Here’s a collection of quick ways to find “recommendations” for a good book that suits your taste and has a good chance of not hitting the wall.
Goodreads.com – The Recommendation Widget
If you’re a member of Goodreads.com, try their recommendation engine. You can ask for recommendations based on the books you already have read and reported upon in Goodreads. For this to work, you have to be fairly anal about keeping your reading lists and ratings up to date. But when you do this, Goodreads.com can be surprisingly accurate.
Goodreads.com – Ask!
Every single member of Goodreads is a book lover. Head over to your favourite group, or hit up your friend on Goodreads and ask for recommendations.
Amazon – Follow That Reviewer
Sometimes the “also bought” list on Amazon can be misleading (although it’s pretty good). Instead, comb through a reviewer’s back list: Go to your favourite books, the ones you adore. Check out the reviews. Find one that is positive, and seems to reflect what you enjoyed most about that book. Click on the reviewer’s name, which will open up a list of that reviewer’s previous reviews (their “back list”).
Read through their reviews and try any of their five-star recommendations that tweaks your interest.
Blog Review sites-Follow that Reviewer
The same idea as with Amazon: At your favourite review site, find five star reviews for books you’ve loved in the past, and check out what else that reviewer has reviewed and rated highly.
Amazon Genre Best Seller lists
Did you know that Amazon breaks down its best seller lists into very small niches? If you click on “Romance” in the best seller list, sub-genres appear beneath it, and some of those genres have divisions of their own.
Click your way down to the niche you love the most, and buy one of the books in the top ten in that niche (note: you don’t have to buy it from Amazon if you use a different platform). There’s a risk you’ll end up with a dud this way, but the risk is small.
_______