What gets you yourself to read or not read a novel?

My motivations have changed wildly over time.

As a very young child: I was a voracious reader, but didn't stray too far from what was offered to me. Ease of access was key. Books featured in book fairs, books read for school, books easily available in my school's library. At the bookstore, I went straight to the middle grade section and picked up books I thought would "challenge me" (which when I was 7 meant long books). I would get into series and appreciated the comfort of them--Sweet Valley High, Baby Sitter's club, Ramona, etc.

Pre-teen: I went through an animal fantasy phase, so anything with talking animal characters. Redwall and the like. I still relied on libraries and browsing in bookstores.

High school: Anything high-fantasy, the longer the better. I sought out the thickest books on the shelf, and gravitated toward long series. However, I am ashamed to admit, I avoided books with female MC's.

College: I started getting picky. Ashamed to admit, I still avoided books with female MC's. Also if it had the typical "hero's journey with female love interest" I put it down. I was very burnt out on poor portrayals of women in books.

Later on, I also started getting way more into books with more diversity (specifically LGBT) and more sci fi, and started seeking them out exclusively. This is when I transitioned to looking for books via Amazon. I would read a lot of blurbs looking for good books. I tended to avoid self-pubbed work. I started trusting reviews less because a lot of books had either been review-bombed or had paid for good reviews.

Adulthood:I am more mature now, so I don't avoid books for stupid reasons, but I also have way less time. I rely more on authors I know write well instead of seeking out new things. I don't have time to browse Amazon as often as I used to, although I will also browse small pubs that publish in niches I like or write in. Friend recommendations are way more valued than ever before. I still find myself drawn to traditionally pubbed or small-pubs who put out well-vetted books as opposed to self-pubbed, unless the author is one I already know.

I typically search new releases in the genres and categories I enjoy (e.g., mysteries/thrillers, YA) and read the blurb, then the first few pages (in the "look inside" on Amazon or in the bookstore/library) to see if it interests me. Unless it's an author I know and I'm trying to be supportive of them, I don't really care who the author is or what others have to say about the book b/c I just want something that appeals to me personally. Most of the time, I get bored and stop reading and move on to the next. I think it's always about whether it interested me or it bored me (I'm pretty forgiving about the quality of the writing if I'm interested enough).

I'd browse through older titles in my chosen genres/categories, but like on goodreads, I only see the new releases pop up when I go to "browse" (and doing a google search of say "YA thrillers" just brings up the same old popular ones). It's like all these good stories just disappear, and for me, anyway, it's hard to find the hidden gems once they're no longer new.


ETA: I can't fully pinpoint why a work interests/bores me, so I don't know that I can give very useful info there, other than it's usually some combination of characters and plot and engaging voice that draws me in.

I'm sure there is at least some educational benefit from even books with serious flaws, but unless it's for your job or school assignment, who has the time to read a book they don't enjoy?

We all have some pet peeves that turn us off even if we find a book to be well written. I suppose I have a hangup about certain things like steampunk setting or stories involving talking animals. I'm a massive fan of David Brin's novels, but couldn't get past the first few pages of his Uplift books because of the talking dolphins and chimpanzees flying spaceships. I know these are great stories, even won a few Hugo and Nebula awards. For some reason it doesn't appeal to me to spend hours reading about these characters.

If the plot seems implausible, I'm probably not going to waste my time with it, unless it's a well written horror story. I'm not religious or one to believe in the supernatural for the most part, but there's a little part of me that thinks there might be something beyond what we can comprehend or perhaps it's another dimension or universe. So if you can tap into that, I'll read it, but it still needs to be logical--given this other thing is true that can't be proven. That's what was so scary about the movie The Exorcist. Everything besides the possessed girl was normal and believable. There was just this one really weird thing going on in the bedroom down the hall.

Any interesting novel needs good characters. If I don't like any of the characters, no matter what happens, I'm probably not going to make it more than halfway through the book. And that's all a matter of taste. Some people won't like the characters in my novel.

Of course, it needs to be well written. If there are unintentional grammatical errors--that is, it's not part of the narrator's voice, I'm not going to read it.

