Why I buy books

The outfit collective had an interesting question: Why do you buy the books you buy? Basically the question was posed in reaction to the thought--Does my publisher's marketing department have a clue about what sells a book? And if the publisher's suggestions are any indication, no they do not have a clue.

First and foremost I have NEVER read a book because of cover art. Even from the library. I am totally a word person. Pictures have no meaning for me at all. This includes icons on cars and appliances. I can't speak this visual language. DOORS OPEN. That I get. An icon of my car viewed from the top with the doors open--I got nothin'. First of all I never view from the top. And everything else that's wrong with the assumption that I should be able to "read" the picture. I can't. I am verbal, not visual. My feeling is that a lot of readers are word not picture people like I am. So all the stress about cover art is wasted on me. People who like words read books.

I do read books because someone I trust to have somewhat my taste in reading recommends that I do. This can be a personal friend, a bookseller, a reviewer, or less frequently, a blurb from an author I already know. I won't buy a book based on this, but I will read it. I will read books from the library based on recommendations. This happens a lot. And I do move from there to purchasing the author if I liked the book. Of course if I start to distrust the reviewer after a couple of bad steers, I'll quit reading the reviewer, too.

I will read authors if I like a short piece of theirs in a magazine. This is how I started to read Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes. I'm not a big short story fan, but it can suck me in. And mostly once I like a certain author, I buy their books until they write a stinker. Or go so off course that I'm no longer interested.

I will buy a book if I meet the author and like her/him. I just purchased two books at a mystery convention because I liked the author. Maybe I'll never buy them again, but that does work for me. Although if the books sound like something I'd never want to read, even the most charming author won't get my money.

Now and then I'm drawn to books by the subject matter. I started reading Pat Barker because I was in the midst of my World War 1 mania. Read her trilogy and then read all the rest of her books. This happens infrequently because I'm mostly not caught up in a subject like that. But it can happen.

I'm not sure about the whole facebook/twitter thing. I can't imagine finding an author that way without a recommendation from someone, and I'd get that without the electronic intervention. I personally haven't discovered any author or book that way, but I know someone who has. I'm dubious about its practical application for me.

That's me really. Voracious reader always looking for the next book.