First off, writers don't have any control on writing either the back or inner flap. Those are controlled by the publisher, and I have since long suspected the guys who write this have read at most the first twenty pages (or at worst, the first paragraph of the synopsis).

A book does not grab me. That's for short stories. I give books more of a running chance: if I don't see a reason for reading within the first chapter, I chuck the book (well, I would, but few are the books which I've actually set aside).

Avoid series books, especially if the series is not finished.

Robin Hobb is the exception to that rule. She is consistently good.

Some of the better stories will be found in the authors that only have one book. You know they didn't get published based on just their name.

* In fiction, brand names are author names . . . and the authors I used to like have gotten awful, or at least less good. Niven, LeGuin, Asimov (during his later period), McKillip. I only know one author that I think *improved* with age: Vance. Anyway, I can't use the brands we usually go with.

* I pick up a book and think: the mechanics here don't work. de Lint: someone recommended Ghost in the Wires. Six paragraphs in I finally found out the gender of the narrator (and in paragraph 4, it seemed to be going the other way!), and I still didn't know if the narrator was a spirit, or a neurosis, or a program, or what. She didn't seem to be human. I read on a while in confusion, then gave up.

There's a grain of truth to the thought that artists should create for themselves. An artist needs to be a member of the audience, first and foremost.

Now, most books will not please most readers. In fact, I don't believe that there are any books that will please most readers. You need to read a lot of books to find the authors and stories that appeal to you. And when you find those authors, and those stories, you need to learn from them, not from any of the books you didn't like.

Like others have said here, you have to know what a publisher is buying before you can sell, whether you like the stories or not. I think that goes for book publishers too, though that's harder because sometimes published books were bought by the publisher two years before being released.

I don't think many career authors have made it unless they've studied what's in print. If you want a career at it, you have to think of it as a business and your time as an investment, and that includes reading as well as writing.

Now, that isn't to say you have to read everything in print. Do what Survivor suggests and pick the authors and publishers putting out what you like. You can be picky. Your time is an investment, but you can make bad investments too.

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Speaking of book flaps, has anyone else noticed a disturbing trend whereby the flaps cover the entire plot point for point?

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Chapter 14 - In which our hero is killed by Evil Robot Monkeys.

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P.S. I now feel that reading and writing are like eating and cooking. You can eat without cooking but if you try to cook without eating or tasting, you are at the mercy of the quality of your ingredients and the accuracy of your recipes.

It's interesting because I do now make chocolate things which I don't eat, but I did used to each chocolate and learned which recipes and ingredients were good.

P.S. I tried to make Indian Food last night. Everyone said it tasted Mexican.

As for looking for only those books that stand out amoung the others? So if there is only one in 50 that meets that qualification, you have limited your selection to a handfull that might be on the shelf, and worse if you go to a library.

I read a very overindulgent book called "pandora's star", which in my opinion could have been cut from 800 plus pages to 400 and have lost almost nothing. Now, the extra bulk that wasn't necessary was not the worst part of the book...no, it ended in a cliffhanger. And a couple years later there is yet to be a sequal written. Now I could whine about the wasted time, but I learned something. There is a very good reason to cut out unimportant crap. No matter how in love you are with your creation, in this author's case his aliens, some things just don't need to be explained over three chapters of pure dull bordome. Also if you want your readers to buy book two...finish book one so it has some form of ending.

So, is reading a not so great book bad? No, there are still things you can learn to avoid in your own writing. So read, it can't do anything but help you learn more about writing.

I only use the synopses to get an idea what the book is about. Then I start reading the book. I'm almost always able to tell if it's something I'd like to read.

"Why should we read them? How can a book grab you?"

I may be missing something, but we read because we want to. As for how a book can grab you, what has grabbed you about books in the past?

"I've been a victim of the 'first page has to hit the reader hard enough to keep them' people."

If you're being literal regarding the first page, read a little more. If you read several pages, and still end up disappointed, then read the first chapter.

I find that if I'm not in the mood to read, even a story I was really interested in the night before can't keep my attention. I have to be in the mood, or my mind wanders on to other things.

Another option would be to read something other than what you normally do. I recently finished Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, and highly recommend it. Over at Amazon, you can even read a chunk to see if it interests you. Another book I recommend is Into Thin Air : A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster, by Jon Krakauer. A similar book is Touching the Void, by Joe Simpson. I haven't read it yet, but have heard it was better.