What are your red flags?

[ficbot]

Anything that twigs my 'world's biggest slushpile' radar.

The world 'Lord' followed by a prissy man's name.

Dragon, vampire, werewolf, zombie.

Set during the Civil War.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Hmmm .... anything compared (favorably) with Shades of Gray, or touted as "the next Stieg Larsson", or zombie/vampire/etc. romance, .... in general -- copy cat attempts to ride the coat tails of a popular phenomenon.

Oh ... and Dan Brown

and, of course, shoddy or absent editing - typos, grammar, etc.

this, and anything "harlequin"

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Too many red flags to list.

I want a blurb to give me a basic idea of the story, setting, and characters. I don't want to hear about the author or author's "luminous" writing style.

This for me too. I want an accurate description of the story and nothing else. Then if it sounds interesting to me I will buy it.
Apache

[theducks]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Quotes from other authors or reader reviews about how good the author/book is instead of a brief summary of the book.

If that's all the blurb is, I don't care how good the book is, I won't read it.

All of those.

But the real red flag is a 'rave' by an author that has been dead almost a year. Really, they read THIS book?

I am a Joe Friday kind of guy: 'Just the facts'

Summarize the story (and maybe the series it is set in).

[Jozawun]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Too many red flags to list.

I want a blurb to give me a basic idea of the story, setting, and characters. I don't want to hear about the author or author's "luminous" writing style.

And even worse, "numinous".

[odiakkoh]

Originally Posted by l_macd

Quotes from other authors or reader reviews about how good the author/book is instead of a brief summary of the book.

If that's all the blurb is, I don't care how good the book is, I won't read it.

This times a thousand. I seem to run into this problem way too often.

Also, way too many fancy words in one sentence. You really don't need to raid your thesaurus just to say it was a nice, sunny day for golf.

[minniemouse00]

Anything that mentions the number of words the book has.
for example:
The Electrifying, All New, 50,000 Word Thriller by author, John Doe.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Spelling and grammar mistakes have to be #1 for me.

I have to nod in agreement with HarryT on this one. If (either in the sample) or the blurb at Amazon (or elsewhere) there are a lot of spelling and or grammar mistakes it's a definite turn off. If the author can't even spell word correctly or they use the wrong word i.e. revile where they meant reveal for example, it's a good sign that the book isn't one that I would really enjoy reading. The premise of the story may be intriguing but if I have to decode the text in order to read it instead of just reading what is on the page where is the enjoyment?

[Synamon]

If you can't spell, I won't read your book.

I avoid books where the blurb tells me that the author has a cat.

I avoid books with sentence fragment raves by famous authors.

I avoid books with reviews comparing the author to famous authors.

If the description includes the word "epic", I'll pass.

I avoid anything with vampires or zombies.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Synamon

I avoid books where the blurb tells me that the author has a cat.

Samuel Johnson phobia?

[Joykins]

Red flags are different, to me, from simple filtering criteria. I mean, if I see "zombie" or "vampire" anywhere in the blurb, I'm not buying the book. Same for regency romances where the hero is in a "club" that's really a front for some weird private spying organization because that is lame. But a real red flag is a self-pub with a bunch of 5 star rave reviews on Amazon along with one or two 1 or 2 star reviews complaining about basic things like grammar, coherence, etc. Because, my friends, THAT book is a dog.

[meeera]

"The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter".

Both books I love, but your half-misspelt debut self-published work is unlikely to live up to your blurbing.

[Joykins]

Oh, yes. <Classic Work> AND <Monster>. Like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. Just do not work for me

[Blossom]

Red flags for me is:

Bad covers of unknown authors. If it was a previously published book I go find the original cover and make my decision from that but I will pass over a book with bad cover that has never been published by a mainstream publisher.

Novellas under 60 pages. I just can't read something so short unless it's part of a series I am currently reading.

A book that has all 5 star reviews saying how amazing the book is and no real info about the actually book in the reviews or about anything they didn't like. I grow suspicious and think they are fake.

Covers with more then one hero on the cover. Some have like 10 guys and one girl! This is a big red flag for me seeing I read mainly m/f romance. I tried the more spicier stuff but it's just not for me.

Paranormal fiction about heaven/hell with Angels/Demons taken from a biblical backstory. I just can't wrap my head around it. I know it's fiction but it's just the way I was raised. I had to give up a few series when they started going this way.

Anything that doesn't have a happily ever after ending. Real life is too depressing to read some sad story. I can't get that stuff by reading the news.

[shanghaichica]

Most self published titles.

Mills and boon/ Mills and Boon esque covers

'30 something career women looking for Mr right'