1. Bright colors on the cover. This doesn't always work, of course, but I love rich blues or reds or pinks on a cover. It never fails to make me looks twice. Examples:
& 
Splintered by A.G. Howard and Incarnate by Jodi Meadows. I loved the first and disliked the second, but props to whoever designed these covers.
2. The Author thanking his/her readers in the acknowledgements. Yes, I always read those. I don't know if that's weird or not, but I love it when authors do this; I feel appreciated as a reader.
3. Bent/torn/chipped spines. You know how sometimes in the corner of a book, it can get a little rough looking in the corners? Yeah, I don't like that.
 |
| Okay, so they never look THIS bad. You hear that? It's my heart breaking. |
4. Blurbs. If a book is being very highly praised by an author I highly respect and love, you can bet I'll pick it up. I read Eleanor and Park simply because John Green said it was good.
"Eleanor and Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book." - John Green
5. Synopsis. I've come to hate those extremely vague summaries that talk about the new mysterious boy who's come to school. And I shiver when I see the sentence " . . . they are inexplicably drawn to each other." That's really code for " . . . they then fell in love after knowing each other for a full five seconds."
6. Reviews, reviews, reviews. I will almost always read reviews from friends/people I follow on Goodreads or Amazon or whatever before I purchase something, whether a long time in advance or spontaneously in a bookstore (I usually take my Nook with me for wifi). I have found that if most people say it's bad, I should listen because it usually is. However, sometimes I go ahead and get it anyway because . . .
***Update for Bount of Books Read-a-thon Challenge***
Monday
Pages read: 150
Currently Reading: The 5th Wave
Grand Total: 0
I completely agree with everything you said, especially the thing with the chips on the spin. If I pick a book and there's a chip on it I will look through the other copies to find a better one.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic :D
Thanks! I almost always grab the book in the back of the stack.
ReplyDeleteOh yes to some of these and eh to the others. I definitely like bright pretty covers, well-cared for books/spines, a good synopsis, and positive reviews. I don't care as much about the author blurbs or the thanking the readers. I will say I read the Acknowledgement page to check for that thing once I own a book, but it doesn't make a difference before I buy it! (Though really, they need us. They should all thank us to make us feel special. :P)
ReplyDeleteWell, I suppose you could say that the acknowledgement thing is just polite...I mean, if I ever wrote a book, I would definitely thank the people who were reading it! Anyways, thanks for the comment.
ReplyDeleteI mostly buy books only if I've already read and enjoyed the ARC but cover is a big part of that-I like pretty covers!
ReplyDeleteI usually only buy something I've already read if I'm collecting the whole series. :)
Delete