Happy Monday lovelies! As it is the holiday season and we're all looking for bookish gifts for our friends (and ourselves), I thought to myself...."what makes you read a book?"
There are so many great books out there, and every Tuesday I drool over new books via Amazon or in a physical bookstore. With all these new books coming out, I'm very selective for which books to actually purchase.
I decide which books I want to buy based on you guys, my book blogging friends! Usually the cycle is:
- Amber sees X BOOK on blog
- Amber religiously reads review and sees if there are some elements that she enjoys (fairytale retelling, mystery, witty banter, hate-then-love relationship, etc) then looks at the overall blogger review.
- Amber goes to GoodReads and checks out what the rest of the community thinks of said book.
- Amber comes THIS close to buying the book, but then decides to sleep on it.
- Amber sees X BOOK mentioned AGAIN on Twitter or on a Blog and says "fuck it all" and buys it.
Like I said last week, I'm afraid of commitment! If I am going to spend money on a book (and not at a discounted price), I have to know that there is a 90% chance that I'll enjoy it, because I don't have enough bookshelf space for bad books.
Now those are my two avenues: blogs and GoodReads. My question for you is: does anyone use Amazon/BN/any other e-commerce outlet?
When you get an ARC, you get the standard spiel, "post review within a month of publication, spread book love via social media and make sure you post your review on Amazon" and we do it. We do it faithfully, but as a book consumer do you actually like Amazon reviews?
Personally, I don't.
There is absolutely nothing that I like about Amazon book reviews. Either they are super short and tell me nothing, or they are a book report with full on plot spoilers (without any warnings btw). I can always tell a Book Blogger review from your Average Joe Amazon Reviewer; in short, the Book Blogger reviews are way more organized. I may find a book through Amazon and skim the reviews, but I always end up going back to either Bloglovin to find reviews from bloggers I trust, or GoodReads.
I have never made a purchasing decision based on Amazon. Ever.
What outlets do you use to make a purchase decision? Have you ever bought a book based on an Amazon review? Am I being to harsh on Amazon reviewers?
Tell me!
Labels: amazon reviews, discussion
