Love this post by Sean deLone and the related one by Blake Lefray.

The reader comments are equally helpful as it makes me realize my process for deciding which books I’ll buy and/or read does not sync with where the publishing industry spends their time and marketing dollars. That prob says more about me than the industry.

In the past 12 months:

# of books purchased based on any critical review, (positive or negative) by a major media outlet: Zero

# of books purchased based on any booktok or IG content: Zero

# of books purchased based on a blurb: Zero

# of books purchased based on a Goodreads or Amazon review: Zero

# of books purchased based on feedback here: 30+ (prob higher but don’t tell my wife)

Once I get past what the story is about, I buy and read based on recs from (a) people I know who read consistently or (b) people whose opinions I’ve grown to respect based on their writing.

For me, the action is the word of mouth.