I'm curious, how many of you out there read reviews before you purchase a book? I mean, do you rely on them to help you make your book purchases? Or do you sometimes look at them, for say, authors you've never read before? Or do you say, "To hell with reviews, who needs 'em?"
What is your overall perspective on reviews?
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Question For All
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5 People Gabbed:
I read reviews all the time. I don't take them as gospel, but I do tend to read them for an over all feel for the book's strengths and weaknesses. If rreviews ocnsistently are happy with the chracterization, I'll pick the book up.
I use to reviews to FIND books I want to read. I do not live near any sizable bookstore. So I can't browse--reading blurbs to find books I might like. So now I rely on reader reviews (on blogs, not Amazon) to ferret out books (plots) that appeal to me. And it doesn't always matter if the reader liked the story or not--it is the synopsis I'm looking for, not necessarily their opinion.
I only genrally check out reviews for the blurb, or to see if anybody agrees with me if I think a book was crap. I rarely buy books based on reviews.
BTW, aren't you supposed to be finishing your own book?
I don't look much at reviews myself, unless it's an author who has had some not-so-good books lately or an author I've never read before. I basically rely on word-of-mouth on the books I read, recommendations from friends and family. I've got my list of autobuy authors but I'm always willing to try something new :)
BTW-Yes Karen, I am working on my book. I'm at the end and it's very exciting but a lot harder to write than I expected. This writing is hard work!
I hardly ever rely on reviews. Sometimes that backfires (wish I'd read them on the new Wendy Wax book LOL). But I trust my own judgement and my friends' judgement more.
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