What immediately attracts you to a book ? The author, the title, the cover or the blurb?
What immediately attracts you to a book ?
The author, the title, the cover or the blurb?
121 Answers
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Title and cover
Mostly the setting.
Cover first and then the title
A bit of all of them.
The cover
More into a detective series, getting to know the teams and their quirks rather than stand-alone psychological ones at the moment. Too many girl/child missing and the central character having a nervous breakdown ?
I’m the same as you Joanne, try this new author with a new Detective team. I got the paperback, but it looks like he’s on Kindle & Unlimited too. ?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Promises-Gripping-Serial-Thriller-Wardell-ebook/dp/B079C65ZRX
Sounds good! Have downloaded the sample to read. Thanks @Christine x
The author and my experience with that author previously.
Author first but blurb if it’s a new author. Never the cover as I read everything on my kindle.
That is the one thing I miss by using kindle
I still look at the cover pictures when browsing Amazon though.
Title and cover
Usually the author, title and cover, sometimes don’t even read the blurb until I start to read it. 🙂
Cover, then blurb.
Blurb first. Cover design is not usually done by the author so I want to know whether they can write or not, not whether they have a good cover designer 😉
But the design is important because it can tell you what sort of book it is if you’re not familiar with the author. It doesn’t have to illustrate the content completely, just give you an idea. For example, you might not pick up something pink and girly if you’re not interested in chick lit.
I will not look at a book if the cover shows a beautiful girl holding a gun.
@Penny But those are your criteria, not mine 😉 I honestly don’t look at covers. The blurb will tell me whether the book is pink and fluffy or not. It’s the words which interest me not the window dressing. Having said that, I took take time with my own covers and have an excellent designer because I realise it is important to some people – just not to me 🙂
@Lesley It tells me whether to pick it up and read the blurb or just move on!
@Penny Everyone’s brain is formatted differently. Mine if wired for words, keywords, specifically. For example, in the library, I will go to the shelves marked Romans Policier. I’ll look at author names which interest me, check the spine is Marked RP so I know I’m getting crime. Then I’ll pull out something which doesn’t ring a bell and read the blurb. Similarly when buying from Amazon I will search on keywords – crime fiction, police procedural etc – then read blurb, then the 1-star reviews. That’s how I operate 🙂
Tend to just pick up random books, don’t take much notice of the cover, it’s the blurb that draws me in.
the author.
Initially, knowing the author’s work and feeling confident I’ll enjoy it. Occasionally, a title or a cover that’s out of the ordinary will make me look closer. So, bit of everything, I think.
Each book is different type of thing @Kath.
Usually the blurb,put love finding first of a series that I enjoy and can’t wait for the next one x
Oh and definitely recommend by others x
I forgot to ask about recommendations. Thanks @Janet
@Susan Recommendations are tricky though, aren’t they? Unless it’s from someone who knows you well and you have at least some ideas in common 🙂
@Lesley That is very true.
@Susan I loved Alan Hollinghurst’s The Stranger’s Child, but am always careful to whom I recommend it as it contains, as one review of the Teds once said, ‘male homosexuals’ so I know it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea 🙂
I do like a good cover. But a brilliant title draws me in. One of the best was Elizabeth Peter’s ‘The Last Camel Died At Noon’ who could resist.
That would be brilliant for charades 😉 Almost as good as The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds 😉 🙂
Love a great cover. If a publisher has loved a book enough to give it a great cover I’m always tempted.
My book has a great cover 🙂 so they say….
It has @Trevor!
The title and cover have to make me want to read the blurb. As for the author, I like to discover new names. Price is a big factor as well.
Another good point about price .
Absolutely agree about price. I like to support fellow authors but some prices are just taking the pee 🙂
How thick the book is, I don’t read much these days but when I was in the library or book shop I would always pick the really thick books up first.
Try reading Les Miserables – that will cure you of thick books forever.
