Auto-Buy Lists: Do I REALLY Have One?

Fact: I don't like coffee. I just like saying Coffee Clutch in my best and deepest New York accent. Considering I'm a New Yorker, I'm pretty freaking good at it. So I've got my tea and I hope you have your heated beverage of choice, because it's time to gab the day away.

A couple of things led me to write this post. First: The revelation that Robert Galbraith is actually J.K. Rowling. Then my mind flipped back to a Top Ten Tuesday post I did a little while back entitled Top Ten Authors On My Auto-Buy List. And THEN I had a whole debate with my sister about both of these things and so we are here today.

But wait, WHAT are we talking about today? Well. I guess the topic up for discussion is the concept of blindly picking up a book JUST because an author you LOVE wrote it. I know, I know, I told you all I wrote a Top Ten Tuesday post with a whole list of authors I claim to do this for, but, when I sit down to really thing about it, it's possible I was lying a little bit.

Trouble for everyone.

I mean, J.K. Rowling is on that list and I don't own A Casual Vacancy or this new book, The Cuckoo's Calling (I did leave the adult books off that list, but STILL). I also definitely don't EVERYTHING by Tamora Pierce, Rick Riordan or Phillip Pullman. All of these people have written A LOT of books and, while I do own a lot of books, their complete works don't exist on my shelves. I actually don't think I have the complete works of any author with more than 5 books out on my shelves.

Yeah, I used the same gif to discussion posts in a row. DEAL WITH IT.

So why did I write that post? When I listed those ten authors, what did I mean?

Here's what I think was going on in my head:

Those ten authors listed are the Top Ten Author who, when I hear they have a new book coming out, I sit down and think to myself: "This is a book you're going to get grabby hands about. But you love this author very, very much and you should probably take a second to make sure this book is something you would naturally gravitate to before picking it up just because."

Now, why is it important for me not to pick up a book just because? Well, I need more than just a familiar writing style and voice to get me through. So I can't promise that I'll be able to make the leap from MG/YA to Adult Fiction with J.K. Rowling. And even if an author generally stays in the same genre, like Tamora Pierce, I also can't guarantee I'm going to be able to make the shift from Tortall to Emelan. Honestly, the fact that I love both the Greek and Egyptian-based stories Rick Riordan publishes is just dumb luck.

I cannot express the joy I felt upon finding this gif to express my sheer dumb luck.

Yeah, I expect authors who've written 5 books I already love to produce a 6th I'll likely also love. But honestly? Blindly assuming this'll be the case just doesn't work for me. Will I shove a book by an author on that pesky Top Ten list to the top of my "Maybe You Wanna Purchase This Book" list? (I have lots of list, guys) Yeah. Does that mean I'll ACTUALLY buy it? Not necessarily. I need to read the summary and consider what the book is about. Because the worst thing in the world, in my opinion, is blindly picking up a book by an author you love only to discover you DON'T love the book as much as you should and having your experience with that author altered for no good reason. Especially now that a lot of authors are crossing genres and categories. It can get REALLY TRICKY, REALLY QUICKLY, guys. Really.

More gif finding joy.

Of course, I obviously want you all to support your favorite authors. You should buy their books, go out to their events, draw them fan art, whatever. Just maybe don't pick up a book you know you shouldn't (as I conveniently discussed two weeks ago).

And, for the record, I DNFed A Casual Vacancy and have no intention of reading A Cuckoo's Calling. Did Potter shape basically my entire childhood? Yes. Do I own JK Rowling a whole lot of everything? Obvs. Do I think she's a fantastic writer? Abso-freaking-lutely. But it's for all of those reasons that I WON'T be picking up her adult books. They're not for me, I recognize that, and don't want to make that kind of poor bookish choice (SEE SASSY GAY FRIEND? I AM LEARNING).

I know not everyone's like me in this respect (probably not even a lot of people are like me in this respect). I actually love that readers can and do follow authors wherever. But I hope you can all see where I'm coming from. And possibly share where YOU'RE coming from. (In the comments below, of course!)