What's most likely to make you blind buy a book?

You forgot:

New York Review Books imprimatur

Bookstore bathroom access.

Actual non-answer: all of these things combined inform a buying decision, weighted different depending on the type of book.

I don't buy books but a combo of cover art/excerpt on back cover is most likely to make me read a bit and if I like it put in a request at the library.

Somewhat inspired by some chat about book marketing on ILE.

I don't think I blind buy much. The vast majority of authors I read have been pre-approved by favourable reviews, famous author co-signs, general hype. Well, that's not really true, most of the authors I read are dead, but I mean the living ones.

This isn't great, makes me more of a marketing mark, but I do find starting a book such an investment...it's a far bigger gamble than losing 90 minutes at the cinema, or some minutes streaming some album for free.

So for me:

Cover art - unlikely
Excerpt - also unlikely; what can you really tell from half a paragraph divorced of its context?
Topic - sadly no! I think I've internalized that a great writer can make anything interesting, and nothing is interesting if the writing's crap
Author background - well I'd be lying if I said that if Ipicked up a book somewhere random and the author was an unknown Portuguese person my interest wouldn't be piqued, hasn't happened yet so far tho

So sadly yeah I think the author blurb would work best on me, even though I know those are handed out so much it's very unlikely they've actually read the book. But I guess it at least suggests they trust the author enough not to think their association will be embarassing?

Tips on better approaches appreciated!

New York Review Books imprimatur

Yes, publisher is a big one I forgot.

I don't think I would ever buy a book just based on the outside without opening it up and reading a few pages.

pretty much only the topic out of these options i think

I find it hard to imagine buying a book about a topic that doesn't interest me

Don't care about whaling but like Moby Dick, don't care about sports but enjoy sports manga are two examples that come to mind for me.

I voted other. None of the items listed in the poll would be enough to prompt a purchase, but any of them might prompt me to pick the book up, open it and flip through it, stopping to read some random bits and see how it strikes me. The "other" that could get me to buy it would be my impression of the quality of the writing. Does it draw me in? Or, especially in non-fic, does it try to convey interesting ideas or some larger conception of the subject, not just a series of facts? I can usually suss this sort of information fairly quickly.

I buy books impulsively based more on reading a snippet on social media or hearing a specific reference in the context of something else I enjoy, or described in a way that appeals. Often buy stuff instantly after this.

In a shop it's a bit less systematic I think.

Don't blind buy much either; probably publisher + topic (NYRB/Fitzcarraldo/Dalkey Archive/etc over the years) - last blind buy in a bookshop might have been Dick Davis translations of Persian poetry with a fancy cover / interesting blurb / easy to sample.

I don't think I would ever buy a book just based on the outside without opening it up and reading a few pages.

Reading a few pages, right there in the bookshop?? And then possibly putting it back, having gotten my filthy fingers on it? I'd get arrested!

I actually bought a Neville Cardus and a different cricket book (a collection of writings by an early 20th century cricket journalist) the other day - the former because I've long hankered to dig into some Cardus, and the latter because John Arlott was on the back cover offering fulsome approbation. In summary, I think I buy books on impulse depending on whether the cricket season is shortly to begin

I voted for excerpt, as it's probably the strongest draw. But it would usually be a combo of excerpt, cover and blurb - but not because of who did the blurb, more about what it actually says. Topic is a weird one: if it's something absolutely tailored to me, yes, I will be picking it up to look at it, but "an experimental work about depressed writers in the nuclear apocalypse" could be serious trash as much as it could be wonderful. And a lot of stuff I love isn't on a topic that would seem obviously my thing - it's all about the actual writing.

Don't give a shit about awards or background.

I came across Paul Beatty's "The Sellout" recently and bought it as the blurb on the back sounded good and it was a very good book indeed!

I was not familiar with him beforehand

For me it's reading the first page or two, pretty much always

Lily Dale otm in other words. Guess I'll vote Other

Me too. I always try reading at least the first page. If that’s good and the premise seems interesting I might bite.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I hardly ever blind buy books. If there's something I'm intrigued by, then I'll research it at home and come back later. The exception is if it's dirt cheap, like $1-2. So I guess my answer is Other: Price.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I voted 'excerpt on back cover' assuming this is the blurb that describes what the book is about (and therefore tells you the topic - not sure how topic is different to excerpt..?)

In order: excerpt/topic, quick flip through pages to get sense of writing style/readability (when browsing in person), cover art

I'm an occasional blind buyer. Had a recent win on this front with Bat Eater by Kylie Lee Baker.

But I read most books through Libby. When I like the sound of something based on the excerpt I'll save it to a 'to read' list. Once enough time has passed that I've forgotten what a book is about I download it and get a fun surprise of topic/content. I like to go in really blind when the stakes are low/I don't have to pay for the book.