READER REVIEWS If the reader is on Amazon (or barnesandnoble.com or GoodReads, etc., but not in a bookstore), they now read the customer reviews. They will usually first note the number of total reviews—as a gauge of popularity—and then look at the average rating. They may then browse the content of the reviews. If they do, they normally read (more likely scan) one or two of them, and, if they are like most people, they skip the positive ones and read a negative one before going back to a positive one (if they even do that). AUTHOR BIO AND PICTURE Sometimes, but not always, people will look at the author bio. This is usually in situations where they have not quite made up their mind, are hesitant to buy the book, and need more information. Looking at the author page is about understanding the credibility and relative status of the author. There are cases where this is one of the first things the reader looks at (when they’ve never heard of the author). Some readers imme- diately want to know about the author, and look at the bio first. After collecting all this information, the vast majority of people have made their decision. Note that this is before they interact with anything inside the book. They have yet to read one single page, and they’ve already decided whether or not to buy the book. LENGTH This is one of those things that seems to be generational, or divided by socioeconomic status. Some people, generally voracious readers, never even think to check length. Whereas other people always check length. Many people do not want to commit to a 300+ page book. hOW PEOPlE rEAlly jUDgE A BOOk · 447