For the most part, I don't like to read about rich people--that is, unless something bad happens to them.

So, beyond that, the plot or theme needs to be intriguing. It helps if the book got good reviews.

Good characters, good dialogue. Primarily an SFF reader but I travel pretty widely with my tastes, I will read anything if an author can nail these two things.

Auteur said:

Any interesting novel needs good characters. If I don't like any of the characters, no matter what happens, I'm probably not going to make it more than halfway through the book. And that's all a matter of taste. Some people won't like the characters in my novel.

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This. I just DNFed a book I palmed out of a Little Free Library because I couldn't care less about any of the characters. I gave it a good go, too. It was an acclaimed book specifically for its character and relationship studies, which is usually my cup of tea. But none of them grabbed me and I was tired of living in their heads already.

I read books based on (not in order):

• professional book reviews
• recommendations from my favourite independent bookshops (including Readings in Melbourne, and Avid Reader in Brisbane)
• the first few pages -- Is the writing good? How's the editing? Are we dealing with hackneyed shit? (I read a lot of crime, so I am particularly sensitive to the latter.)
• the back cover blurb -- mostly to weed out the books that I won't read. If some blurb writer discusses 'inner demons', that's a no from me. That might be unfair to the novel's author, who has worked hard to construct a complex, multi-dimensional character. But, honestly, if we keep rewarding lazy blurb writing, this nonsense will continue. Anyone using the cliche 'inner demons' needs to go outside and have a think about what they've done. Unless they're talking about, yanno, actual demons, in which case, shut up and take my money.
• the vibe

I do it a lot like Lawless. I used to go to bookstores, now I go to the library. (Would be nice if we had that system here. Would be nice if we still had public libraries here in 20 years...)

Helix said:

[*]the back cover blurb -- mostly to weed out the books that I won't read. If some blurb writer discusses 'inner demons', that's a no from me. That might be unfair to the novel's author, who has worked hard to construct a complex, multi-dimensional character. But, honestly, if we keep rewarding lazy blurb writing, this nonsense will continue. Anyone using the cliche 'inner demons' needs to go outside and have a think about what they've done. Unless they're talking about, yanno, actual demons, in which case, shut up and take my money.

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Philip Jose Farmer’s Image of the Beast might be an odd enough spin for you on actual internal demons, if you don’t mind that the “inners” were aliens and not literal actual demons.

Oh, and if you don’t mind that it’s as much porn as SF.

And if you don’t mind that it’s typically bizarre Farmer fare.

What gets me to read (in order of importance):

- Blurb, blurb, blurb: First of all, it better have one somewhere (none of that "lots of reviews but no synopsis" bull), secondly, it better sound intriguing. An excellent blurb can actually override many of of the reasons listed below on why I won't pick a book up.

- Teasers: Back in the 80s and even early 90s, the first page of a paperback was always a teaser page that showcased a page of the novel. That sold me more often than anything else, and I miss that setup. I don't trust first lines because I've seen too many engaging ones be the only engaging thing in the book, and just skipping somewhere random can lead to spoilers if you get unlucky. Teasers were always hand picked to give you a flavor of the story without spoiling anything, and while you still see them from time to time, they've practically vanished. I miss them.

- Titles and/or Series Names: You intrigue the hell out of me, or amuse me, or catch my eye, and this will be the book I look at. A good title won't force me to buy (ever), but lets not underestimate that first step of standing out from hundreds of other books in the first place.

- Authors I Like: This isn't a guarantee because sometimes I like everything they do, sometimes I find I only like one or two books out of everything they ever wrote (hi Stephen King!). But if I liked a previous work, I am more likely to give a second one a go. I'm also likely to check back periodically to see if anything they wrote struck my fancy again, even if they are one I often give a pass to.

- Covers: Once upon a time I'd have said covers have no effect on me, but that was back when all covers actually made an attempt to be artistic. Since the advent of photoshop and the "slapped-together-in-five-minutes" cover or the "we-obviously-saved-money-by-having-an-intern-do-this" cover I have discovered there are things so ugly that I just don't want them in my possession. Also, solid pink covers are a no-go. I always feel bad about it, but there you have it. I want covers as pretty as the book inside, and sometimes that pretty picture will actually push me over the edge when I'm uncertain.


