 Welcome to Tuesday Book Chat. This is where we encourage book lovers to answer our bookish question of the week.
Today’s question is:
Do you read an excerpt or sample before buying a book?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Please join in the conversation by commenting on this post or on the blog post shared in our Australasian Christian Writers Facebook Group.
Let’s chat!
It can depend occasionally I will read a excerpt or sample more likely to be for a non fiction book. I have read samples of devotionals. Another reason why I may read a sample is if it’s a new author I am not sure about. If the reviews are mainly 5 star and 1 or 2 stars and it was clear the 5 stars are friends and the low stars are genuine readers I may be curious. Personally I don’t trust mostly 5 star reviews with very few 4 or 3 star reviews.
Your turn.
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I’m a huge fan of Goodreads reviews! Before I buy a book, I look at both the good reviews and the bad ones, and see if the issues people had with the book are issues I can either dismiss or deal with, and the things they praised are elements I care about. Blurbs can sound amazing, but sometimes the book is not so great. I was recently tricked with a book like this, and it was very disappointing!
Blurbs are tricky I read a blurb once and it mentioned the couple had to marry which they did but in the last 3 chapters of the book. The blurb basically gave the whole storyline away and I wasn’t impressed cos I thought it was a marriage of convivence which is was but I expected it in the first few chapters.
I tend to read lower star reviews especially if there are mostly 5 star or low star dismiss the ones that are just nasty but read those with inform opinions.
Oh! I struggle with books like that which pretty much spill all the details in the blurb. I just want a taste, not 90% of the synopsis! 😱🙈😂
So agree. It was interesting it was a marriage of convenience to a degree due to circumstances due to a situation that happened but the way the blurb was you would have thought it was at the beginning. It was a Love Inspired which shocked me even more as they are normally so good with the blurbs.
It depends. I don’t download samples, but I do use the Look Inside feature at Amazon. For some authors whose other books I’ve enjoyed, I might buy without doing that. For others I’ve liked who write a mix of 1st and 3rd person (preferred), I might check which the new book is. If it’s 1st person, I might read some to see if I want it. For a fiction author I’m not familiar with, I usually read some of the 1st chapter before buying except when it’s an indie author whom I wish to support. Then I might not because I’m getting the book whether I end up reading it later or not. For nonfiction, I almost always check out the table of contents as the bare minimum, and often I’ll read part of the first chapter or two. For a devotional, I almost always read at least a few days worth of entries. Even for authors I love, a particular devotional might not be what I want. There are too many good books to spend my book budget unwisely when I could cull out what I won’t like before I buy.
I agree. I have downloaded samples when not sure what the book will be like. (I downloaded one after a discussion about the book both good and bad same with reviews and it turned out reviews were all family).
I have downloaded a couple of devotionals just to see how they were written.
I’ve just recently discovered that you can download and read a sample of a book on Kindle before buying. I’m not sure if it’s a new feature or not. It’s similar to the ‘look inside’ feature on Amazon, but you get a whole chapter or a bit more if the chapters are short. I’ve done that a couple of times recently for books of authors I haven’t read before. It does help you decide if you’d like to buy it (or get from the library) before having to commit to a purchase and then be disappointed.
Its been available for awhile and I have done it several times. Very helpful. Several I bought but probably more I didn’t buy. It will be more likely indy or selfpublished books and often when either the author brags about how easy and quick you can write a book and that readers don’t notice small errors or when a book is mention for the wrong reasons I may check to see what its like.
I always read the blurb, but I don’t often read a sample or excerpt, unless it is at the back of the book I’ve just finished.
Reviews are good to look at, but that can also be hard to judge because what people think about a book is so subjective – if it’s someone I know doing the review, that gives more credibility for me.
I agree I read reviews of people I trust or know (and know are not just giving 5 stars due to friendship with an author)
I usually read the blurb and sometimes a sample on the kindle. If it really grips my attention I will buy it on the kindle. I get most of my books on kindle now if they are available as we have so many books I don’t know where to put them. If they are on kindle I can take them with me and if I want to refer back to them for any reason, I have them handy.
I do that too thanks for commenting
I download samples via Kindle often. Sometimes it’s so I can get a taste of how a new-to-me author writes, but often it’s as a reminder to “bookmark” a book I’m interested in but can’t justify buying that day. Every few months I’ll go through the samples and remove any I’ve not liked, then I know what to spend my Amazon vouchers on. 😜
That sounds like a good idea Sheridan thanks for commenting