Book question for people

[sholio]

Hey, reader-type people, I have a question for you! In thinking about how to promote my books, I've been thinking about where I actually get book information from: personal blogs, author's twitter, ads, Amazon recommendations, "just saw the book on a shelf", etc. Last night I sat down and made an actual list for all the recent books I've read, but

Comments

[sheafrotherdon]

The last two books i read, I read because they were recommended by a friend. Before that, I was asked to review one for my job. Before that, I followed the 'if you iike this, you'll like x!' link at Amazon. Before that I got there from a mention of a book in another book (both were non-fiction). Before that another recommendation from a friend. Before that, following the Amazon link. Before that, a review on NPR. That last one's happened a couple of times.

I would say friends and 'if you like this, you'll like X' links are the primary way I find my reading fodder.

[sholio]

Thank you! <3 It's especially nice to know that the Amazon rec links DO have an effect, because I've heard a couple of people say they don't work at all, but I really like them and follow them a lot -- but then I got to wondering, do I ever actually buy books based on them? And I wasn't sure.

I had no idea, until I started crunching numbers, how much of my reading material (the vast majority of it, I'd say) is prompted by friends' recommendations, either off my flist/blogs/twitter, or from people I know IRL.

[trobadora]

Most of the books I read when I was younger, I encountered by browsing - either in the public library or in a book shop.

But 99% of the time, nowadays it's word-of-mouth - someone I know tells me about it, or lots of people I may or may not know start talking about it in fannish spaces and it sounds intriguing. I also go looking for things with certain tropes or themes and look at examples on tvtropes pages or somesuch, sometimes.

The last few books I've read were all related to current fannish obsessions (i.e., new instalments of canon or tie-in novels), or sequels to books I've otherwise enjoyed (which I started reading due to friends' recs).

I've never in my life so much as clicked on anything Amazon recced to me, but then I find recs pretty much useless even in a fannish context, unless they're by friends who are reccing something to me personally.

[sheron]

[xparrot]

Most of the fiction books I read now are word-of-mouth, rec'ed by either friends, or random blog posts/conversations online/etc. For recs from people I don't know personally, I think I tend to listen most to recs which mention specific details/narrative kinks that appeal to me (actually that's true of any recs - I read the Benjamin January series because you recced it, but most specifically because you mentioned the h/c of the 6th book

[alessandriana]

(actually that's true of any recs - I read the Benjamin January series because you recced it, but most specifically because you mentioned the h/c of the 6th book...!)

NGL, that's why I started reading those as well! (So. worth. it.)

[sholio]

Excellent, my work here is done. XD

[sholio]

I read the Benjamin January series because you recced it, but most specifically because you mentioned the h/c of the 6th book...!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. :D (But, yeah. I have picked up a number of books on the basis of finding out they contain a particular trope or character type that I like to read!)

[madripoor_rose]

Not sure how much help this will be, but from flicking through my last few What I'm Reading Wednesday posts....

Last few bought are all series I'm already invested in, the latest A:TLA comics The Rift, and the newest prose adaption of the Girl Genius webcomic, Agatha H And The Voice Of The Castle. And I'll be picking up the next trade collection of the Transformers More Than Meets The Eye comic after the holidays. I won't be buying the next Firefly comic until I've read it from the library, since Shepherd's Tale was such a disappointment I'll need to find out if Leaf On The Wind is worth cashy money.

Other than that, I've got rereads of books I own that I happened to pull off a shelf I'm reorganizing, and books I picked up at the library, mostly because the cover blurb sounded interesting.

The Terry Brooks rereads came from hopping LJs and finding someone reading them for the first time, reminding me they existed, and likewise The Accidental Highwayman I picked up because someone was talking about it on LJ.

[leesa_perrie]

I can't remember specifically, sorry. Mainly because I buy books/ebooks and then store them up to read later, so it could be weeks before I read them (or months, or even longer in some cases) and by then I can't remember what led me to that book in the first place most of the time! That said, my usual sources for books are