romance reading habits

[piranha]

alex_beecroft posted a link to statistics about romance readers.

as usual i am an outlier, *snrk*.

my most critical purchase influences started out as
0. is it m/m or regency / historical
1. description of book
2. author
3. review
but are now shifting towards author in position 1, since i know a lot more authors at this point. also, i no longer really consider reviews because they didn't work well for me. most m/m romance reviewers can't seem to write anything bad about a book, and their tastes and mine rarely coincide. the marks given at fictionwise are almost completely useless for me, though a high bad mark is a more reliable predictor.

i often skip the adverts for other romance novels at the end of books, because some publishers seem to insist that if i bought an m/m romance surely i must want to read about their m/f offerings. uh, no.

my purchase decisions are rarely impulsive, i "plan" them (as in, every monday). but i don't plan them as in, noting down when a new book comes out by author X. though now that i am following some authors on twitter that might change -- but i am probably more likely to lose the information again.

i acquire more romances "used" than new, probably 60/40%.

i buy almost everything online. and 90% in non-DRM ebook formats. no hardcovers at all.

i usually read them at home, because i don't go anywhere else where reading is an option.

i do not have a dedicated ebook reader, i read on my OLPC XO, but i lust after a good ebook reader.

i read widely across sub-genres, and do not have a distinct preference -- but there are some of which i am wary: paranormal (especially vampires and werewolves) and SF. they both are likely to be bad; vamps/shifters because OMG, totally overdone and eye-roll-inducing "logic", and SF because it often seems the authors haven't read any non-romance SF, and so they're not using the tropes correctly, and it jars me. i am likely to try any sub-genre, sure.

yes, i'll follow an author to a new sub-genre within romance, as long as the author stays with m/m. go outside that and kiss me goodbye. yup, that also goes for m/m/f -- however lovely i think more polyamory in fiction is, i don't want to read about sex with women. i buy the occasional one from authors i love a lot (jamie craig :) because i actually like to support the polyamory thing, but i would be much happier with more m/m/m.

hell, yeah, i have favourite authors. i have A, B, and C lists, even. i am definitely prone to seeking out more books from somebody whose previous work i've liked.

i'm also likely to try new authors, but less so with new books. i do so mostly via file-sharing. recommendations sometimes. seeing the book? unlikely (certainly not if the author is published by changeling press, which has the most horrible covers in the history of covers).

i am fully aware that authors get no royalties from used book sales.