Ever wonder how to recommend books? My love for giving people book recommendations led me to pursue my Master’s of Library Science. I just loved connecting readers with great books, and the thousands of hours I spent reading, researching books, and browsing sites like Goodreads prepared me for this task. It felt like my calling.
When I learned the art of recommending books had a name—reader’s advisory—and that you could actually study it, I was sold on library school. After taking some reader’s advisory courses, along with writing about books here on the blog and professionally, like at EBSCO NoveList, I started to develop theories of my own about how to give book recommendations. I wasn’t too happy with the fundamentals of reader’s advisory taught in the classroom, so I created some personal reader’s advisory theories. Now I get to recommend books in Book Riot’s Tailored Book Recommendation (TBR) service.
This post is written for anyone who wants to learn how to recommend books to others. All sorts of people give book recommendations: book bloggers, bookstagrammers, book tubers, librarians, the Match Book column writers in the New York Times Book Review, and more. This is my intro guide, my practical crash course in reader’s advisory, to help them and you get better at crafting awesome book recommendations that will keep readers coming back for more book talk.
Tip 1: Match feelings first
One of the core tenants of textbook reader’s advisory is to match books on “appeal factors.” These appeal factors break down a book’s appeal into categories like Pacing, Writing Style, and Setting and are based on the idea that readers love the feel of a book.
However, you’ll note that this approach doesn’t reflect the way a book makes a reader feel. This, in my reader’s advisory practice, is the core misconception about how reader’s advisory is done. Reader’s advisory theory has it backwards.
What book worms read for is something that goes beyond their favorite genres, authors, and themes. The books they live to read, love, and cherish are books that make them feel something powerful, that knock them over with “The Feels,” that vague-yet-specific emotional experience that all readers recognize, something that dislodges the mundane daily existence we live in and transports you to a powerful emotion, one that makes you feel alive and connected to the human experience.
To give great book recommendations, you’ll want to match readers to books that give them similar “Feels.” It’s first and foremost about the emotional experience of reading an amazing book.
Sarah S. Davis, Broke by Books
The Feels, in my opinion, cross favorite genres, comfort zones, and other places where reader’s get stuck, mired in their safety net of familiar titles, authors, and genres.
OK, so that’s all well and good, but how does that actually apply in book recommending?
The first question you’ll want to ask someone if they request a book recommendation is: “What was the last book you enjoyed, and why did you like it so much?” Listen to the cues they give you.
Someone might talk about a book they loved and say, “I just couldn’t put down” – keywords for an engrossing story that brought them viscerally into the narrative. This is a code for a reader who likes to experience great stories. They are likely a book worm who reads for escapism. You want to recommend a book that gives a similar feel: a terrific story, one that you yourself got sucked into so much that the events of the novel felt like they were a part of your life.
Or they might say, “I just loved the characters” or “I cried at the end.” This reader might be looking for more books about a character’s journey. They want protagonists who feel real, people who are flawed, relatable, but admirable, too, with convictions, personality, and a strong voice. Quick: What 3 fictional characters from books you’ve read in the last year would you invite to a dinner party? The characters you remember should give you a hint of a book you could recommend with similarly strong characters.
You can see in my list of book recommendations for fans of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch that I break down the different appeals the novel might have for someone, including how it made them feel.
I also want to quickly say that intellectually moving books can be emotional experiences, too. A nonfiction book can reveal new things about the world that affects the way you feel, tell a story that is riveting and exciting, and draw on emotions to gut you with The Feels just as much as a novel. It’s a myth that The Feels only come from fiction. What we connect to most as readers are stories, ones that grab us by the heart and mind.
Tip 2: Endorse books you love
One rule of recommending books you can’t go wrong with is to endorse books you yourself love. Your greatest “reader’s advisory ammo” are books that gave you The Feels, that you couldn’t stop reading, that you won’t shut up about and recommend to everyone with a deep sigh and a “Trust me, it’s so good.” I chalk this up to the Code of Good Books, a pact we enter into with other readers based on mutual trust and respect for another’s reading opinions. We’ve all had those conversations with another reader—could be someone close to you or even a complete stranger you bond with at the library or bookstore—where you bond over the love of a good book.
Readers trust other readers. Recommending books you’ve loved means readers will bank on your enthusiasm and the magical Code of Good Books.