What makes me put a book down or will not influence me to pick one up (not in order of importance):

- Covers: I don't need to say this one again since I listed both the good and bad of covers above. Check it out if you skimmed past it.

- Reviews. Any.: I don't care if it was reviewed by my favorite author, by NPR, or by a bunch of random strangers, I'm not listening. Notable reasons why are--the critically acclaimed (by reviewers and audiences) romance that was about a highly abusive relationship where a man wanted to (among other things) punish his wife by raping her, reviews of stories I read where it was rated badly (often by multiple people) because folks missed easy-to-spot plot points (probably by speed-reading), backlash reviews from conservative twits against books involving minority groups or dealing with -isms, and reviews by professionals taken out of context or that were obviously paid for. And if the book is so plastered in reviews it fails to supply a synopsis of the plot, I'll give it a hard pass. I don't care what the world thinks, I'll make up my own danged mind about my books thankyouverymuch. And some of the best books I've ever read I found because I refused to listen to other people.

- I-didn't-try editing: I try to give some wiggle room here because editing isn't what it once was, even in publishing-house publications. E-books are another world entirely, and often e-book authors don't have the money to afford a good editor, or sometimes any editor. So if I see some mistakes--especially in self publishing--I try to give the author a fighting chance. But when the errors are so egregious it's obvious the author didn't even crack open the spelling and grammar checkers in their word processing program, I'm out. Also, if an English speaking author doesn't use contractions--yes, author, I'm very glad you made your 50,000 word goal in NaNoWriMo, but now you need to edit those contractions back in before you sell the book, okay? Thanks!

- Cliffhanger endings or "stinger" endings: This is not absolute. Some authors earn the right to play tricks like this once or twice after building up fan trust, sometimes it can't be helped in a series, and sometimes there are other acceptable factors involved (such as a serial chapter book). But there is a growing contingent of authors who had a perfect place to close off the story and chose to bypass it, ending their book two or three chapters into the next book, or who ended the story but then added the sort of "teaser" scene you might find in the credits sequence of a Marvel superhero movie.

I have zero respect for authors who continually pull these tricks. To me it smacks of serious insecurity in their writing. Honestly, if an author doesn't think their writing is good enough or interesting enough to keep their fans coming back for the sheer pleasure of reading them, if they truly think they need to play dirty marketing tricks to keep people "hooked," then I want no part of them. That level of insecurity, of calculation and fan manipulation, is a huge turnoff.

- Lack of trust in the author: With the caveat that yes, I know not every allegation against an author can be trusted, there are still some that have so much smoke, the fire is pretty obvious. For instance, allegations of severe child abuse from the author's children. Passages in their work that, when read with adult eyes, scream "pedophile," while the authors actions and choices trend just as questionable. And in one notable case, accusations of plagiarism so strong that, even if they've since left that crutch behind, I still will never be able to trust anything they wrote is actually truly theirs. I will absolutely let an author say or do something stupid and apologize for it, or have a past, or make a dumb mistake. But some things are just a step too far.

- Declining Quality or Ghostwriting: The most prolific authors are also the most prone to both of these. Sometimes you can almost hear authors screaming under draconian contracts that assume that just because they were fast writers for their last five books that will always be the case. Because, you know, creativity is more like an assembly line than building a house from the ground up, right? *headdesk* I can name two authors I stopped reading due not just to declining quality, but such a radical change in their "voice" (aka: the reason I fell in love with their books in the first place) that you can practically see some poor ghostwriter sweating it out over a keyboard. I've also seen authors bounce back without having to resort to that. I blame the contract holders more than the authors, but at the same time, reduced quality, books written just to fill a quota, or far-too-obviously ghostwritten material will cause at least a sabbatical from that author, if not outright quitting them.

