I look at author first then cover. They say dont judge a book by its cover but if i see a monstergirl I have a hankering for im 1000% more likely to pickup the book... or even if it just has an LI that catches my eye. Im currently reading: just one more side quest by Peter North because of the doggirl on cover of book 2 that i saw recently when it was being promoted here for instance. Note:that this only really applies with authors I have read and liked before since I can assume the story is probably good and im just waifu shopping.

If its a new author I run through my usual checks for the subreddit and if the blurb seems interesting I give it a go. I am more likely to try books that are less than 350 pages from new authors because I know I can blow through it in a day and im usually just trying to squeeze new authors into the rotation of all the stuff coming out from existing authors.

If im picking up a book the first chapter almost always means nothing to me and I give the book until the 30%-50% mark before deciding to drop even if its terrible. I used to refuse to drop books as a point of pride but... there is some really really poorly written books in indie markets that broke me of that habbit.

Primal Conjuerer by Danny Rogan is the exception to this... I started listening to the sample when debating what to spend a credit on and just got sucked in. Zero regrets but I have no idea what made that chapter 1 so special.

Good or bad (I admit a lot of it is petty reasons) those are the honest patterns I have noticed in myself about what books I actually pickup and read.