Do you pay attention to book advertisements?

Question

If you are a book person, and you purchase books fairly often (at least once or twice a month), do you ever pay attention to book ads? If so, where do you notice them? Magazines? Newspapers? TV? Radio? Online? E-newsletters? Mailings? Do these ads influence your purchasing decision? Do you become aware of a book because of ads that come your way, and do you go and look at a book in a bookstore based off an ad that you saw? Thanks in advance for your help and feedback.

Answer 1

I sometimes notice them, but usually only if it involves a subject or an author I'm already interested in but might not have heard about yet. For example, a new dog book or a new book by Barbara Kingsolver. In these cases I would notice the ad almost anyplace I saw it.

In terms of "cold" ads, I would rank them in order of importance (as to whether I pay any attention): newspaper, magazines, online, radio, TV. I figure if someone has enough money to advertise a book on TV, it's probably not something I want to read. [might be a bad attitude, but...]

Answer 2

I don't see many book advertisements. I write book reviews and get about 5 books a month, so I don't choose those.

I choose and buy a new book every 1-2 weeks. I tend to buy books from authors I already enjoy. Mainly I choose books based on picking them up in a store and reading the cover - if I like it, I buy it. I would read book ads more if I received the catalogs direct from publishers that were mainly synopsis, not pushing the book as "the next ."

I rarely purchase a book that I have only seen an ad for and not the actual book- exceptions include "The Thirteenth Tale" (which I haven't gotten to finish yet, though the first couple chapters were interesting) and "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" which I enjoyed.

Answer 3

I haven't actually "bought" a book in a while. As a book reviewer, I get a lot of free books sent to me :) But when I do decide to buy books, I normally browse book review sites or the shelves at the bookstore. It takes more than an ad screaming "NYT BESTSELLER" to get my interest (particularly since those bestseller lists are based off of sales to bookstores...not customers!).

As a publisher, I have found that magazine and newspaper ads have very little impact on sales. I do, however, maintain an opt-in mailing list, and have found that promotions via conventions and special events do positively impact sales.

Answer 4

I watch the ads (TV and newspapers) for news about a new book by my favorite authors. Yes, I will go to the bookstore to check out a book I have seen advertised.

Answer 5

I rarely pay attention to book ads and ads rarely influence me to purchase a book. The ads I mostly see are in Romantic Times Book Review. I mostly ignore the ads and read the book reviews.

Answer 6

I don't see many ads for books, but what does influence my book buying decisions is an author interview on radio or TV.

Answer 7

The only book ads I pay much attention to are in the flyers that BOMC mails to me repeatedly to try to persuade me to join. I peruse the ads, then look up the books that seem interesting on amazon.com. Mostly I choose books that are recommended by word of mouth. Often I choose books which are referenced in my other reading.

Answer 8

If I am looking at a paper or magazine, I might look at what is advertised, but I am more apt to by a book by authors that I like or by reading the cover synopsis of the story. It seems if I read a book that I like that I keep looking for more by the same author.

Answer 9

None whatsoever. And I read approx a book a day. I do read the NY Times book section on Sunday and read reviews, but mostly I read book jackets and stick with authors I like.

Answer 10

I'm a member of two by-mail book clubs, receive a discount seller's book catalogue, and am a member of amazon.ca. And, of course, there's always good old 'word-of-mouth' from other readers, as in "Did you hear that (insert author's name here) has a new book out?"