- Yet Another Male Story: Yep, Mr./Ms. Author, I am quietly judging your all male cast, your male protagonist having a traditionally male adventure and learning traditionally male things, your obviously patriarchal culture, your assumptions about women, and your world where women barely even exist as bit characters, or exist but never speak or do anything important. I've had forty years of stories like that and frankly, I've seen almost every iteration you can come up with. Sometimes y'all surprise me and I do find one I truly enjoy but, at this point, unless I see something new brought to that table I'm not eating from it. I'm bored, yo, and now that I have a multitude of choices, yes I can do better. But hey, maybe your bestie guy buds will buy it.

PostHuman said:

I'm sure there is at least some educational benefit from even books with serious flaws, but unless it's for your job or school assignment, who has the time to read a book they don't enjoy?

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I do. I read lots of books I don't enjoy. That's prolly how I find books and writers that I didn't think I'd enjoy. I'm also one of those people who find it terribly hard to DNF a book. I think there are maybe a handful of books I didn't read grimly right to the end - and I think they're probably still on my shelves, waiting for a second chance.

I probably have way too much time on my hands...

Why I pick up a novel

I read the blurb to see if it sounds interesting. Subject matter counts for a lot. There's some things I'm just not interested in reading about, e.g. military SF, exiled princesses, angels.

Then I open the book at random and skim random pages, to get a feel for the writing style and subject matter. It's my personal belief that if it's a good book, it can hook me from any page, not just the first few. If it's an ebook, I'll read a sample.

Exception: A book that's had a lot of hype, and positive buzz, that sounds intriguing to me. I'll still do the first two, but the buzz counts just as much.

Why I put back a novel

Subject matter.

Writing style. Bland, incompetent, too much dialogue, too purple, lots of action but little description.

mccardey said:

I do. I read lots of books I don't enjoy. That's prolly how I find books and writers that I didn't think I'd enjoy. I'm also one of those people who find it terribly hard to DNF a book. I think there are maybe a handful of books I didn't read grimly right to the end - and I think they're probably still on my shelves, waiting for a second chance.

I probably have way too much time on my hands...

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Does this mean you keep reading books you dislike beyond the first few chapters, hoping the story will get better, that there will be something you enjoy about the book by the end? Or are you reading it as a learning experience, example of what not to do in your own writing etc?

One issue that's an impediment for continuing with a book that caught my attention online--sample pages that don't actually contain any of the story. Sometimes sample pages are taken up with maps, blurbs, tables of contents etc.

Another issue are long prologues that eat up the sample pages. Since prologues are often written with a different style and narrative viewpoint from the main novel, it can be hard to tell if I'll like the book based on that alone.

Sample pages need enough of the actual novel to hook the reader.

Another thing that can put me off are tropes that I've simply seen too often. Some of the UF premises are examples of this (yeah, yeah, so there are vampires and werewolves or fairy people living in the shadows of a big city, and they're all at war), as are prophecies or stories that start with a birth of the hero (and the mom always seeming to die in childbirth), tales where a male protagonist is a very young military genius or some other kind of prodigy. They're not always deal breakers, but there has to be something else about the story that pulls me in.

Stories that start with cruel or callous behavior on the part of the protagonist, implying the protagonist is completely lacking in empathy. Yes, people have culturally relevant reasons for doing things like this, but when the story opens with this kind of thing before I've had a chance to even get pulled into that cultural framework, well...

In general, I have trouble getting into narratives that aren't character centered. Heavy, distant omniscient or external/objective narrative viewpoints are a tougher sell for me. As a rule, world and settings are only as interesting to me as the people living in them, so books that go overboard with describing a setting before I know who is in the setting will bore me. I suppose exceptions would be if the omniscient narrative voice itself is so interesting it's almost a character in the story.

Helix said:

[*]the vibe

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Yup, the intangible 'vibe' is pretty high on my list! There's usually something pretty specific I'm looking for. It could be from any writer or genre or era but it has to feel like a 'me' sort of a book - not helpful, I know.

I have a rule for books, music, TV and movies that if two people whose opinion I respect (friends, authors, journalists) mention it, I have to at least take a look. I'll probably read the blurb and if it sounds like the plot has 'the vibe', I'll check out a couple of random paragraphs to see if I get on with the writing style. If I do, it's coming home with me. And if it comes home with me, I'll either read it all or lose interest about three quarters of the way through (I don't know why it takes that long to decide I don't care, but it almost always does).

