What's most likely to make you blind buy a book?

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Poll Closing Date: Monday, 6 April 2026 00:00 (in 3 days)

You're in a bookshop, you pick something up, inspect the cover. You've never heard of the author. What is most likely to get you to buy?

Cover art
Excerpt on back cover
Blurb from writer you like
Topic seems interesting
Book award nomination
Author background
Other


a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 30 March 2026 20:15 (three days ago)

You forgot:

New York Review Books imprimatur

The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 March 2026 20:20 (three days ago)

Bookstore bathroom access.

Actual non-answer: all of these things combined inform a buying decision, weighted different depending on the type of book.

Evan, Monday, 30 March 2026 20:21 (three days ago)

I don't buy books but a combo of cover art/excerpt on back cover is most likely to make me read a bit and if I like it put in a request at the library.

oscar bravo, Monday, 30 March 2026 20:24 (three days ago)

Somewhat inspired by some chat about book marketing on ILE.

I don't think I blind buy much. The vast majority of authors I read have been pre-approved by favourable reviews, famous author co-signs, general hype. Well, that's not really true, most of the authors I read are dead, but I mean the living ones.

This isn't great, makes me more of a marketing mark, but I do find starting a book such an investment...it's a far bigger gamble than losing 90 minutes at the cinema, or some minutes streaming some album for free.

So for me:

Cover art - unlikely
Excerpt - also unlikely; what can you really tell from half a paragraph divorced of its context?
Topic - sadly no! I think I've internalized that a great writer can make anything interesting, and nothing is interesting if the writing's crap
Author background - well I'd be lying if I said that if Ipicked up a book somewhere random and the author was an unknown Portuguese person my interest wouldn't be piqued, hasn't happened yet so far tho

So sadly yeah I think the author blurb would work best on me, even though I know those are handed out so much it's very unlikely they've actually read the book. But I guess it at least suggests they trust the author enough not to think their association will be embarassing?

Tips on better approaches appreciated!

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 30 March 2026 20:30 (three days ago)

New York Review Books imprimatur

Yes, publisher is a big one I forgot.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 30 March 2026 20:30 (three days ago)

I don't think I would ever buy a book just based on the outside without opening it up and reading a few pages.

Lily Dale, Monday, 30 March 2026 21:05 (three days ago)

pretty much only the topic out of these options i think

anserine machine (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 March 2026 21:25 (three days ago)

I find it hard to imagine buying a book about a topic that doesn't interest me

Brad C., Monday, 30 March 2026 21:39 (three days ago)

Don't care about whaling but like Moby Dick, don't care about sports but enjoy sports manga are two examples that come to mind for me.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Monday, 30 March 2026 22:03 (three days ago)

I voted other. None of the items listed in the poll would be enough to prompt a purchase, but any of them might prompt me to pick the book up, open it and flip through it, stopping to read some random bits and see how it strikes me. The "other" that could get me to buy it would be my impression of the quality of the writing. Does it draw me in? Or, especially in non-fic, does it try to convey interesting ideas or some larger conception of the subject, not just a series of facts? I can usually suss this sort of information fairly quickly.

more difficult than I look (Aimless), Monday, 30 March 2026 22:19 (three days ago)

I buy books impulsively based more on reading a snippet on social media or hearing a specific reference in the context of something else I enjoy, or described in a way that appeals. Often buy stuff instantly after this.

In a shop it's a bit less systematic I think.

LocalGarda, Monday, 30 March 2026 22:44 (three days ago)

Don't blind buy much either; probably publisher + topic (NYRB/Fitzcarraldo/Dalkey Archive/etc over the years) - last blind buy in a bookshop might have been Dick Davis translations of Persian poetry with a fancy cover / interesting blurb / easy to sample.

etc, Monday, 30 March 2026 23:53 (three days ago)

I don't think I would ever buy a book just based on the outside without opening it up and reading a few pages.

Reading a few pages, right there in the bookshop?? And then possibly putting it back, having gotten my filthy fingers on it? I'd get arrested!

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 31 March 2026 08:12 (two days ago)

I actually bought a Neville Cardus and a different cricket book (a collection of writings by an early 20th century cricket journalist) the other day - the former because I've long hankered to dig into some Cardus, and the latter because John Arlott was on the back cover offering fulsome approbation. In summary, I think I buy books on impulse depending on whether the cricket season is shortly to begin

imago, Tuesday, 31 March 2026 08:20 (two days ago)

I voted for excerpt, as it's probably the strongest draw. But it would usually be a combo of excerpt, cover and blurb - but not because of who did the blurb, more about what it actually says. Topic is a weird one: if it's something absolutely tailored to me, yes, I will be picking it up to look at it, but "an experimental work about depressed writers in the nuclear apocalypse" could be serious trash as much as it could be wonderful. And a lot of stuff I love isn't on a topic that would seem obviously my thing - it's all about the actual writing.

Don't give a shit about awards or background.

emil.y, Tuesday, 31 March 2026 16:03 (two days ago)

I came across Paul Beatty's "The Sellout" recently and bought it as the blurb on the back sounded good and it was a very good book indeed!

I was not familiar with him beforehand

Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Tuesday, 31 March 2026 19:46 (two days ago)

For me it's reading the first page or two, pretty much always

Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria de Episcopio, Tuesday, 31 March 2026 20:31 (two days ago)

Lily Dale otm in other words. Guess I'll vote Other

Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria de Episcopio, Tuesday, 31 March 2026 20:32 (two days ago)

Me too. I always try reading at least the first page. If that’s good and the premise seems interesting I might bite.

o. nate, Tuesday, 31 March 2026 22:11 (two days ago)


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