When is it that we give up on buying our favorite authors’ books at the bookstore?
On Saturday afternoon, I found myself at the library checking out the new Karen Robards book (in hardcover). This is the first new release of Robards that I haven’t ran out and immediately purchased. That got me to thinking…what is it that takes us from bookstore to library? I know many readers who refuse to buy hardcover, so even if their favorite author is still their favorite author when they go from paper to hardcover, they wait. I’m all about instant gratification. I think that’s the #1 reason why I don’t go to the library. I don’t want to be a name on a list. I don’t want to wait over two weeks for someone to read a 350 page book. I want it NOW.
Which brings me to my next question…what does it take for a favorite author to pass the point of no return? How many chances will you give an author until you just give up?
For me, it seems that with every disappointing book that comes out, I tell myself that the next one is the last one I’m buying. At that point, I’m promising myself that if [insert author’s name]’s next book isn’t the best freaking book of the year, I’m going to start getting their books at the library. Not that they don’t have a chance to win me back b/c they do. It probably wouldn’t take much either.
After reading Kiss Me While I Sleep by Linda Howard in 2004, that’s exactly what I told myself. Well, I lied to myself. I can’t stop buying Linda Howard’s books. I just can’t. Every single book I’ve read since KMWIS, I’ve fervently hoped that she would magically write the kind of book that I first fell in love with. Even though Up Close and Dangerous wasn’t the book I was hoping for, I got a glimpse of the writing that I came to expect from LH. That being said, her release in June (or is it July?) is the last one I’ll be buying in hardcover. Unless it’s spectacular. Am I lying to myself again? Maybe.
Some other authors that I won’t buy in hardcover anymore are Karen Robards, Jayne Ann Krentz, and Karen Marie Moning. Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
So are you a bookstore or library person? Are there any former favorites that you refuse to buy? Am I the only one that lies to myself about “next time”?
I’m all about instant gratification, plus owning all the books and the fact that the libraries around me aren’t really great. I’m buying more and more books and always seem to be adding new authors to the list… Sometimes, even if the author has become so-so to me, I keep buying the books, because I like to own them all… I don’t think I’ve stopped buying books from favorite authors… okay, I lied. There’s the Plums books by Janet Evanovich… and after Acheron, I’ll have to re-evaluate Sherrilyn Kenyon.
I don’t use the library here because they stink. The romance selection is basically nonexistent & I just could never find what I was looking for.
I was thinking about this the other day-I only buy books when it’s an author I LOVE or if I’ve heard nothing but great reviews. I’ve read some books just because (and am very thankful for a lenient return policy from B&N).
There are some authors I just refuse to buy. The books have been hyped to a ridiculous level and the one book I read by these particular authors did nothing to make me want to join the bandwagon.
I stopped buying Suzanne Brockmann in HC. I am an army wife, so I’m automatically wary of books written about the military…I’m a little too obsessed w/ accuracy. 🙂 But SB books were easy to escape into…at first. As SB has incorporated more “realism” into her books, my interest and escapism has waned b/c if she’s going to write realistically, then I want realism! My biggest pet peeve is the way the men communicate…okay, I don’t know any men who so openly communicate. In one of her last books the hero was Ric and, almost immediately, he and Jules (who is supposed to be a “realistic” gay FBI agent) are swapping “woe is me in the love dept” stories in the middle of a mission. Really? Really?
I’ve also taken Karen Rose off my auto-buy list b/c she has gotten too graphic w/ the violence descriptions. I can hear about this kind of stuff on the news…I don’t like it for entertainment. The last one about the video game murderer was too much for me. No more!
I lie to myself about next time, also. I’ve been saying that I wouldn’t buy the next Julie Garwood in HC for the last 5 or so years. *sigh*
Um, I think that’s it. 😉
~SL
I am so a library person unless the book is one I want to keep forever that I know I will re-read over and over. There are only a few I will go and buy religiously. But the library is great for reads I would have never picked up or bought.
But I will also buy at the bookstore to help support my favorite authors. And it is becoming so much more harder to not buy as I meet many of them online and get to know them.
When I got to heaven, there will be a huge library with every book ever written and all the martinis I can drink.
