Where do "Westerns" readers learn about the books they read?

[jdm]

I am inviting everyone who bothers to view this thread to take the time to share their answer to this question: How did you learn about the last Western you decided to buy?

I have posted this question in another forum but now I am posting it to this particular forum as I have modified it to specifically target those who read the western genre.

Was it by word of mouth, an ad you saw (if so, where was the ad placed), being picked up by you off the rack and looked at it before purchasing, actively seeking out new titles in a genre, having received it as a gift, being forced to read it at gunpoint by a crazed author? What? How was that particular book brought to your attention?

I see so many of these threads read by hundreds of people, yet only a dozen or so will comment. Take the time to let me know how you usually find the things you read. Just a couple of words telling where is all I ask.

Puma has already answered this question, but maybe his general answer was different than when it applies only to Westerns. What about it Puma?

[alleycat]

The last western I read was Tales from the Old West, with stories by Max Brand, Louis L'Amour, and Zane Grey (not one of my favorites). I was looking for a western at the time and just browsed until I found one I was interested in.

I occasionally look at the rack of paperbacks at the grocery store to see if there is a Louis L'Amour I might want to read.

[Puma]

Gah, putting me on the spot! I can't honestly remember the last time I bought a western. In my younger days I read a lot of historical fiction (I include westerns in that), but as I matured my tastes changed, so I am much more likely to pick up a contemporary novel these days.

The last published western of any type I read was Bret Harte's "The Luck of Roaring Camp" which was in an old collection of short stories. The last western novel I read was a beta read for a fellow AWer (who isn't around much anymore.)

So, I know, why am I here and why have I written a western? Good question. Puma

[Ondi]

Not much of a western reader. My Middle Grade fiction is turning into a western, though. Western Magazines, would be my guess. That and horse or rodeo publications. You know ones devoted to agriculture. Listings here are generally cheap, to boot. (Pun intentional!)

Let me ask around. I do know many western readers.

[MaryMumsy]

Go to the True West magazine website and read the book reviews. truewestmagazine.com Go the the Western Writers of America website and read the book reviews. westernwriters.org

Browsing at my library doesn't get me far with westerns, they mostly have the 'usual suspects'. Grey, L'Amour, Johnstone It's a very small section in this library.

The last 'one' I bought was actually about 12-15, and it was at the mass book signing at the Western Writers of America convention in Scottsdale in 2008.

MM

[alleycat]

Browsing at my library doesn't get me far with westerns, they mostly have the 'usual suspects'. Grey, L'Amour, Johnstone It's a very small section in this library.

MM
My library has some racks of donated paperbacks. Often there are a number of westerns. You don't check them out as you do other books, you just take what you want and they ask you to bring them back when you're done with them.

You might suggest something like that to your library.

[ElisabethF]

So far I've read mostly the classics. I tend to go on a reading streak of one particular author, so I look them up in my library's online catalogue, and then look up the available titles on Amazon (because my library catalogue never has synopses of old books!) to see which ones look interesting.

Amazon's 'customers also bought' feature has probably led me to a few. I read this good blog post (http://drycreekchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/how-will-people-discover-your-ebook/)recently about how that feature can help ebook sales, and it definitely makes sense.

[Vito]

Most of the western novels that I've purchased were the source of movies that I've watched or heard about: Hombre and Valdez is Coming by Elmore Leonard, The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout, Warlock by Oakley Hall, etc.

Of all my favorite Western movies, the only one that featured an adapted screenplay based on a novel that I haven't purchased is The Cowboys by William Jennings. It's been out of print for years, so I'll probably end up requesting a copy through my local public library's interlibrary loan service.

[Jamesaritchie]

Same places I learn about any other book. . .the library and bookstores.

[Ophiucha]

The internet, probably. Go to Amazon, go to Westerns, read some plot summaries and reviews, purchase.

[Komnena]

I recently picked up a copy of a William Johnstone book at Borders. Before that I inherited my uncle's L'Amour collection.