A while back, I asked this question on my Facebook page. “What inspires you to try a new author?” I received so many fascinating responses, that I decided to count them and create a pie chart.
#1 (with 27% of the vote) – Recommendation from a fellow reader
There is still no substitute for readers recommending books to fellow readers. “Word of mouth” will always be the very best form of discoverability.
#2 (with 21% of the vote) – Cover and title
A huge number of readers will try a new-to-them author if they’re drawn in by the book’s cover and title. This one is harder to get right than you might think! A great cover/title is appealing to the eye and also clearly communicates the book’s sub-genre and tone. It takes a well-thought-out concept + a skilled graphic designer to pull this off.
#3 (with 19% of the vote) – Recommendation from an author
Until I ran this poll, I hadn’t realized that readers valued recommendations from authors so highly. This one made me smile because Christian fiction authors do a great job of spreading the word about books. In the above example, Rachel Hauck is telling her Instagram followers about Katherine Reay’s The London House.
#4 (with 17% of the vote) Plot line
This is another one that is difficult to get right! I quail each time I try to boil my entire novel into a blurb that will hopefully give away just enough detail to make a reader think, “Ooh! I want to read that.” Like with the cover, book summaries are best when they communicate the sub-genre and tone accurately. The fact that this ranked so high on the list affirms that this piece of the puzzle is worth a great deal of time and effort.
#5 (with 11% of the vote) – Miscellaneous
I called this category Miscellaneous because it’s a catch-all for a wide range of answers. For example, Bookstagram. Goodreads. Kindle suggestions. Reviews (like the one above for Dani Pettrey’s The Crushing Depths.)
#6 (with 3% of the vote) – Excerpt
Some readers run in terror, shaking their arms over their heads, and yelling, “Nooooo!” at the prospect of reading an excerpt in advance of a book’s release. But a significant number of readers love them. So much so that it seems worthwhile to make advance excerpts available. ….If you’re not someone who runs in terror, you can read the excerpt for Stay with Me (pictured above) here.
#7 (with 2% of the vote) – Facebook group
Many of you enjoy participating in Facebook groups! They’re a great gathering space for like-minded readers who enjoy offering suggestions to readers searching for a particular type of book, gushing over a novel they loved, and connecting with one another.
That’s a wrap! THANK YOU to those of you who recommend books to others. That makes a world of difference. Thank you, too, for leaving reviews, posting on Bookstagram, rating books on Goodreads, interacting in reader Facebook groups, and all the other things you do. Christian fiction exists because of your support.
What did you think of the results? Do these answers reflect the things that inspire YOU to try a new author?
Becky Wade
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What an interesting post, Becky. Thank you, for creating this, it’s great to see, especially as a newbie author. I choose a novel by its blurb and cover, unless it’s an author I’ve read numerous times-I get the novel as soon as I can, without “shopping.”
I’m glad you enjoyed the post!
Very interesting, Becky. I was surprised that word of mouth wasn’t much higher.
Yep! It was the #1 answer, but it is interesting that it didn’t claim an even larger percent of the vote.
I love data like this, Becky. So interesting. Just this week I experienced a combination of #1, #3, and #7. I asked my Posse to help me come up with recommendations about favorite humorous historical romance books for a marketing post I was working on. The caveat was that I was instructed not to recommend multiple books by the same author, so we had to look outside the tried and true. I shared my top four recommended reads then let my Posse add their recommendations. Multiple side conversations ensued and pretty soon we had people buying or at least making note of books recommended by other readers or authors within our group. In fact, I even went out and bought a book by a new-to-me author since so many people raved about it. I’m reading it now to see if I will add it to my top 5 list. So fun!
I LOVE this! Your example clearly shows discoverability at work. 🙂
Thank you for sharing. I love that even though we listen to others, readers and authors, we still are drawn to covers and titles a lot. I am not at all surprised that we listen to our fellow readers most. Word of mouth is best. But we don’t seem to care for online reviews as much as we use to. I personally seldom pay attention to online reviews. 😀
Even in this technological age, old-school word of mouth is still best!
I love posts like this! I definitely will read a new-to-me author if one of my (many) favorite authors has a blurb on the cover or inside. Also, recommendations by the Avid Readers of Christian Fiction Facebook group. The repeated exposure of seeing photos of the book and reading comments by those who’ve read it effects my decision even more than just one of my friends recommending it (especially if the cover doesn’t appeal to me, or the genre isn’t my usual cup of tea). Last, I never considered myself such a cover snob—I really didn’t—until I started reading independently published books! That sounds awful, but I just can’t read them unless people are really talking it up. And for the ones that I buy based on those comments, I’m always happy I bought the book and read it. If I’m hooked on that first book, I’ll read others by them as well. 2 things are so important in that avenue of self-publication: a good graphic designer and an editor!! I totally understand why it’s done, and there are some great authors out there waiting for their moment of recognition, but it can be a much harder sell for me and I need convincing!😉
Thanks for sharing. Hope you have a wonderful day!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Karen! You bring up a great point when you mention “repeated exposure”. Yes! I think a lot of readers, like you, are much more likely to try a new author when they’ve seen their book mentioned several times.
Something a wee bit different is I look at book bloggers to inspire me to try a new author. Two that I read daily are RelzReviewz and ReadingIsMySuperPower. Both Rel and Carrie have been instrumental in introducing me to new authors that quickly turn into must-read-everything-they-write authors. 🙂
I’m glad you brought this up! Bloggers can absolutely inspire readers to try new authors. I suspect that readers probably included bloggers under the “recommendation from a fellow reader” umbrella when answering my question. 🙂
Interesting information. I think I remember seeing your poll on Facebook, but I don’t think I responded. I use all of the methods listed. Recommendations from authors I follow or from reviews will hook me, but I usually use some or all of the methods in addition, especially if I am purchasing the book. I’m not as choosey if the book is a library book or a free book for my e-reader. With those books I can “test” read. I have gotten a couple of free e-books that I’ve deleted (usually because of content), but I’ve also purchased many books as a result of reading a free book.
I am curious, do authors receive anything from the “purchase” of the free e-books?
No. 🙂 When they give away a free e-book, it’s with the hope that (as you mentioned) readers will enjoy their work and “purchase many books as a result of reading a free book”. Library books and free e-books are a great way to test new authors!
Word of mouth by someone who shares my taste in books is my number 1, but after that I’d say “the blurb” though I can’t imagine how difficult that must be because both the blurb and cover can be off-putting to me and I might NOT read a great book because of them. However, what does pull me in is great setting and characters (more so than the plot for me). If the blurb and cover convince me that these characters are people I want to spend days with in an interesting place (and time), then I’ll give it a try even if I’ve never heard of the author. I’d actually rather not know much of the plot beforehand because I want to get carried along with these characters I’ve chosen to journey alongside, if that makes sense. But yes, once I’ve read an author I’ve liked, I will read ALL their books-catching up on past releases and (im)patiently waiting for the next!
My Stubborn Heart “had me at hello” with the characters and charming setting.😉
I loved reading your thoughts, Theresa! Thank you for sharing them. I’ve heard from other readers that they prefer not to know much at all about the plot beforehand. That may be why “plot line” didn’t score higher . . . because some readers skip over it because they don’t want any spoilers whatsoever. And I know what you mean about the combination of engaging characters and setting. If those pieces pull a reader in, they’re likely to try the novel. 🙂