It was YA May Days! time at my library last month. I bribed -- er, asked -- the teens to write a review of a book published in 2009 and got a good number of reviews! Some teens went ahead and did a review of a 2008 book. When June rolled around, what were the two most reviewed books?
And the number one reason why the books were picked up by these teen readers? Recommendations from their friends and siblings. Don't underestimate word of mouth advertising!
Other books reviewed were picked up because of their
1) interesting titles (Because I Am Furniture)
2) cool covers (Fragile Eternity)
3) good predecessors in the series (Forever Princess, Max: A Maximum Ride Novel)
Is word-of-mouth your number one way of deciding what to read?
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
5 comments:
So do you get all good reviews from teens? Or do they feel free to tell you what they don't like about a book?
It's funny, they definitely tell me what they don't like about a book (I ask "What was your least favorite thing about this book" as well as most favorite), but then they also give it high star ratings (4 or 5 out of 5), and only 1 reviewer gave 1.5 stars and would not recommend a book to a friend. Very interesting! They are definitely generous with their ratings no matter what their comments on the book.
I think word of mouth is HUGE! If only we could figure out what it is about certain books that makes kids tell their friends about it.
I have to say that it's a big reason I check out a book as well. The premise has to be one that interests me too, though.
Word of mouth is definitely big (though I don't read alot of books because of this--mainly because most of the people I know that read have slightly different tastes. I do look at some online review sites, but I don't hold much weight to reviews, because I often like lower rated books--same with movies). I pick up most of my books because of premise/title/cover/or favorite author.
Word of mouth is HUGE for me. And also if it's anything to do with Jane Austen. Hee hee!
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