Book Discoverability

A recent AW discussion thread got me thinking, how do we discover new books in the modern era?

Prior to the existence of the internet, email, Facebook and the rest, there were only a few options. We'd go to our local indie or chain bookstore, browse the shelves, and maybe pick up a book our friends were talking about.

I still believe that when it comes to books, the best sales tool is word-of-mouth. We want to read the book that all of our friends are gasping about (whether it's gasping in horror or awe). But now, with so many of our friendly gossiping conversations taking place online, through various social media (be it book-specific like Goodreads, or general like Twitter or Facebook), I wonder how the dynamic of our book-selection process has changed.

When I log onto Amazon and check out the "also recommended" books under my last favorite read, I see a lot of familiar titles. I may have never seen the covers or read the blurb, but I've heard of these books. How? Where? From who? Sometimes even I'm not sure (which is when you can tell that book's had effective marketing, I suppose!).

This realization has prompted me to pay more attention to the places I hear about books. I've added a poll on the right-hand side with some ideas. Vote for any/all of the places where you regularly learn about new books! I'm curious how the majority of readers find their next reads nowadays.

Also, if you think I missed any options in this poll, let me know below and I can add some more. Tried to be as thorough as possible, but I probably missed out on a few ideas!