Those of us that do not read NY Times Bestsellers

[jbcohen]

With regards to my recent poll on the matter, to those of us who do not read NY Times bestsellers - Why do you not read bestsellers? I do not read them simply because they cost too much, I can see that some would not read them because there is noting on the list that is of interest.

[Shack70]

I don't read books simply because it's a on a list. I got by recommendations and titles/authors/genres that interest me.

[JSWolf]

I don't read them because they are on a list or are bestsellers. The books I read that are on the NYT Bestseller list I read because they interest me. I'm not going to limit what I read due to some book being on some list.

Originally Posted by Shack70

I don't read books simply because it's a on a list. I got by recommendations and titles/authors/genres that interest me.

So if you read a book and while reading it it becomes a NYT Bestseller, do you stop reading it before you finish it? Why limit what you might want to read just because of a list that has nothing to do with how good or not you may find a book?

I'm considering rereading A Game of Thrones and it is currently on some of the NYT Bestseller lists. That's not going to stop me. I've read it once and I want to refresh for the the new book in the series due out this summer.

[Nyssa]

I do not actively avoid NY Times Bestsellers, I just don't pay attention to lists. Its nothing more than that.

I find my reads by word of mouth, Amazon's free offers, and this site. I am a member at GoodReads, but right now I use it more for tracking my own reads than for finding new ones.

[dreams]

I don't need to see what others are doing in order to decide what to do myself. I read what someone I know has recommended (and only then, if that person has proved that we have the same taste in books). If I have already read an author, I will check out their other works. Most times, I have no idea if the book was on a list somewhere or not, unless someone tells me or I see an article.

I like to tell myself that I can think for myself.
**she says while wearing her rose-colored glasses**

[Ron.]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

With regards to my recent poll on the matter, to those of us who do not read NY Times bestsellers - Why do you not read bestsellers? I do not read them simply because they cost too much, I can see that some would not read them because there is noting on the list that is of interest.

price for one, also the best seller list is often full of books i do not like, mystery's, thrillers etc.. I also avoid any big name authors, connely, patterson, clancy etc... it might not be logical but I figure if they are putting out a new book every 6 months to a year they must not be very good

[elcreative]

It might be worth noting that Patterson and Clancy now write very few of the books with their names on them... small print usually says something like "in association with..." so they don't actually put out a book every six months to a year...

Originally Posted by Ron.

price for one, also the best seller list is often full of books i do not like, mystery's, thrillers etc.. I also avoid any big name authors, connely, patterson, clancy etc... it might not be logical but I figure if they are putting out a new book every 6 months to a year they must not be very good

[Ron.]

Originally Posted by elcreative

It might be worth noting that Patterson and Clancy now write very few of the books with their names on them... small print usually says something like "in association with..." so they don't actually put out a book every six months to a year...

I'm strange about it, when looking at a new author I look to see how many books they have written. If its over 20 or so I wont read them, if I see they have only written 5 or 6 books I think they must of put a lot of time in them and they are really good!

Like I said not very logical

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I do not actively avoid NY Times Bestsellers, I just don't pay attention to lists. Its nothing more than that.

This sums it up for me.

[jbcohen]

I used to think that if a book made the bestsellers list it must be good because it made it there. Thats before I learned that it was not necessarily true, they are just more expensive.

[jersysman]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I do not actively avoid NY Times Bestsellers, I just don't pay attention to lists. Its nothing more than that.

I find my reads by word of mouth, Amazon's free offers, and this site. I am a member at GoodReads, but right now I use it more for tracking my own reads than for finding new ones.

I get most of my recommendations from the groups that I belong to and the friends that I have on forums such as Goodreads and MobileRead. The people who come there have likes similar to my own and I can get an honest opinion on whether or not I will probably like the book. I trust that so much more than a list that is bought and paid for.

[Elfwreck]

They don't tend to be in genres that interest me. I don't specifically avoid NYT bestsellers, but they're not often recommended to me. I won't pay new prices for them (nor deal with DRM, which means I won't be reading any of them as ebooks), and the vast majority drop into obscurity as soon as they're not on the charts anymore.

They tend to be very mainstream. Either very much about the kinds of people and situations that I spend a lot of effort in my life avoiding, or about situations I find much more interesting--from the perspective of people I'd think of as boring & narrow-minded. Or worse, fascinating topics distorted & mangled by the attempt to keep them within mainstream interest ranges.

They're not all like that; some stand out as good reads that stay with me. (Foucault's Pendulum. Anything by Bujold. American Gods. Other SF/F books.) Mainly, it's that the NYT Bestseller list is a warning flag of "don't bother reading this unless I get a recommendation from another source." Recs from other sources I trust that *also* make the NYT list are likely to be good; I'm not such an elitist that I think popular appeal means I won't like it. I just know that "my tastes" and "strong popular appeal" has a very small overlap.

[Giggleton]

I look at the list often but rarely if ever read books on it. Why ask why? The covers don't appeal to me I guess.

[ebusinesstutor]

I read almost exclusively science fiction and fantasy and few of these make the best sellers list. I never look at any best sellers lists for recommendations, mine come from friends, picking a book up from the library and forums like this.

[Hellmark]

I pay no attention to any best seller lists. I read because the book interests me. I couldn't even tell you if I do read best sellers, unless I happen to have one in hand that states it on the cover.