What helps you decide on picking up a book from an unknown author?

I've recently started diving into publishing as a hobby/side gig. It got me to see the other side of things when it comes to books, and it's quite the craziness.

The first thing I came to realize is how much I rely on word of mouth to select my books. Things like ads, author interviews and usual marketing stuff means nothing to me. But if I see a book listed in a post when searching for a specific genre or topic, or a friend recommends it to me, it almost always immediatly goes to my reading list.

So as I focus on getting my story published and read, I wonder if I should invest in anything other than word of mouth.

So, I wanted to hear from you guys. How do you usually put a book on your radar? How would you like to discover new books?