On a whim, and since I have a book coming out this week, I asked this question on Facebook:

List the top three conditions required for you to buy a book at full retail price.

It didn’t take long for 250+ commenters to come forward with 426 replies. The trends popped up early and maintained their leads throughout the exercise. Several posters begged me to reveal the results. After counting and recounting, here are the reasons someone will throw down money and pay full price for a book.

110    Author
39    Topic/genre
33    Will keep for rereading/keep for research
30    Cover/cover copy/cover blurbs
26    Reviews/recommendations
24    Series
23    Support a bookstore
22    On a whim/want it now/super convenient at the time
21    Available money at the time
20    First page/content/readability
18    Format (font, ebook, audio, hardback, etc.)
16    Event/signing/autograph
10    Gift
7    Not available in the library
7    Book club read
7    Local emphasis
5    Airport purchase
4    Need something to read/TBR list is low
2    Publisher identity
2    Fundraiser purchase

Number one, the author, flew out of the chute and stayed ahead the entire race. Readers love settling in with an author, developing a relationship with the author, feeling they can trust the author’s performance. Two repliers admitted that while they were indie authors, they were just as slow as the average person in embracing a debut author. Another replier asked what would it take for anyone to consider test-driving a new author. Someone replied: a promotional offer, a strong recommendation, or a book club selection.

Subject matter/topic/genre mattered, and you could view series as a close cousin to the same. Professional appearance of the book made a difference. Recommendations could trigger purchases. Other reasons trickled down from there.

Bottom line is an author has to prove themselves. An author has to become a presence. And an author has to build a trust with the reader and earn their respect. Once someone accepts a particular author, they obviously stick with them. Many comments mentioned that favorite authors meant paying full price without blinking, pre-ordering without question, and keeping the book in a collection. If that author writes a series. They are willing to pay for trust.

This day and time, with technology and social media so readily at our disposal . . . with Facebook, YouTube, BookTok, and Instagram so up in everyone’s face, an author’s responsibility is to connect with readers. That’s why it’s so important to respect readers, respond to readers, and appeal to them where they are.

Find a way, any way, to prove your worth to a reader, and word-of-mouth recommendations creep out into the world, drawing in folks like a magnet. Keep producing, keep putting new stories in readers’ hands, and you earn their loyalty. The days of “have a signing and they will come” are over. Just look at the numbers.

BIO – C. Hope Clark is the award-winning author of The Edisto Island Mysteries, The Carolina Slade Mysteries, and The Craven County Mysteries, a total of 15 novels. Her latest, Edisto Heat, is available wherever books are sold. Hope is also founder of FundsforWriters.com, chosen by Writer’s Digest Magazine for its 101 Best Websites for Writers. Her newsletter reaches 23,000 readers each week. www.chopeclark.com / www.fundsforwriters.com 
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