When I do just browse for something new, it's only ever in the library. Then it is silly things like title and cover design that get me to pick up the book. 90% of the time the blurb makes me put it down again, which I guess shows how unhelpful title and cover are in identifying the books that might be up your street.

One other factor is translation. My library has a special sections for translations, and I usually make a bee-line there. If someone has taken the time and expense to translate something, it's got to be pretty good, right?

PostHuman said:

Does this mean you keep reading books you dislike beyond the first few chapters, hoping the story will get better, that there will be something you enjoy about the book by the end? Or are you reading it as a learning experience, example of what not to do in your own writing etc?

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I have puzzled it over. Firstly, some of the books I don't like aren't necessarily bad books - so there is that. But I think I read books in the same way that people watch movies (I have prosopagnosia so following movies is quite challenging for me - I wouldn't do that to relax). I will read to the end of a genuinely bad book in the same way that people who are watching a bad movie won't usually get up and leave. It's probably the sunk cost thing.

I do prefer good books by a factor of millions, and I always try to pick books I'll enjoy. I just get it wrong sometimes.

Engaging plot that draws me in. If the plot is boring, I'm picking another book

SAWeiner said:

To All-

Too many of us have written good books, but then have the problem that no one wants to read what we wrote. There have also been few scientific studies on why people choose specific works. So, I just want to survey people at Absolute Write: What gets you yourself to pick up a novel to read it? Also, conversely, what makes you decide not to read a book you were thinking about? I want to hear about how and why you yourself make choices. The more people who respond here the better.

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A few things here. Sometimes it's based simply on a recommendation, but I still factor in the source and the story. Other times I will read a novel if there is a movie or TV series about it that I liked. Sometimes it's based on the author. If you want to also know how I decide what to read when, a lot of that is based on what I am in the mood for. Like many on here I have my own small library to choose from so anything I am in interested in I have a book on it.

I am not interested in science fiction or religion.

With me it's simple. If it's not a genre I don't like I won't read it. I don't care how good people say it is. Some genres I don't like and that's just how it is. I don't like first person POV at all so I tend to skip those. Third person is my favorite POV. I will make an exception if I happen to read a sample and like it but first person has never been a POV I enjoyed. I love classics where first POV was common with many stories and it still is not my favorite. Also, I like books that fall outside the box within a genre. Mystery, suspense, romantic suspense, thrillers and historical romance are my favorite stories but I don't want the run-of-mill story. I don't want something that is a copycat of a trope used a bunch of times without any creativity. That doesn't work with me. Give me something entertaining and challenging. I don't like the tropy stuff where it's like a million other books. I want to be able to remember the author once I read the book and that takes standing out.

I'm not that picky when it comes to typos or nonexistent editing. As an author, I am a snob about it but as a reader, nope. If your work keeps me turning the pages and moves fast I will read it. I care about being entertained before all else. Keep me interested and you got me. I don't care how many mistakes you got in it. I would prefer the book be well-written and edited of course but I've read some books that were not but still great in the storyteller department. I'd rather read an entertaining book with some mistakes than a boring book that's perfectly-written yet I can't get past the first few pages.

cool pop said:

I'm not that picky when it comes to typos or nonexistent editing. As an author, I am a snob about it but as a reader, nope. If your work keeps me turning the pages and moves fast I will read it. I care about being entertained before all else. Keep me interested and you got me. I don't care how many mistakes you got in it. I would prefer the book be well-written and edited of course but I've read some books that were not but still great in the storyteller department. I'd rather read an entertaining book with some mistakes than a boring book that's perfectly-written yet I can't get past the first few pages.

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That's interesting! I now feel better about not having an editor for my own book, lol.

katfireblade said:

- Yet Another Male Story: Yep, Mr./Ms. Author, I am quietly judging your all male cast, your male protagonist having a traditionally male adventure and learning traditionally male things, your obviously patriarchal culture, your assumptions about women, and your world where women barely even exist as bit characters, or exist but never speak or do anything important.

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I find it especially sad when this occurs in gay romance. A few of those are downright misogynistic - either the characters live in a world without women, or any women who do exist are evil, or both.