What I Look For In Books Part 1: What Makes A Good Book?

Hey guys,

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So glad to be back. It feels like I haven’t talked to you in forever and now I’m back. Now, what makes a good book? What attracts me to a book? What are my favourite tropes? What do I look for in any book that I read? What books are my favourite and where do they meet/fall flat of these things? And what books turn me off from reading them?

This is a large topic to cover so I’ve created a series on this topic so I can chat with you a bit longer about these questions without this post becoming too overly long and drawn out.

Now, what do I look for in a book?

• First impressions: they can make or break

Now, this might seem shallow, but as a broad reader, there are just so many books in so many genres that I want to read and so many many more are published every day. So many, in fact, that I’d never have the lifespan to read them all, not even if I stopped everything else and just spent my time reading from now until the day I die. There will never be enough time to read them all. So for me a book’s first impression is pertinent to whether I will buy it or pick it up. Things I look at during a first impression:

• Cover - the sad reality is that the cover makes a big difference in whether or not I even take a second look at the book or not. If the cover isn’t interesting or engaging then I don’t even look again. I will pass right by and look at something else. Now, that being said. I have picked up books with less than appealing covers and still read and even enjoyed them, but many many books don’t catch me attention or immediately lose it because they don’t give me any details into the story or don’t look nice. Now this isn’t to be an insult, though I’m sure some people would take it as such. It’s jut my opinion that the cover was not done justice or the book wasn’t done justice because not enough time was spent on the cover, causing many potential readers to simply pass by it.

• The back/inside blurb - now, this one is also very important because if the cover is interesting enough, I will look into the book, flip through the pages and glance at the formatting and the fonts to see the tactile effect. Then I will go straight to the blurb and begin reading. If the blurb isn’t good enough to keep my attention or raise any questions in my mind then I put the book down and walk away. If the book cannot hold my attention long enough to read the blurb and want to keep reading then I assume I won’t enjoy the book. And with what little time I have to read, I like to enjoy what I’m reading.

• The story - it’s at this point that if the book still has my attention, I have high hopes. I glance at the pages, reading a few sections to try and get a feel for the overall genre and what will be in store for me if I decide to pick it up. At this point, I have high hopes for this book and am already considering buying it (whether I have the funds or not), my thoughts centering around whether it could be one of my favourite books ever written and I am eager to find out. This also the point where I often overlook a few things like a certain genre mashup I notice or other oddities. But this is also the point where if I notice the grammar is atrocious and wasn’t thought out enough for another round of editing or proofreading, with a heavy heart I will put the book down, not wanting to waste my money on something I will be unable to read due to poor grammar.

Now, I do realize this is difficult. Believe me. I’m not grammar guru, in fact I’m atrocious at it. But I’m working on that because I don’t want a reader to be put off from my story because I didn’t work hard enough to make it good. It saddens me when this happens to a book. I know the idea is good, great even and the characters likely are as well, but not enough time was spent on the other necessary parts of writing a book and publishing one. Making it readable, smoothly readable. And the book would have been great, if enough time was spent in those just as important areas. I’m saddened because I won’t get the chance to read that book now or experience the story because someone didn’t take their time before publishing it.

This is one point that scares me the most with my own writing. Because I know that, not only am I not perfect at grammar, I’m not even good at it either. But in this area, I will have a lot of help from writing software, my own improving eye for grammar and spelling, as well as editors and proofreaders what I hope to employ in the future. They may have their work cut out for them, but I will be forever grateful for their expertise.

These are major reasons why perfecting these elements of the book to the best of everyone’s abilities is so very important. If you cannot keep your reader engaged before they’ve bought the book, then the story likely won’t keep them engaged during the reading process. Perfect meaning as perfect as the writing can possibly get. As perfect as possible without changing the entire thing and without dropping the voice of the writing.

• Genres/tropes

Now, I have already posted about about my favourite genres before. but for quick reference I will paste them here. though I’m sure they won’t need any explanation. And I am always looking for new tropes and new subgenres. I read in a variety of subgenres and many that I haven’t read do still appeal to me. I also read in the Middlegrade, YA NA, and Adult levels.

