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Old 08-15-2020, 12:23 PM   #1
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Buying books: words or phrases that can turn a 'yes' into a 'no'?
You know that feeling. Something or another brought you to a book's page, you start to read through the description and see that annoying thing that makes you decide the book isn't for you (or at least has a strike against it).

For me, there's several. Of course none of these are a 100% no, but man, the book better have something major going for it if it has any of these:

A book where the writing or characters are described as 'snarky'.

A book that says it is perfect for fans of XXX (in a blurb, it's different).

A description that ends with an exclamation point.

Full of snarky characters in adorkable situations, perfect for fans of Dan Brown and Tennessee Williams. First in a heartwarming new zombie series!

What are some major red flags for you?
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Old 08-15-2020, 12:40 PM   #2
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“Sweeping” and “saga.”
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Old 08-15-2020, 12:50 PM   #3
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New adult, young adult, college student etc. I'm mature, I don't have the patience to read about clueless kids.
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Old 08-15-2020, 01:01 PM   #4
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A lousy cover
romance
When the description starts off with review snippets.
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Old 08-15-2020, 01:03 PM   #5
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I hate books where the hero/Heroine is clueless and helpless until the very end when miraculously they start doing everything right and figure everything out.
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Old 08-15-2020, 01:07 PM   #6
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When the description starts off with review snippets.
Oh yeah! When I see "with over a billion five star ratings on Goodreads" that is a turn off.
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Old 08-15-2020, 01:08 PM   #7
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Oh yeah! When I see "with over a billion five star ratings on Goodreads" that is a turn off.
Another way to say it is when book's description toots it's own horn.
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Old 08-15-2020, 01:09 PM   #8
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“Sweeping” and “saga.”
'Saga' usually tells me the person is taking it too seriously.
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Old 08-15-2020, 01:42 PM   #9
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'Saga' usually tells me the person is taking it too seriously.
To me, saga depends on the rest of the description.
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Old 08-15-2020, 02:11 PM   #10
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New adult, young adult, college student etc. I'm mature, I don't have the patience to read about clueless kids.
Some of the best books I've read have been young adult fantasy. An adult plot and story but the main characters are young adult. No sex, but maybe some light romance. The Queen's Thief series is one and the Abhorsen series is another.

I have a problem where I cannot finish a book unless the author makes me care about the characters. The vast majority of books are purely plot driven and simply treat the characters like chess pieces to be moved around on the board for the plot. Young adult books seem to be more character oriented.

This is also why I think I drifted from science fiction to fantasy; the former is almost always about some idea while the latter may have better character development.

Mysteries rarely have satisfying character development but there are a few (e.g., Donna Leon).

Late in life I discovered Westerns, where the plot is often a good guy vs a bad guy with a woman for the good guy to fall in love with (for example, see Bat Wing Bowles which I recently uploaded).
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Old 08-15-2020, 02:13 PM   #11
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While I agree the things mentioned in the previous posts are annoying, I usually still buy the book. What really turns me off are grammatical mistakes in the synopsis (sometimes seen with self-pubs). I mean, the book itself might be proofread and edited, but I don't trust the author when they can't even write a short synopsis without errors. So I don't buy the book in those cases.
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Old 08-15-2020, 02:16 PM   #12
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This is also why I think I drifted from science fiction to fantasy; the former is almost always about some idea while the latter may have better character development.
Ditto. I do still read science fiction, but less than I did as a teenager and a young adult.
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Old 08-15-2020, 02:47 PM   #13
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New adult, young adult, college student etc. I'm mature, I don't have the patience to read about clueless kids.
Sounds like one book my daughter was reading when she was in high school. Basically, if the characters were in a horror movie, they'd be taking turns to head into the basement while the main character spends her time dithering about whether to tell her friends/parents/stray people she meets on the street what she knows about the killer for fear of becoming unpopular like any fink.

My daughter took her advice from Sid Ziff: “It is not a book to be lightly thrown aside. It should be thrown with great force.”
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Old 08-15-2020, 03:40 PM   #14
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I don't mind some young adult books. But what turns me off immediately? Anything Oprah endorses, Time-Travel romance, anything with Rogue or Billionaire in the title.

Blurbs that have sayings like "life changing", or "readers of xxxxx MUST read this book."

A so called Box Set of 5-10 books that has 600 pages.
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Old 08-15-2020, 04:38 PM   #15
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I don't mind some young adult books. But what turns me off immediately? Anything Oprah endorses, Time-Travel romance, anything with Rogue or Billionaire in the title.

Blurbs that have sayings like "life changing", or "readers of xxxxx MUST read this book."

A so called Box Set of 5-10 books that has 600 pages.
I don't mind the mention of a rogue, many fantasy books have it too. Billionaire is an instant turn-off, as are bare-chested men on the covers (a sure sign of a romance novel). While I occasionally read romances, I don't like the ones where all the chemistry is based on pure physical lust. So the books with naked men on their covers are out.

Books under 200 pages (that goes for individual books) will not be bought by me.
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