How Do You Choose Which Book to Buy? Annie West

Confession time here. Things have been rather frantic in the West household and I looked on the calendar and realised I was scheduled to post with the LoveCats. What to choose? With my brain scrambled by other things I thought I'd tackle and hopefully get some views on something which all authors, and some readers, wonder about.

How do you choose which books to buy?

Specifically, how do you choose which romances?

Everyone is different so I assume there'll be a variety of views.

I'd love to think lots of readers went shopping looking specifically for Annie West stories (or stories by another particular author they love). But favourite shopping only accounts for part of our buying. I for one often find myself tempted by a new-to-me-author.

Could it be the cover, I wonder? I'm sure this one of Sarah Mayberry's caught the eye of a lot of people. Would you buy based on a cover? Or would the cover attract you to take a closer look?

 

If not the cover, would you buy based on the back cover blurb? Are you a sucker for the boy next door romance or a marriage of convenience or beauty and the beast, or some other romance theme? Do you scour the books on sale to find a back cover blurb to suit your mood?

 

Are you influenced by reviews? I'm particularly intrigued by this as I hear so many different things? I've had readers mention they picked up their first book by me because of a review. On the other hand I've heard from people who seem to ignore them. But I've also had people refuse to read a book because of a review (which made me grit my teeth as the review was misleading, but that's another story).

 

Do you buy based on title? I'm particularly wondering about this as I've noticed sales of my current book, 'The Sinner's Marriage Redemption' don't seem to be doing as well as my other recent titles. I don't think it's the cover (see below). Personally I think this is a corker of a cover, with just the right intensity. Maybe it's the theme or the writing or the title. Who knows? There are so many variables it's just about impossible to pin down to a single factor. Here's the US cover in a gratuitous attempt to give it a plug!

Maybe you buy based on friend's recommendations. I do. Not always, but people who know my reading tastes have been a terrific source of suggestions for new books.

 

Or maybe it's just an ad that catches your eye. Seeing a book at just the right time, or perhaps at a reduced price can be serendipitous.

 

Finally, I know there are readers out there who won't buy without reading the first page - or the last! I've seen them browsing in stores then putting books back before making their final choices.

 

Where do you stand? Are you and impulse cover/title buyer? A dip into the text browser? Or maybe you'd like to comment on things that make you decide NOT to buy. I'd love to hear.



Criticism: Friend or Foe?

This might be an odd thing to say, but I’m a fan of criticism. Now let me clarify that—I do mean criticism of the constructive kind.

I certainly don’t want to read a scathing review that can’t (or refuses) to see any redeeming qualities in one of my stories. That’s just going to bring me down and depress me for days on end, without any reward at the end of it.

However, while glowing reviews are lovely and whatnot—great for the ego—if an element of a story isn’t working for a reader, I’d rather know.

I was pretty lucky on the review front when my stories first started getting published. Romantic Times gave me a mixture of 4 and 4.5 star reviews until Book 5, which got a 3. Now a 3 is more than respectable, but I couldn’t help wondering why hadn’t this book garnered a 4 or 4.5? The reviewer said: “The characters are sympathetic enough, but their angst overshadows what little romance there is in their budding relationship.”

The reviewer not only pinpointed my own niggle of unease with that story but she named it—angst overshadowing my story. Yes! She nailed it! What did I learn—to keep backstory as a motivating force for the characters, not to have it front and centre.

Recently I’ve started to ponder a few reviews I’ve been reading on Amazon. Here is a comment from Karen Hunt who loved the books (First Comes Baby… and The Loner’s Guarded Heart) but said “…in all of her stories they end too suddenly and in these two I feel strongly that a prologue and an epilogue were a must and was disappointed to find them missing.” And from Reading Mom about the same two stories, “…both very good, but both ending rather abruptly.” Several readers found the ending to The Secretary’s Secret too quick and opined the fact there wasn’t an epilogue revealing the sex of the baby. :)

All of this led me to go back and read some earlier reviews on Amazon. From Reviewer Aus for The Loner’s Guarded Heart: “The ending was foreshadowed right from the start of the story, but I found it a little rushed and the happily ever after for Josie and Kent too sudden.” Antdew2 on The Secretary’s Secret: “Very disappointed in the ending.”

Now, I have had a couple of “perfect ending” comments (mainly for The Nanny Who Saved Christmas and The Man Who Saw Her Beauty), so I do understand that in a lot of ways this is merely a taste thing—different strokes and all of that.

But…

Do I have a tendency to rush my endings? Believe me, it’s something I’m going to keep an eye on from hereon. I write these stories with the aim of entertaining and delighting my readers. I want to deliver on every level. I want them closing the pages of my books with a happy sigh. If I’m not doing that, then I need to work harder (and smarter). For those of you who might’ve read one or two of my stories, feel free to weigh in with an opinion here too. :) All thoughts will be gratefully received.

So, for the writers among you—have you ever learned something from a review? And for the readers out there (yes, I know that’s all of you)—are you a fan of long, luxurious endings…or do you like it all to wrap up fast. And if I’ve just written a duet, should I write an epilogue to show my 2 couples living the happy-ever-after dream?

Reviews- Good, Bad or Ugly?

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's a nail biting time in any writer's career- The First Review.

It's hard not take everything the reviewer says seriously, to pull apart every sentence. It's hard not to smile at the positives and be brought crashing down to earth at the slightest hint at a negative.

So it's very hard then to be hit with a negative review. And tempting to either counteract the reviewer with a reply, or to write a fake glowing review. This appears to be something that is endemic across the world wide web, if this report is anything to go by. Authors, across all genres, have been creating false names and personas and giving themselves rave reviews. Not only that, they've also been giving their colleagues bad reviews too.

As a relative newbie I haven't had many reviews myself. I always cower and look through my fingers if I'm alerted to a review of one of my books. And am always super glad if they're positive ones. I guess we all like a bit of praise. But I remember a piece of sage advice from an established author- never reply to a bad review and never take what they say to heart. Not everyone will love your writing. Some will. Some won't.

So why do these authors feel a need to write glowing reviews of their own books? Clearly it's about generating sales and popularity. (Clearly it's cheating and I don't like it!)

Apparently, the more reviews (good or bad) an author has on their amazon page, the more sales they'll get. It's a numbers thing. But does it work? Personally, I choose the books to read from personal recommendations/ familiar author/familiar genre and not from recommendations on a website.

I am a member of goodreads and see a lot of reviews on there, I even add a few myself. I try to only write positive reviews (although the last one I did only awarded 3 stars to a very popular author...I was very disappointed by her most recent book). Most times, if I read a book and don't enjoy it I don't say so, I just let it go.

How about you? Do you choose books because of a review, or for some other reason? Do you write reviews for books you read? How do you deal with a book you don't like? Or a review you don't like?

Louisa xx
ps. My new release The War Hero's Locked- Away Heart is available on pre-release at www.millsandboon.co.uk this month! (So far there's been one review- and it's a good 'un!)