How do we
choose which book to read?
Let me start by telling you which book I am reading now
and how I ended up buying it.
The
book I am currently reading is ‘Baaz’ authored by
Anuja Chauhan. I came across an
interesting review about this book in the daily newspaper.
‘Without much thought I bought the book from Amazon. A well written review (by
an expert reviewer) is really what works for me. But it’s not the same for
everybody. Here I came up with some ways how one chooses what to read.
1.
Summaries
The best way to choose a book could be to read its back
cover. A short summary gives the reader an idea about the subject, plot, and main
character of a book. However there’s always a chance that the reader may not
end up liking the book as much as he liked the back cover summary.
2.
Reviews
A literary review of a book by an expert reviewer especially in social networks or public Medias are
beneficial to readers. But ‘a review depends on the mindset of the reviewer‘.
This could be subjective. So a reader can always take an expert review
auxiliary to other criteria by which he/she chooses a book.
3.
Suggestions by friends
Yup, this can be a great way. If both of you are ‘book
lovers’ of a common genre there’s a good chance that his/her suggestions could
be likable.
4.
Online
Recommendations
If you purchase a book online (in Amazon or flipkart) you are most
likely to get recommendations based on your last purchase. Similar suggestions
can also be sought from sites like goodreads. In
fact goodreads have many other options like renting, recommending, writing
reviews and you can update the books you read, the ones you want to read and
the one you are currently reading in your profile page.
5.
Based on authors
Some people tend to buy books of their favorite or famous author. At times the readers tend to be over expectant of their favorite authors.
They anticipate the author to repeat the same magic as their most read books.
6.
Catchy titles
How catchy can the title be? It is true that titles are an
integral part of a book. People hate those extensively long ones. I personally
prefer titles to be short (min 4 words) and inquisitive.
7.
Attractive cover
Yes, that’s right. Some people do buy books for how it
looks. And editors do give so much time on book cover designing these days. It
is indeed a vital part of marketing strategy. Does it convey anything to the
audience? Surprisingly yes! A beautiful cover design can actually tell the plot
of your story. And it’s an already proven fact that some colors do attract
people’s eyes better than others. Overall cover designing is an art and it is
crucial.
Thousands of Facebook and Watsapp groups of 'book lovers' have sprung up in recent times. People can find others who like same genres of
books, write reviews, comment, recommend books, carry out discussions and even conduct
book clubs. There are certain apps which give you an elaborate version of book
summaries unlike the ones on the back covers. All in all readers have this new
age digital possibilities of choosing what to read. However some people still
love the pleasure of very old classic way of spending hours in public libraries
and book shops choosing their read.