Author
I hope this link will work ok, they don’t always. But never forget some of us oldies grew up choosing from books which all had identical covers, apart from the titles. We managed 😉 http://www.thewritersacademy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Original-Covers-1024×256.jpg
I got told after writing my first book don’t save money on your editor and your COVER so I guess a good cover won’t make you read.
But a bad cover would stop you
Yes, I think so. There are certain types of covers that guarantee that I won’t ever read the blurb.
Define a bad cover, though 🙂 Everyone’s taste is different. For me, I don’t like a books which is all fur coat and no knickers – stonking cover, lightweight pap inside 😉
“Fur coat and no knickers,” that made me chuckle Lesley! ?
@Lee You have a good turn of phrase in Stockport 😉
Red shoes no knicker is another one!! Trouble is you don’t know there’s no knickers till you take the coat off so to speak ?
@Melanie Absolutely! That’s why I don’t set much store by covers 😉
Some wise person (probably a women) said You can’t judge a book by its cover.
It was a woman……brownie points David
Never judge a book by it’s cover”
In George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss (1860), Mr Tulliver uses the phrase in discussing Daniel Defoe’s The History of the Devil, saying how it was beautifully bound.
Is’t google a wonderful thing, sometimes…:)
Author usually.But if its someone I dont know a cover often makes me pick up the book ?
I must say if the cover grabs me then I’ll look at the blurb. Now and again I look at the reviews.
Author, title, cover and blurb but first I check it isn’t written in the historic present tense. I really don’t like that.
If it’s an author I’ve read before and liked then yes, definitely. If it’s got a cool picture on the cover and pretty colours then my simple brain is drawn like a fly to one of those zappers! Ha ha ?
Title then blurb
OK… what has been your favourite blurb then? We spent a lot of time trying to finesse those. They’re really hard.
The one to @Steve‘s Thirteen is genius: The serial killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury
Thanks dude.
@William I agree. It is one of the best tag lines I have ever seen!
One which honestly depicts the contents of the book without giving away the whole storyline. I have read some which are nothing like the blurb!
@Grace I have too!
Author and title.
If it’s one of my favourite authors then I won’t care as much about the cover. But I do love a good cover and that’s what pulls me in first, then I’ll read the blurb. The decision is made mainly from the blurb.
Definitely the cover, then the blurb
The Author if I know them and like them.
The cover if I am too far away to read the blurb.
The blurb if I am standing at the bookshelf…reading blurbs.
I’ve got the paperwhite kindle so no colour on the covers as its black n white. So next its the blurb & the title but when I am looking at the covers that green colour they’re all using at the moment hauls my eyes towards it even of dont want to look that way .
A mixture of all 3 and price as well .
I like to know what the book’s about, so description first. Is it a psychological thriller or a police procedural, what’s the theme, how violent is it. Then a selection of reviews.
If I like authors work and know it will be good … price as well …. don’t always go on recommendations I don’t always find books with rave reviews are as good as I’m told !
Absolutely agree with that! It’s because everyone’s taste is so different. How boring life would be if we all liked the same thing 🙂
Author and title and blurb – and not always in that order!
Us poor authors that nobody has heard of don’t stand a chance :(. We’re doooomed………sob sob.
Not true, @Trevor .. I read quite a few authors I’ve never heard of before, some are debut authors, several are indie authors.
@Grace I know grace was only joking ??
Had loads of great feedback and met some fab people on here
It always amazes me how hard some authors work to get their books out there …
I’m not actually that bothered, I have a good job and really happy. More like I was scratching an itch to get the book out
Once out though, it is a bit of a drug when you know people are reading and when people say nice things in reviews.
But it can take over your life, I’m making sure it does not, or at least trying too. 🙂
Just downloaded your book, now need to find time to read it … 🙂
@Grace Thanks you so much,
Cover – TICK,
Blurb – TICK –
Author – Never herd of him……
Buy it – TICK 🙂
Ha ha, I TOTALLY get where you’re coming from @Trevor. A snappy title and a cover are one thing, but I think they’re nothing compared to an established name or reputation. Since writing I’ve started reading a lot more “unknown” authors, simply because I know how hard it is to get your work noticed. ?
