Thursday, June 05, 2008

Choosing Books

If you're in a book store, what attracts you to a book? Do you head for the bargain table? The new releases? Or go straight back to the aisle where the specific book you want to buy would be, grab it and check out? Check specific authors? Do you browse? Does a title make you pluck the book from the shelf? Or the cover (if the author's lucky enough to have the books facing out)? Once you touch a book, what do you look at before you decide whether to add it to your buy pile or slip it back in place? Back cover copy? Inside front jacket copy? First page? Random page? Do you check to see if the author's voice grabs you?

Because my books are digital long before they're in print, and even in print, are still hard to find on bookstore shelves (but you can go to the customer service counter and request them), I've decided it's only fair to offer a 'try before you buy' option on my website. Instead of brief excerpts, I've uploaded the first chapters of my Cerridwen Press novels. It's the next best thing to wandering the shelves in the book store browsing through pages at random to see if a book looks like a fit.

You can find these reads on my updated website.

1 comment:

Jenyfer Matthews said...

It's not often I am actually in a bookstore unfortunately - there are not abundant here in Cairo! But when I am, I browse around and pick up books whose covers catch my eye. I'll read a blurb and if that sounds interesting, I'll peek inside and read a few pages. I can usually tell by then if it's something that I'll enjoy.

I picked up a book in an airport this past week. The cover said "chick lit" to me but in fact it turned out to be a memoir. I was immediately sucked in by the blurb though so I bought it. If only all such whimsical buys were so satisfying!