Reading Patterns

[rowyn]

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

Comments

[canis_lupus03]

... How about the "There's so many books I want to read out there- Oh, look! Shiny fanfiction! And it's FREE! And easily searched and sorted by rating/pairing/genre/tag etc. pp." category... ;-) Seriously, I used to read SO much, basically worked my way through any interesting shelves of the local library... and then the internet and fanfiction happened, and I've read maybe twenty? Thirty? original novels in the past ten or so years... Which is a bit of a scary thought, I used to read a book in a day or two, maybe a week if it was a big huge epic fantasy novel with a thousand pages. But then, computers and the internet weren't a thing yet when I was a kid. So while I'd do other stuff as well, reading was really my main leisure activity- and it still is, but it's fanfic instead...

[marycatelli]

There are authors whom I'll buy everything from.

There are authors whom I'll check out everything from the library to check it out first.

[persephone_kore]

Yeah... I can think of one author with one series I mostly love and another series that ate my brain one week and when I finished I was glad I'd borrowed instead of buying.

[okojosan]

Piers Anthony: you're so right. -_- I was such a huge fan of his work as a teenager (and not just the Xanth books, but the Split Infinity series and the Orn series and the Aspects series). But eventually the scales fell from my eyes. I still love some of the ideas in his books, just not the constant cutesy sexism. :P I haven't read any of his books in decades.

As far "buying habits of readers", does the person who buys based on cover art figure into this? There are cover artists (like Michael Whelan) who will influence my buying habits as well, particularly at bookstores.

[ilcylic]

just not the constant cutesy sexism

*gasps*

Holy mother of God. I was already going to follow Rowyn's advice and not go back and read the Aspects series, but... I read this comment and thought about those books for a second and wow, now I'm really not going to go back and read them. :D

*ponders somewhat uncomfortably the ilcylic of 25 years ago*

[3rdragon]

Good question. I have a friend who loves Leo and Diane Dillon, and if she had the disposable income, would probably buy every book they ever did a cover for, regardless of all other merits.

[verdanthe]

there's a strong distinction between what I buy & what I read, because if I can get it at the library, I will. I follow series more than authors.

so, what I buy:
ebooks: recommended by someone (including the author for authors I follow) and less than $5 I'll pick up upon release. >$5 I'll wait for more info
paper: already read & liked & want around, or ebook is more expensive than paper to me & it's not available from the library

[ruggels]

sailed in from a suggested link (MCA Hogarth). In general, I come in for Genre, and then once there, follow a series. Mostly my reading these days is non-fiction, and that focus is usually towards the early years of World War Two. When I was Younger, I read mostly Genre fiction, until I was soured on it by a string of bad fantasy novels in college. After that it was hard science fiction, and Historical non-Fiction, and the occasional thriller.

My mother comes in on Genre, and then follows authors. anything they write, she will read, and organizes her reading by author.

Both of us praise the kindle for being able to sample things before buying.