When I read a story the first thing I look at is the cover. But I used to put a book back down if I didn't find the cover very enticing. I was wondering what you first noticed, did you ever look at the front and make a snap judgment and perhaps not read the book because of that? Or was there something else that made you not read a book that you might have found very interesting?
If a book has a cheesy or over-worked title, I will pass it by.
Same goes for covers. I am much more likely to open and check out an unknown book with a plain cover and a good title.
Another flag for me is a book that has pages of referrals from obscure papers and periodicals such as the West Bendover Weekly.
Absolutely and completely the cover. Which probably means I miss out on a lot of good books but you have to do that anyway because you can't read them all. And a good cover will tell you a lot. Sometimes an author will get lucky with a cover but often if a publisher has gone all out on a really original artwork it's because they think they have found a really original book.
Once I've picked a book up I check the blurb and if I'm still interested, the front page. If I want to read on after the front page, I buy the book.
The name of an award winning author. Winners and finalists of the Carnegie and Newbery Medal. I learned much by reading many of the honoured authors' books.
http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/full_list_of_winners.phphttp://www.ala.org/
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/newberymedal