Sarah S. Davis, Broke by Books
Above all, we trust each other to not steer the other wrong, and how can you do that if you’re recommending books you know you can talk up in an endorsement backed by your personal experience? When others recommend a book to me I’d otherwise not take a chance on, I trust their enthusiasm. Time and time again, I’m glad I’ve picked up a book I wouldn’t have dreamed of reading if it wasn’t for the endorsement of my friends, family, and colleagues, including the book blogger and Goodreads world. Right now, can you think of books that people have recommended that you were skeptical of at first but ended up loving?
Sometimes, of course, it won’t work out. Your recommendation just won’t click with someone else. To every book, its reader. Let it go and move on. Ask them about their favorite recent reads. Don’t take it personally, and know that readers trust your good intentions above all else. Nobody actually goes around facetiously pushing bad books in others’ hands. That’s against the Code of Good Books that we all abide by.
Also, recommending books that you’ve already read helps ensure you won’t put a troubling book in the hands of someone who raised specific trigger warnings. I don’t have a problem with recommending books I haven’t read, but if a reader notes that they don’t want books with offensive content, worrisome themes, and anxiety-inducing topics, I go out of my way to only recommend books that I’ve read and can verify do not contain triggers. If I get stuck, I consult a friend who’s read a book I’m considering recommending but haven’t read myself. I take content triggers seriously and so should you.
Here I want to address a topic you’ve probably wondered about: to recommend or not to recommend books you haven’t read. A lot of librarians and readers make the mistake of thinking that it goes against Book Law to recommend a book if you haven’t read it yourself. That’s just not true. Unless you read hundreds of books each year, there will always be books you haven’t read but have heard on good authority (from friends, colleagues, book world people, Goodreads reviewers you follow) are decent.
I have my limits and personal rules about recommending books I haven’t finished myself, but the main one is that the majority of books I recommend in a bunch must be ones I’ve read some or part of. Note I said “part of”: This is a good reason to try to read the first chapter of each book you check out of the library or buy. You can tell a lot from a first chapter: voice, pacing, what the “hook” is to get you to keep reading, whether the setting is evocative, and so on. Plenty to go off of when recommending a book.
Tip 3: Look beyond books
I love books. You love books. The reader you’re recommending to loves books. We all do. But there’s also media we enjoy outside literature. Next time you’re recommending a book, ask your reader about what other kinds of entertainment they enjoy.
Ask the book lover you’re recommending about other media they love. Find out their favorite TV shows, movies, podcasts, and music. Ask them what kind of stories they love beyond books.
Sarah S. Davis, Broke by Books
You’re recommending books, sure, but you might also be recommending based on how they like to be entertained. To practice, think about a movie, TV show, magazine article, or other type of storytelling media that you’ve recently enjoyed. What do you love about the story? The characters? The plot? The topic? The suspense? The visual style? The setting? Jot down a few ideas for book recommendations based on this non-literary art.
Want an example? Check out my post on the blog about books for fans of Netflix’s Mindhunter, and my book recommendations for Veep and Succession (two HBO TV shows ) on Book Riot show how to pull apart what makes a show appealing and translate that into similar books.
Tip 4: Include diverse picks
It’s 2019, and publishing is still suffering from a lack of diversity. Despite gains and progress, it’s still possible to recommend books by authors privileged enough to be in the majority. However, as a book recommender, you can have a big impact and influence on how many more diverse voices get read.
As a book recommender, you’re in an influential position to help connect readers with books by diverse writers. Use it.
Sarah S. Davis, Broke by Books
Try aiming for at least one or two good diverse picks in a list of book recommendations. Balance male authors with female, trans, and gender non-binary writers. Highlight international writers. Pick writers whose voices reflect minority and underrepresented cultures, religions, and diasporas. That includes economic and regional diversity. Look for books that are written by or feature differently abled characters. Don’t automatically assume that a romance pick needs to be between a man and woman but offer books that include queer courtship, love, and relationships, too.
Tip 5: Throw a wild card in there
At the end of the day, you can never be positive about the books you recommend, even if they seem like iron-clad sure bets. That’s why I advocate for including a wild card pick with your recommendations.
If you’ve got a hunch that someone might like a book, even if there’s no proof to point to, you’ve got to go with your gut and trust your intuition. Have confidence in yourself. You know a good book when you see one. Yes, you do!
Sarah S. Davis, Broke by Books
Take a chance and recommend something wacky, weird, or wonderful. If you only ever end up recommending safe choices, you’ll never grow as a book recommender. And who knows? You could be connecting someone with their new favorite writer, book, or series.
