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Monday, June 1, 2015

Finding New Authors to Read

I was at a family birthday party this past weekend and some of us got to talking about books, our favorite authors, and new authors we'd just started reading and how we came to hear about them.

Some of us found them by chance either at the book store or at the library. We were intrigued by the cover or title, picked the book off the shelf, read the back cover, and decided it sounded pretty good. Some of us received a book by an author unknown to us as a gift or as a raffle prize, or as a free digital download. Some of us started reading certain authors because of recommendations by friends and family. This last one is kind of tricky because reading is so subjective. For example, one cousin loves Robert Parker's books while I have a hard time reading his work. Loved the Spencer for Hire series when it was on TV though.

At the end of the party, we all had a few new authors to read that we hadn't heard of before or if we had, we just never picked up any of their books. Me, I'll be looking for books by J.J. Cook (mystery), Kristin Hannah (who I've heard of, but have never read), Lee Hollis (mystery), HelenKay Dimon (romantic suspense), Mary Burton (suspense), Marie Force (the Fatal series - suspense), Samantha Young (contemporary romance), and Sara Arden (contemporary romance).

How do you find new authors to read? Recommendations from friends and family? Reviews in newspapers and/or magazines? Word of mouth buzz? Perusing the bookstore aisles?

12 comments:

  1. I find new authors in a combination of recommendations, reading excerpts and/or blurbs, and at the library. As a volunteer who shelves library books, I'll often find new authors because I'm drawn to the cover or title - sometimes next to the book I'm returning to the shelf! Word of mouth works, too. As do prizes.

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    1. Working in a library sounds dangerous. I'd want to take every new book as soon as it arrived. :)

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  2. Most of my recent downloads have been freebies....simply because I promised myself I had to read a FEW of my books before I buy any more. (Although even a few, won't make a dent.) Many of my friends don't read the same kind of books as me, so word of mouth from them doesn't work. Usually blogs such as this showing interesting titles, eye catching covers and interesting blurbs is how I decide. I'm also dedicated to the authors I like, so I buy just about anything from them.

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    1. I have a few authors are automatic buys too. I have a lot of new to me authors on my kindle, now I just need to read them.

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  3. My family trades books like they were baseball cards. They know what I like and there's always something new in the stack.

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    1. What a great idea. My sister, mother and I read a lot of the same authors so when one of us gets a book that we all read we pass that book around, but we don't do it with other authors. We should start doing that.

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  4. I'm so spoiled! I order fiction for a public library so I get to read all the reviews and find out about great new books as part of my job. Trouble is, there's too many. But I can certainly recommend libraries as a way to find new authors. Then when you fall in love with them, you'll want your own copies.

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    1. I would be terrible at ordering books for my library. I'd always be ordering my favorite authors and then wanting to take them out when they arrived. That's a great way to find new authors.

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  5. I check the Saturday review section of the local newspaper and the New Books section in the monthly Oprah magazine. Each month, I receive a list of new books from the local independent bookstore. As a reviewer, I get to "pick" one or two books to review.

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    1. I love that you review for an independent bookstore. What a great way to support them and help drive sales for him. Our local paper doesn't have a Saturday review section. It would be a great addition.

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  6. I gather recommendations from everyone I can. Then I watch in my various areas of interest for new names and book blubs that sound like something I'd be interested in. But because I try to read the books by chapter mates, and blog mates and other friends, I'm usually behind in my Kindle and bookshelf lists. Also, when I judge the RITA and other published contests, I always uncover authors I haven't tried yet. Oh, for more time :)

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    1. I agree. I never seem to have enough time to read all the books I want to. I have a notebook full of books I want to read, a second notebook that's already half full, and books on my kindle that I want to get to. Wouldn't it be great to have a full time job doing nothing but reading books that we chose?

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