In the Review section of today's Observer, there's an advert for Waterstone's bookshop. It reads 'Humans make the best search engines'. This struck a chord with me in that I am aware of missing out on intersting titles by doing most of my book shopping online, in an environment that works against casual discoveries. Good for Waterstone's I thought (whilst feeling a little guilty at not visiting my local (and very good) proper bookshop. Then I turned the page and found, in the same position, Let real people with expert knowledge help you to find the best books at Watestones.com. Over the page and the third in the series urges me to log on and register for the chance to win £1000 to spend at my leisure.
The first ad struck a chord as I had been thinking about how I actually find out information. Amazon now knows me sufficiently well to make informed recommendations and I have once or twice been pleasantly surprised by following them. But mostly I read reviews. And few Sundays go by without me adding something to a huge Amazon wishlist.
For me, social media plays little or no part in the process. Yes, I subscribe to a couple of book feeds (Penguin and Reading Matters, for example) but I can't remember buying something after reading either. I trust the Guardian's excellent Saturday review, the Observer and then Sunday Times Culture, probably in that order. I gain an overall impression of a book's subject and tone, then try and decide whether the reviewer is the sort of person who likes the sort of thing I like; it is a complex and imprecise process, and one that I find hard to understand from a PR perspective.
Indeed, because I buy too many books, more than I can read, I try to read reviews to find reasons not to buy books I am initially attracted to. Matthew Cobb's The Egg & Sperm Race is a case in point. I enjoy science and science history, am intrigued by 17th Century Holland (where the action takes place) and having a passing interet in sex.
Ideal.
And the Sunday Times review is by Lisa Jardine, an excellent writer and interesting broadcaster. She paints an attractive picture of Egg & Sperm, "a fascinating subject, full of arresting material and personalities."
But in the very last sentence she writes, "It deserves a racier, more focused telling."
So there it is, my reason not to buy. All the author's hard work, all the PR and publicist's hard work, undone in a couple of words and I have saved £11.87. Until the next review...
Except I want to school with Matt and although I haven't seen him for 30 years I knew it would be good. You can read my five star Amazon review here.
And then buy the book.
But I would be interested to hear what those involved in 'you only get one shot' publicity do about things like this...
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