I am thinking about the buying habits of readers, and trying to subdivide them into several categories, in relation to a single author's works
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Y'know, that's a good related topic, 'what motivates you to pick up a book from an author you have not previously read other books by?' For me, I look for a few definite things:
* Space traders and sometimes ambassadors with a heaping of First Contact * An interesting and new setting that has rules that must be cleverly understood by the protagonists, frequently game-like i.e. David Gerrold's "Chess with a Dragon" * Other fun topics that aren't frequently seen but I'm interested in, seen through the lense of fantasy and science fiction, like gourmet cooking, medicine (The Nick O'Donohoe Crossroads series, Jody Lynn Nye's Taylor's Ark books) * Hero's Journey-style fantasy is generally a turnoff, also most variants of medieval fantasy that sound like they focus on the royalty or warriors because they're the only people who matter
Browsing inside often helps clarify a buy/no buy decision; I look at the writing and the dialogue (they may seem the same but they're not!) and see if they're interesting. Interesting dialogue doesn't have to be witty, but it helps. In writing terms, I want to see the book knows what it's about, i.e. not full of purple prose or third grade-level prose. Transparent writing styles or ornate styles, doesn't matter as long as it's competent.
* Space traders and sometimes ambassadors with a heaping of First Contact
* An interesting and new setting that has rules that must be cleverly understood by the protagonists, frequently game-like i.e. David Gerrold's "Chess with a Dragon"
* Other fun topics that aren't frequently seen but I'm interested in, seen through the lense of fantasy and science fiction, like gourmet cooking, medicine (The Nick O'Donohoe Crossroads series, Jody Lynn Nye's Taylor's Ark books)
* Hero's Journey-style fantasy is generally a turnoff, also most variants of medieval fantasy that sound like they focus on the royalty or warriors because they're the only people who matter
Browsing inside often helps clarify a buy/no buy decision; I look at the writing and the dialogue (they may seem the same but they're not!) and see if they're interesting. Interesting dialogue doesn't have to be witty, but it helps. In writing terms, I want to see the book knows what it's about, i.e. not full of purple prose or third grade-level prose. Transparent writing styles or ornate styles, doesn't matter as long as it's competent.
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