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| Break out the wine and pretentious snacks. Let’s discuss literature. |
Every morning, I
wake up, grab breakfast, and log on to Bloglovin’. I use that site to keep
track of the 500+ (that’s not an exaggeration) blogs that I follow. The
overwhelming majority of those blogs post book reviews. Some post reviews
occasionally, and some post several reviews a day. I love reading reviews, but
there’s no possible way that I can get through that many. I end up scrolling
past hundreds of them every morning.
So, what makes
me stop scrolling and click on one? Here are 10 things that get my attention.
1. A picture of the
book cover: My Bloglovin’ feed displays a post title, a picture, and the
first few sentences of the post. If the picture is of the book cover, I’m more
likely to click on the review. I love books, so covers tend to get my attention
immediately.
2. The word “Review” in the post title: I want to know that I’m clicking on a
review and not a book haul, tag, synopsis, or something else.
3. A book that I’ve
already read: I like to read reviews of books I’ve already read. I’m
interested in knowing what other people think about the book.
4. A book that everybody is talking about:
If I see multiple posts
about a book from different bloggers, I’ll probably get curious enough to click
on a few of the reviews.
5. A book with an epic cover: I judge books by their covers all the
time. Seeing a cool cover will make me click on a review.
6. A blogger I trust: I’ve discovered a few bloggers who have
very similar reading tastes to me. I tend to read their reviews because I’ll
probably agree with them.
7. An author I like: I’m always interested in reading reviews
of books written by my favorite authors, whether I’ve read the book or not.
8. An ARC review: I want to know about the books that are
coming out soon. Seeing “ARC Review” in the title of a post will grab my
attention.
9. A book that I’m mildly curious about: Maybe I’ve seen the book on Goodreads a
few times, but I don’t know much about it. I’ll read reviews to see if it’s
something that interests me.
10. A book that I want to read: If I know that I want to read a book, I’ll
skim reviews of it. I don’t look too closely at the review because I’m afraid
of spoilers, but I do want to know what the reviewer thought of the book.
What about you? What makes you read a
book review?
I’m linking back to Feed Your Fiction Addiction and It Starts At Midnight. They host the 2015
Discussion Challenge.
I generally click on reviews for books I have read because I have had spoilers for books I was really excited about and it ruined them. If it says spoiler-free I will read it. I like seeing what other people think of books I have read and talk about the book with them.
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid of spoilers too. I always skim reviews of books that I know I’ll be reading because I don’t want to ruin them for myself.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Interesting discussion. I have the blogs I follow divided up into groups, and I tend to visit the ones that I know read the same genres as I do and whose opinions usually tend to match up with my own. I'll also gravitate towards reviews for books I've already read but I tend to avoid the ones for books I will be reading soon. I save those for when I actually read the book because I want to avoid potential spoilers or having my opinion affected by their own. If a book is getting a lot of buzz though, it's impossible to resist :)
ReplyDeleteI should be better about organizing the blogs I follow. There are some that I look at almost every day and some that I’ve only looked at a few times. They’re all in one big list on Bloglovin’.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
There are certain blogs I will read almost every review. Sometimes a book cover will catch my eye. I love to read reviews on books I have read.If it is a book I want to read or a popular one I will read or at least skim as to not know too much because I like to be a little surprised. Great post!
ReplyDeleteYeah, most of the reviews I read are for books I’ve already read. I’m always curious about what other people think.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Love this discussion topic! I agree with a lot of what you said. Yes, I'll admit it. I judge a book by its cover all the time, too. So if I see an awesome book cover, I will definitely check out the review. Also, if it's a book I have read or have thought about reading, I love to see what other people think about it. And if it's a blogger who I have noticed has similar interests as me, I make it point to read the review, even if I haven't heard of the book, because I'm sure I'll want to read it.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, another cover-judger. I knew I wasn’t the only one. :)
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I usually read the reviews for books I have read or books I'm planning on reading. If I'm seeing it a lot and it seems really overhyped I'd say I'm less likely to read the review on the blog. In that case I'm more likely to go to Goodreads and read a range of reviews, some good some bad. That being said, I totally agree that there are those few blogs that I always read their reviews because we have similar taste and I trust their opinions. Great discussion!
ReplyDeleteCassi @ My Thoughts Literally
Interesting. I should probably read more GoodReads reviews. The only time I read them is after I post my own review of a book on there. I want to see if other people agree with me.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I notice that I'm much more likely to read reviews of books I've read, since I understand what they're saying and I'm curious to hear what they thought about it. I will also read reviews of books I'm excited about, but to a point. A notice a lot of bloggers post the reviews for the same book at the same time and I don't want to read all of them. I will also check out reviews of a book I'm unsure if I want to read to see if I should read it. I hardly ever read reviews for sequels, though, for some reason, and I also don't bother reading reviews for books I'm uninterested in. Sometimes it chaotic though, as I also follow 500+ blogs.
ReplyDeleteI also don’t read reviews of sequels that often, especially if I haven’t read the first book in the series. I even avoid the summaries of sequels because I don’t want them to spoil the first book.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
It always surprises me when people don't even mention the word review in the title - I almost never click on promo posts, so if you don't tell me you're reviewing it, I won't see your review! I don't always put ARC review in my title, though - maybe I should do that. And I definitely agree that if I see a book around A LOT I'm more apt to read a review for it - even if it's a book I might not have paid attention to otherwise. Oh, and covers - yes, definitely!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction