Why Do People Buy Books?

It’s always mysterious to not only publishers but authors as well why some books fly off the shelves and others done. Research teams and analysts spend a great deal of time working through what does and doesn’t inspire someone to buy a book. There are many different reasons that people buy books but here are a few of some of the most commonly cited ones. Many people say they buy books based on reviews or what booksellers say they liked, others choose them from bestseller lists or recommends lists from sites like Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com and many simply select what’s being promoted at the front of the store. Some pick books that jump out at them, others read what their book club is reading, and some will purchase what newspaper reviews recommend. But by far the most common way of selecting a book is by the title, the summaries, the blurbs, and the artwork the cover of the book has. We’ve all been told not to judge books by their covers but it’s obvious that we do it anyways as art departments in publishing houses are still going strong.

There are lots of reasons that people decide to choose various books so it’s important to consider all your different sources for finding reading material and maybe even some new ones that yo might not have found otherwise. Friends and family are always great sources of book recommendations and because they know you they’ll probably be able to recommend something that you like. Cross-recommenders like on book websites and previously bought lists are a great way to find similar reads and many of them even have review pages that you can scan through to get an idea of whether or n o you might end up liking the book. Book clubs also work in a similar way (if you happen to be in a good one, that is) because the members are likely to read the same types of books and have good ideas for what the next choice of the month should be.

Another way to get on board with new recommendations is to join a website like GoodReads that allows a person to share what they’re reading with their friends and family, rate books, and discover what other people they know are reading. This also allows you to keep track of how many books you’re reading over a certain period of time. Sites like these not only provide a great way of tracking who is reading what and when they also allow you to share what you thought of various books and why you decided to read them. It may not always be simple to figure out why people choose some books rather than others but it is getting less complex with helpful sites and tools like these.

So the next time your at the bookstore try selecting a book using a different method of choice. Choose one that has terrible cover art, is recommended by a strange book seller or just because the author of it looks nice - who knows, you might be surprised.