I understand the instant gratification thing, but you know what I tell readers? Look at your TBR. Look at all of the other books waiting for you. When you look at it from that perspective, it’s easier to wait two weeks. And if you can’t wait? Well then the author is obviously still in autobuy.
What makes me stop buying? Several bad books in a row. When authors who write series start repeating themselves. When I can no longer justify the cost. $27 (retail) for lots of white space and barely 300 pages? Um, no thanks.
The only author I buy in hard cover any more is Laura Levine, who writes funny cozy mysteries. And even then? I try to tell myself not to because dang – I always read her books in a couple of hours. But I just can’t wait! Must. Have. Now! LOL – so yep, autobuy.
And I hear you on KMM. I really enjoy her Fever series, but I can’t ever see myself buying my own copy(ies) in hard cover. I just don’t like them quite that much. So I wait for a library copy to roll my way…..
I HAD to turn to my library because I just couldn’t afford to keep buying that many books. I now buy the ones I know I am going to love or the ones by my favorite authors. For new stuff, I get them out of the library to try them and if they are good I will buy the book – this is what happened with the In Death books , I got the first one out of the library and loved it so much I will be buy the next ones.
The opposite is also true. I tried a Sherrilyn Kenyon and just couldn’t finish it. In this case I was so glad it was a library copy.
i am like katie, i am very much a library person. Luckily, I have a great library system that stocks lots of romance. The only ones they do not really stock that i have to buy are ones from publishers like Ellora’s Cave or Samhain or Loose ID. But I think they now actually have one from each of these, so maybe it is just getting enough people to request them.
I have never bought new in HC too much money. I read it from the library and then if i loved it that much then I wait for paperback and then buy it.
I am an inveterate re-reader and keep many many books for… well, forever, so I mostly buy. Add that my library is not very well stocked in fiction (what’s up with that?) and you got the perfect recipe for bankruptcy.
😀
Okay, I try to stick to my book budget, but I’m happy to eat Ramen noodles instead 😀
With that said, there are authors I’ve stopped reading completely–leet alone buying–and whose new books I won’t try unless someone puts a copy in my hands. Christine Feehan, Julie Garwood *saddest sigh ever* and a couple more.
I try very hard to be a library person, but I am terrible at it. I love to go to the book store and shop. It’s a mood lifter for me, any reason to buy a book and get lost in a story. That is probably horrible, but it’s my addiction and I stand by it.
As a librarian you can probably guess which way I lean.
It also helped that we knew when a book got ordered so we could immediately get on high on the reserve list and basically get it the same day we would have if we bought it.
I have a hard time paying full price for something. I pretty much use the library and hit the used book store. I still buy all the LKH’s even in hardback. It’s a sickness really. lol. But there’s not too much that I HAVE TO HAVE IMMEDIATELY. Unless it’s Jennifer Crusie. But even then I got out and get it immediately and then don’t start it for several days.
OR there have been occasions where I was #1 on the reserve list at the library…but went out and got it at the bookstore too. Can’t again I think that was with a LKH or a Jennifer Crusie.
Wendy,
That’s a good thing to think about when you’re find yourself considering spending $25 on a book. I’m sure a lot of us don’t have a shortage of books in our TBR pile. You’re right, two weeks really isn’t that long when you look at it that way.
Nath,
I’m totally with you on Sherrilyn Kenyon. There will be a major re-evaluation going on after I read Acheron.
Bridget,
My library isn’t that great either. What’s nice is that if I call for a book they don’t have, they put in a request to purchase it depending on who the author is. I had no idea they did that.
SL,
We’re on the same page about Suz Brockmann. She lost me with Mike Muldoon’s book. Yet, I continue to buy.
I agree that the last few Karen Rose books have been a little violent. That won’t stop me from buying her though. Not yet, anyway.
Katie,
It’s important to me that I support my favorite authors too. If I find a book on the shelf before the release date, I buy another copy after the release date. I just feel too guilty. LOL
I’m NOT a library person….it is just too difficult to balance due dates and “reads”!
I find that I purchase my favorite authors because I want to keep and treasure them!
Sure, there are some that I’ve got to take to the local library bargin bin sale, but hey! I was able to read it “when I wanted to”…not when the library wait list entitled me to…..