My last poll is over. The question was "Do you finish all the books you read?"
It seems that a majority of fantasy readers are putting some books aside. The question could be pushed even further by asking why do you put them down. The answer would probably be an overwhelming majority of "because the book is bad or simply not to my taste" but I could be mistaken. In my case, even though it didn't happen often, in every case of abandon it was because the book was not to my linking and rarely because its awful. I even finished the whole Sword of Truth series even though I found the books were very bad since half of the series. I had to know how this ended even if it a was only a big disappointment (although this could be explained by a lack of reading material at the time). I never put aside a novel for any other reason such as "it may not be the best time to read this". I think that if I ever do that, I probably won't ever return to it.
So the result of that last poll was a score of 58% for those who don't finish all the books they read and 41% for those who finish them all. I was surprised to find out that there was this much people finishing them all. Maybe they usually pick up the right books for them. I admit that over the years and with the help of a plethora of great blogs full of useful information, my choices have become more successful.
What is your point of view on this?
On to the next topic. I recently posted about some extracts or excerpts from authors on their website (or even from fellow bloggers). I haven't read many extracts before going into a novel but it could be useful. I remember that with at least two Malazan novels, I read the prologue on the web prior to the release of the book and my anticipation grew but I already had pre-ordered the book. I think that if we could compare movies to books, a trailer could probably be kind of a synopsis for a novel and if I continue with that line of thought, a book extract would be like a 5 minute opening.
Thus, I think that excerpts are really useful and I intend to read more of them in the future. It can be a great tool beside the bloggers review. A nicely chosen extract can create a good hype. Enough of my opinion :
Do you read extracts before buying a book?
Good question. I'm at yes and no, but voted yes on the poll. I like extracts enough, but I don't think they really push me into buying the book. I'm usually already excited about the book, read the extract and then get more excited. If I'm not already interested, it's hard to even invest that much time.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I like blogger reviews. You can read everything they have to write and if you just want a quickie, you can find out how they rated it pretty quickly too. But I guess that's another topic and pretty obvious (that's why I'm here). :)
Never. I don't like not being able to finish a story once I start. I read short fiction online but never sample chapters. Reviews are more likely to influence me.
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