Quick: a small non-poll

[kinzel]

A few questions for the readers in the peanut gallery:

Would you rather read:
a theme anthology
a year's best anthology

In a bookstore would you rather buy:
a new novel by someone you've heard of but never read
a new novel by someone you've never heard of

Would you more likely buy:
a novel set in a tie-in universe
a novel set in an original universe

The first thing you notice about a new author is:
the title of the book is good
the cover art of the book is good
the gender of the author

When it comes to cover blurbs you:
almost always read them
almost always ignore them
read them if they're by authors you like
always think they waste space
consider writing to the blurbers and ask them what were they drinking when they wrote the blurb, and where can you get some of *that*?

Do you go to book signings?
Elucidate above

Are you a member of the BTC -- that is, the Book Turners Club? Do you turn books by authors you like cover face-front in a bookstore?
If yes, above, will you do it for us RSN? Thanks!


Do you go to science fiction conventions?
If yes above, do you go because particular guests will attend, or for the general fun of it? Do you have a "home" convention?



For the writers:

do you think the audience for your work is:
mythical
average read-anything types
hardcore fans
geeks only
housewives in Iowa
your agent first, then your editor
the marketing department at B&N

And one last question...
do you listen to podcasts?

If so:
http://fledgling.fireheartfoundry.com/2007/12/19/fledgling-chapter-23/
the latest Fledgling podcast from Fireheart Foundry

Comments

[gramina.livejournal.com]

Either a theme anthology or a year's best anthology might catch my eye -- it depends more on the authors than the type. A nice mix of authors I know I like and authors I'm not yet familiar with is good, because that way I've got a sort of guaranteed-minimum from the book but I've also got a chance of meeting someone New And Wonderful. (OTOH, don't go by me -- I'm not *all* that likely to buy an anthology in the first place; I like me my novel-length stories. Though I do buy them somtimes, especially under the ideal circumstances described above.)

If I'm buying a novel by someone I haven't read before, it's as likely to be someone I've never heard of as it is to be someone I have; the plusses of buying someone who's been recommended to me (which I'm more likely to do) are balanced by the minusses of not buying something by someone, say, who has been glowingly recommended by someone whose taste I consistently don't share, or not buying something by someone whose books I've looked at (glanced, skimmed, but not actually read) before and not been enthused by.

I guess what I look for in books by people I haven't really read yet includes: recommendations from friends, positive blurb-quote-thingies from people whose writing I like, enticing cover blurbs, or positive blurb-quotes from publications where I expect the reviewers to have a clue about the type of book in question. (That's roughly from most- to least-influential.)

I'm less interested in whether a novel is set in a tie-in universe or an original universe than I am in whether the universe sounds interesting. If the universe is a tie-in universe to other books by the same author(s), that's generally a plus (if I like the other books); if it's a tie-in to a multi-author (usually movie/tv-tie-in) universe, that's less likely to be a positive. For instance, there are a couple authors who've written Star Trek novels that are truly excellent -- Ford, for instance. Most of them, though, are sort of, oh, mental candy corn. Sweet, substance-less, and the kind of thing you can't remember, when you're having it, why it is you're doing this again?

OTOH, I really like series universes -- the Liaden worlds, the Vorkosiverse, etc. I like learning more and more about How Things Work Around Here as we go along, and not having to start from scratch with every book.

I probably notice the title first, notice but don't much go by the cover art (though if it's really good, that's good -- it's just that really-bad isn't all that offputting), and pay little or no attention to author gender mostly because I so often guess wrong. (Took me forever to figure out China Mieville is a boy :( <--I'm Dim.)

I pretty much always read cover blurbs unless I already know I will be buying the book. I frequently *ignore* them, but I do read them. Sometimes I read them to try to figure out if whoever wrote them actually had an outline of the book (at least) on hand before writing them, but I do read them :)

(A friend of mine used to write those for a (mostly non-fiction) publishing house; I was honestly shocked to find out that sometimes all she had was the proposal letter, and not even an outline to work from to write the blurb! On the other hand, that explained *so much--!*)

I do go to book signings if I can; I don't so much care about having the book autographed (it's kind of nice, but not anything I'm passionate about) but I really like the chance to get to know a little more about the author, and there's usually at least a little conversation, Q&A, or a reading that takes place along with the signing.

*G* I do turn books face-out if there's room :)

For some authors, I try to make room *g*

I like conventions; I go to them when I can. I will try harder for conventions with a guest I would like to hear talk, or for conventions I know will be more "my kind of con" than others -- e.g. Potlatch. I'd love to be able to get to WisCon one day! I go mostly for the general fun, these days.

I have yet to figure out podcasts.