• Mystery

• Fantasy

• Paranormal

• Horror

• Thriller

• Steampunk

Now, your audience knows what it likes because they like it. When you like a thing, you tend to know you like it until you try something new. So, all you have to do is make sure you advertise it in your book properly and readers won’t have an issue finding your book if it’s within their interest. Same with me.

Find your audience by showing them what they haven’t got yet. Show them the book they haven’t read in that genre they love. Or give them a modern twist on something else. With LGBTQ+ characters. Which are becoming more and more popular lately as the world finally begins to accept people for who they are (even if they don’t know who that is yet).

I love when someone tells me about a book or I hear about one and just hearing about it gets me excited to read it. Makes me want to crawl inside the pages and live there with the characters. Tell me what I’m missing when I’m not picking up your book and plaster is on social media where I’m sure to see it.

• Author social media

  One of the best things an author can do is to showcase their books on social media or if you don’t have a book out yet, showcase your writing. I’m in the process of doing that right now actually. I have posts of my own writing going up on the internet 3 times a week. It shows people what I can do. It’s short fiction so it shows them what I can do with a small amount of time. Sure it might increase their expectations for anything longer and the more time I spend on projects. But if you work hard. You won’t disappoint them, at least not most of them.

  Social media is one of the best places an author can promote their work plus it’s an easy way for your audience to find you.

  I look up the author and try to find them on social media. Social media is a very big part of the publishing/selling industry today, especially in self-publishing. Involving social media is the best thing an author can do to promote their book and sales. Most of the books I read come from social media recommendations or from ads or from someone posting a review of a book or getting hyped about one they ordered or just received.

  So if I really enjoy an author, you can bet not only will I be googling them to find the rest of their books, but I’ll be trying to find them on social media so I can stay up to date on when the next release is happening or so I can get an update on what they’re working on next or what they’re reading. Or how they spend their time writing. How they organize their desk or other interesting facts about their writing life or other books.

  It’s interesting for readers to see authors online and even be able to send them a lovely message about how great their book was.

• Reviews/ratings

Now personally, I don’t usually even look at reviews, but it really depends on the book and whether I am unsure of buying it. I don’t do reviews for the most part because I don’t want someone else to dictate whether I should pick up a book that sounds like I’d enjoy it.

But many readers find them useful when deciding whether to buy a book and they can be useful. For example, leaving a negative review on a very badly edited book shows other people that it’s not as well-done as other books and they should be wary of the grammar/spelling errors throughout if they do decide to make the purchase.

Now, this isn’t a point or even very important, but I’ve been finding that recently I really like the matt covers. The overall look of a solid finish is pleasing to the eye and makes me happy. While the tactile feeling o the matt finish makes for an extra stimulant during the read which also makes me happy. I do like glossy covers, but I find that they tend to peel (as in the plastic finish tends to peel) off. Which sucks because then the book ends up looking many years older than it is. Though I do still buy both, I just find myself getting a little extra excited about a matt cover.

Anyway, thank you so much for being here for this guys. It was a blast and I actually had to put a fair amount of work in. There will be more in this series, as promised. And I am very excited about it. Now, I’ve been having a great week. I’ve gotten so much done, I overshot all of my weekly goals. I am over the moon but also relaxed and I feel rejuvenated as I was able to hang out with a friend recently and just let go and be carefree and talk my face off. Which I did. It was a lot of fun and let me tell you, you never realize you need something so much until you have to go a while without it and you finally do it again and boy I’d be lying if it doesn’t seem to change everything.

Now, I think this post was long enough. This will be it for my guys but thank you so much for popping in and hanging out. You know I love it. Please don’t take personal offence to anything in here, it really is just one person’s opinions and people are allowed to have them. I just like to see writers trying their very best to give readers the best work they can, the best stories. Lots of love! Happy reading and writing. Until next time beauties, bye now.

Celine Rose Marie

3. Author social media