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What stops you from buying books?

Have you had a recommendation for a book but when it came down to buying it, you were put off?

Was it the cover? Was it the author? Was it the content?

What don't you want to buy, and why?

I read the first paragraph or so and make a judgement from that. The author has to write well but can not be ponderous or pretentious if they want to sell their book to me!

I look at the ratings, but the main deciding factor is how I feel from reading the sample. That makes or breaks it for me. If it's recommended, the cover doesn't play too great a factor, but if I'm browsing then it would need to grab my attention in the first place. I must confess, some covers just turn me off from the get go.
The next consideration is price. Or, more accurately, price to page count ratio. :3

This is a good thread idea :3 Maybe we can figure out an answer that'll help others avoid the same problem.

Let's see, for me, I think the biggest turn off would be the use of cliches--either in the title or blurb, writing itself, or even the cover picture. Show me something I haven't seen/read!

What stops me from buying; probably my salary, I'm not ich enough to buy all the books i want.

LOL Kamil, I suffer from the same problem.

This is sort of the flip side of "what entices me to buy a book". Usually the cover and the blurb are what entices me to buy a book, and I'd say the opposite would keep me from buying it: if the cover looks awful and the blurb seems boring or off putting, I'm probably not buying it. Now since becoming an indie author I frequently buy books just to support my fellow indies, so this is less true than it used to be, but if I'm buying trad pubbed books, I'd still consider those things.

I usually buy whatever looks interesting. Also there are some authors I enjoy so I try to support their works. I usually don't let the cover influence me too much. It just gives a general idea of the story content. The blurb and any preview I am able to see usually influence me the most. Turn offs would be poor writing at the beginning, boring subject matter, and the author name. If I've read a book by an author I don't enjoy then I tend not to read their future works.

I must say cover is majourly important to me. I sent out a tweet this morning saying that and some people said we aren't supposed to judge. But I do :x

If it's drawn with a mouse in MS paint in lime green and orange, or really badly photoshopped, how do I know the writing is going to have as much time spent on it?

You don't have to be an artist to get a great cover. I think sometimes it's just better to have a plain background and a little text than something really glaring and messy.

You expressed my thoughts exactly. And why shouldn't we judge?

Erotica. Sorry, but I feel this genre has been the destruction of true story telling. I even had an agent tell me, 'Your book doesn't contain enough sex to be considered romance. Readers want to see their couple in a steamy entwine by page 5.'
Yeah.
My reaction: if I don't want my daughters in a 'steamy situation' by 'page 5', why would I subject my readers to such?
Nope.
I want story, just like the old days, when authors were allowed to build up to the crescendo. Just like a campfire, where you're leaning in to hear every word.
Sex? Fine. But only if it truly fits with the story, NOT simply to sell a book.
I don't care for porn, so why would I write it/read it?
For me, erotica isn't romance. It's literary porn.
Blech.
I want STORY.
Oh, and those green-screen type covers. I don't care if you're an Indie author--several of us are, but some of those covers are just bloody awful!!
My money is hard earned. Cover & the tease of a good story will get me to buy your book. You don't have to have a catchy first line. Several of the old storytellers don't.

J. David wrote: "This is sort of the flip side of "what entices me to buy a book". Usually the cover and the blurb are what entices me to buy a book, and I'd say the opposite would keep me from buying it: if the co..."
Me too--buy books by Indie authors to support fellow Indies. But, some of 'em...well...they put all that effort into their words, but no effort into their covers. Such a shame.

For me, it goes 1) read the blurb -> yes, 2) read the reviews -> yes, 3) read the first chapter. Sometimes 2 & 3 happen in reverse order. Reviews are important because I'm looking for things I don't like (grammar errors, slow plot, offensive-to-me subject matter, etc.) That's also why I write reviews that include stuff I didn't like about a book.

When I get review requests for my blog, I usually skip reviewer comments. Sometimes if I'm on the fence because I think the book might have a problem that frustrates me, I will read the reviews, but usually not.

Friends' negative reviews as well as written reviews.

A character named Kate, Katy, Kat, Katherine etc. There are 743289327432 MCs with this name and I just cannot stand it.

Erotica. I just feel weird and I am not sure why b/c I'm a pervert. :x

Nicole wrote: "A character named Kate, Katy, Kat, Katherine etc. There are 743289327432 MCs with this name and I just cannot stand it.

Erotica. I just feel weird and I am not sure why b/c I'm a pervert. :x"
Hear-hear! I have a warped sense of humor...FILTHY, yet..erotica...makes me feel icky. Like I'm in the bedroom, watching 'em. WITH a clipboard. Taking notes. *backs away*

Sorry, my current WIP, MC's name is Kit.
*ducks from flying shoe*

first: Kit is not Kat, Kate etc.. close but not it. :P

Second: I never saw it that way but now that you mentioned the voyeurism in it, I may never read another erotica without thinking of this post ever again!

I told my cover designer that the cover sells the first book and the writing sells the next book. The cover, blurb, and a good recommendation does it for me.

G.G. wrote: "first: Kit is not Kat, Kate etc.. close but not it. :P

Second: I never saw it that way but now that you mentioned the voyeurism in it, I may never read another erotica without thinking of this pos..."
*laughs*
Sorry.
At first, when erotica wasn't really labeled as such, it wasn't so bad. Now...gah! They stretch 4 pages of plot over the course of 400 pages of smut!

Covers - remember that "you can't judge a book by it's cover" originated in the days when all books had plain hard covers. Often not even a title on the spine. You truly couldn't tell anything about the book by its cover.

Erotica/voyeurism - this turns me off as well. I tend to stick to the genres that don't have explicit sex, and if it isn't in one of those genres, take a careful scan of the sample materials before buying. Bad language is part of it as well, I don't want to read a book peppered with four-letter words.

Kat, Kate, etc. - I had to think about whether any of my characters fell into this group. I have one book (not yet published) where one of the MC's is named Katya. I do have a Katie in another, but she doesn't go by it for most of the book, so hopefully you wouldn't be too turned off! In another book (not yet published) I have a secondary character with multiple personality disorder and needed a name that had lots of derivatives. Katherine was in the running, but I went with Elizabeth. Whew. Dodged a bullet there.

What usually turns me off of a book is boredom! No tension, nothing interesting happening, no apparent conflict, copious unnecessary detail, waiting for the story to start, jumping from one apparently story to another, etc. If the book doesn't seem to be going anywhere, sooner or later I am going to delete it.

If it is wildly unbelievable sf/fantasy/magic/paranormal or fantasy with no kind of foundation/system, I get bored with it pretty quickly. You have to really build a world for me to stick with fantasy or paranormal. Don't just add a vampire into your story because it's trendy. There is such a glut of uninspired paranormal these days that I stay completely away from any kind of fantasy unless I find the conflict/storyline very compelling.

David wrote: "I told my cover designer that the cover sells the first book and the writing sells the next book. The cover, blurb, and a good recommendation does it for me."

This is very true haha Smart ;)

Just about anything with a Todd Lockwood cover, I buy. Yeah, I know, terrible of me. And if I have the beginnings of a series, even if no longer reading said series, I'll still buy the books to have a complete collection.
*sends invoice to R.A. Salvatore* :P