It is not possible to read all the Sci-Fi books out there. So you must have a process for selecting what you do read. Reading a book is an investment in your time. Your time is valuable. No one wants to waste that time reading unworthy books.
I have never codified my criteria. And it has changed and evolved over time. I suspect it will continue to change moving forward, as who I am tomorrow is not who I was yesterday.
What is your criteria to date?
Mine is that it must meet ALL the following criteria, some objective and some subjective.
- it must have at least 1,000 reviews
- it must have at least 70% 5-star reviews
- if after reading about it I get the suspicion that it’s a romance disguised as Sci-Fi, I automatically reject it no matter what
- if it’s YA, it really needs to be exceedingly compelling to choose it
- Space Opera also needs to be exceedingly compelling
- if I get the feeling it’s trying to preach I’ll reject it
- if i get the feeling it has (messaging, strong opinions, or political overtones) about today’s societal issues, I probably won’t choose it. Not judging; I primarily read for escapism.
I guess that’s about it. There’s probably more but I just haven’t put that much thought into it yet.
I’m very interested in how y’all decide to choose a book to spend your valuable time reading.
First off the concept, as introduced on the back of the book, or in book-yakking circles (like this) or such must be something that interests me in some way. This means that if the books seems too political in focus (“left” or “right”), for example, I don’t engage. That’s not what I read SF books for.
Second, if the concept intrigues, I have to get a hint that it isn’t just a rehashing of something I’ve already read. I need to read a new take on a concept, not Yet Another Evil Empire Cut Down By Rebels space opera, complete with laser swords, say…
Third, if it gets to this stage, I’ll find a free ecopy somewhere and I’ll read the first 50 pages in a “try before you buy” thing. The author has to grab my interest in 50 pages, no more. If by page 50 I’m not sufficiently intrigued that I’m willing to shell out money, I don’t shell out money. The ebook is deleted and the book is put into my mental “do not enage” bin alongside books whose very concepts don’t interest me.
If, however, by page 50 the book intrigues me, I’ll start the difficult task of hunting down hardcopy and buy it when I find it.
I understand and agree regarding a stale take on an existing trope. It is hard to find a new take on a concept, but just as you, that is exactly what I’m looking for too.
Play Books has ~50pg samplers for just about everything I’ve been on the fence about. If it’s got me by 50pg in I’m probably interested enough to read the rest of it. They (Play Books) don’t always have the best eBook quality so I try to buy from Barnes and Noble when I can but I end up buying a lot of ~$2 sale books on the play store as well.
Play is not accessible to me; that’s not an avenue I can travel down. I basically have to pirate as a try-before-I-buy thing.
And I don’t buy e-books for reading. (I’ll by them for reference works, game rules, etc. but not reading books.) I buy books. It’s a quirk of mine.