Interesting that according to your poll the #1 factor in the UK is "Read other books by the same author."
That must mean it's more difficult for a new author to break into the market.


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## Ken Magee (Nov 17, 2011)

I accept all the comments about US & UK... I did not mean to offend Canadians, Australians, UK users of this site etc. I guess it would have been more accurate to suggest the majority of respondents in each survey were probably from the US and UK respectively... not quite as catchy though.

And I also agree that people who do polls are not necessarily representative... I still thought it was at least a little bit interesting.


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## JenniferCWagner (Mar 10, 2012)

My reasons differ based on whether I am buying a novel or a non-fiction book. For a novel, prior experience with author or recommendations are paramount, where with non-fiction, genre, title, price and sample are very important. I always download the ebook sample for every nonfiction book.


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