This week’s topic:
Top Ten Words/Topics That Will Make You NOT Pick Up A Book
1. Jesus/God/God’s Will/Finding Faith…
or any similar words used to describe a book that can be classified as Christian Fiction where finding faith, being a Christian, or believing in God is the point in order to find a happy ending. This is just a genre I won’t read, I don’t mind religious texts or books involving religious themes, especially angels, demons, etc, but typically in more of a fantasy type of role and not a religious message kind of way.
2. Self-Help/How-To/Enrich Your Life/# of Ways to…
I don’t mind non-fiction, but I typically avoid self help.
3. Famous Person/Celebrity Memoir
I love memoirs, but seeing words like actress, author, self-made (insert profession), etc will automatically make me lose interest. Unless that person genuinely had something crazy happen to him or her. A lot of celebrities write books and I feel like it’s the thing to do and I typically avoid them at all costs.
4. Solve the crime.
I am so over crime dramas, true crime, law & order kind of stories. I don’t mind suspense or murder, but not the main character is a cop and has to solve a crime type of books. I prefer my suspense and murder on the horror side of the fence, I think.
5. Victorian era
I’m totally drawn to epic historical novels by their covers, but I am not the biggest fan of the Victorian era, so I often pick these books up and set them right back down in favor of a historical novel set in the 1900’s.
6. Jane Austen
I’m not really a fan, but so many people are. Lots of Jane Austen-esque books will often label themselves as such or include her name somewhere in the synopsis. Which is perfect. Because then I know I probably won’t like it.
7. Cozy, Sleuth, Detective…
I don’t enjoy cozy mystery novels, so these words will let me know the book isn't going to be my kind of thing.
8. Ravish…
I’m pretty sure if the synopsis includes this word, the cover has a woman in a beautiful dress and a man with a shirt halfway off wrapped in an embrace with plains or something in the background. These are not really my kind of books.
9. Spy, CIA, Investigation..
I love thriller/spy movies and action adventures, but I typically avoid these kinds of books for some reason.
10. The New (insert giant popular novel/series/franchise), If You Like (popular title), you’ll Love…
This is a phrase that is a 50/50 situation for me. If I’m scrolling through Amazon freebies or indie books, there are tons of phrases that will stick out and make me buy a book. However, if the book has a synopsis that isn’t even remotely like the famous title mentioned, I feel like the phrase is just to get people to buy the book using the famous title’s fan base instead of genuinely trying to appeal to the same fan base. I suppose there is a fine line between appealing to a fan base and name dropping. A random indie book that has nothing to do with a dystopian society or a kill or be killed situation shouldn’t be referencing The Hunger Games in the synopsis. But books like Divergent have good reasons to possibly use it to appeal to THG fan base because they share similar themes.
Labels: Top Ten Tuesday