Well that was hard work I asked my Dad & he twittered on for ages but basically he reads certain authors & couldnt really explain what why or who makes him pick up a book. Epic fail there on my market research sorry ?
I think his point is very valid 😉 If there really was a magic formula, authors and publishers would all be using it and coining it in with increased sales. A lot of it remains guesswork, however.
Indeed but I said if you’d never heard of an author what would make you pick up a book. I even open kindle on my computer & showed him my books in colour . After a lot of ummming & twittering the title & the blurb were the next things he looks for. he is 85 mind bless him xxx
@Melanie Oh bless 🙂
for me a catchy title and the blurb. I used to stick to authors I knew but recently I will read anything which has a good title.
@Michael Author first. I have my favourites, and so when they bring out new work I read it. Covers can be catchy. I design my own and always hope that they reflect the content of the book.
The title and cover usually draws me in.
Cover and tagline.
It is often the tagline that attracts me
@Susan Yes! That one about the serial killer not being on trial but on the jury – wow!
@Maggie Definitely that one. Sometimes a blurb is too long. I like a short sharp punchy tagline
@Susan I hate long rambling blurb. But now I didn’t like that tagline – for me it gave too much away 🙂
@Lesley I can understand that. I have read the previous books in this series and I am intrigued as to how this will end. Also some blurbs I have read, when it comes to the book it is nothing like what I had expected.
@Susan What, you mean no ‘gripping, page-turning, edge of your seat breathtaking twist you won’t see coming’? 😉
@Lesley . I have been disappointed so many times by these phrases. I tend to have a high expectation of the book but it tends not to deliver
@Susan They do get a bit overdone, don’t they? I hate page-turner – I don’t know of any other way to read a book, without turning the pages 🙂
But that’s what drags you in the expectation. If the book said for example” Baking cakes with mother ” as opposed to ” what really happened that fateful day she left her child for 1 minute to check the cakes they’d previously baked” would it make you even pick it let alone read it ?
@Melanie Erm, that’s a blurb, rather than a tagline., at that length. My extra-long tagline was a mickey-take collection of all the currently overused keywords 🙂
Yes I see that ?. But it was the best I could do to illustrate my point. That’s why I run a construction company and I’m not an author ?
Author then recommended
Recommendations by authors I like interesting synopsis intriguing title
The cover.
Depends. If it’s an author I’ve already read and enjoyed, the author; titles don’t hold any sway (I’ve been led down a blind alley too many times); blurb has its place, especially with an unknown author but I am a big one for interesting covers – I own 6 different versions of one book because of their covers.
For me an author I already know and like is the first one, recommendations from @Rosemary and @Susan are also good. Tag lines and blurb also help.
Hang on Trev, I’ll get you a tissue!!!
Author definitely although a bland cover could put me off!
Author I like or recommendation, title and/or title, sometimes tagline, synopsis, don’t do reviews of the books Trust my instinct, like to try new authors too
Blurb first too
Cover, author, tag line all grab my interest.
If not buying online, I always read 10 pages before deciding ?
Speaking of covers, I’m getting seriously put off by The Woman in the Red Coat! She gets everywhere! Makes all those covers blend into one in my mind.
I had exactly that argument with my designer 🙂 He wanted to put one on one of mine, I said no.
The yellow coat is popular too!
True. Same woman (long dark hair), limited wardrobe.
The problem now is there are only so many stock photos to go round and so many books being produced 🙂
The photographer who took that suite of pictures must be rolling in it by now!
@Kath doubt it, the rights are often really cheap to buy.
You can usually get it for about £6 but there’s no guarantee that someone else won’t use it. If you read the right genres you’ll be swamped with figures in hoodies too. Some are exactly the same photo.
It’s either red, or yellow or white… same girl just photo shopped. ?
@Kath Exactly! It’s why I now prefer exclusive rights photos of iconic landmarks local to the books. Much less likely to be used elsewhere 🙂
The author – blurbs can be misleading, titles too and we all know never to judge a book by the cover 😉