On Authors

[pwalker8]

A slightly different twist to a familiar theme, tracking favored authors and finding new books when they come out.

Like many here I use to use authoralert to get notified when a favored author had a new book out. I also use the follow feature on Amazon, which has been very hit and miss for me. Sometimes I get notified, other times not. I also sign up for notification at individual author web sites. Some authors (especially the indies) are better than others about this sort of thing.

I have a list of authors whom I'm reading, ranging from stay up all night reading their latest to more of the hit and miss kind. While there are a few fairly prolific writers (Glynn Stewart tends to put out 4 or 5 a year in several different series), most come out with a book, maybe two a year, some one every few years. For example, Jonathan Stroud finished off his last series over a year ago and his next book isn't scheduled to be out in England until the Spring of 2021. Who knows if Patrick Rothfuss will ever write another book. Others, I'm really not sure if they are still active or not, for example it's been a couple of years since H. Paul Honsinger came out with a book.

My personal preference is I get a notice that an author has a book is coming out, I pre-order it, then it shows up in my in basket when it finally comes out. But not everyone puts up pre-orders, especially the indies. I know that Marc Alan Edelheit and Glynn Stewart are suppose to have books coming out over the next couple of months, but no pre-orders. Right now, I have less books on pre-order than I've had in a while. Sometimes, I'll go to the Kindle store and try to wade through the upcoming books, but I tend to lose steam after 10 pages of PD, porn and drek.

So, I decided to put together a list of authors by going back through my purchases over the last couple of years and try to track down which authors have new books in the works and when they are suppose to come out. At least I was able to track down some of my favored authors who were actually trying to update their website/blog with books coming out. Really, you would authors would be better about this sort of thing. I suspect it's the most common question most of them get, what are you working on and when is it coming out.

[Quoth]

Something traditional publishers have missed out on.
My local bookshop said that there isn't even a notification system for out-of-print books being reprinted (can happen to newish titles).

The Traditional publishers seem inept compared to Amazon and Smashwords. No wonder Amazon is likely to wipe them out.

The problem isn't the authors, it's the traditional publishers.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Something traditional publishers have missed out on.
My local bookshop said that there isn't even a notification system for out-of-print books being reprinted (can happen to newish titles).

The Traditional publishers seem inept compared to Amazon and Smashwords. No wonder Amazon is likely to wipe them out.

The problem isn't the authors, it's the traditional publishers.

At one time, there was a list of books coming out. Bookstores used it for exactly that purpose. There was also a books in print (might have been the same publication) that came out every month. Of course, that was back when they published a much smaller number of books.

I agree that it's a missed opportunity. Maybe they are worried someone might sue them for collusion looking for a big payout. Or maybe it was one of those pieces of overhead that got dropped looking to cut costs.

I think you missed the fact that I have the same issue with indies. Many of the authors on my list are indies, so it's a problem that transcends the traditional publishers. Traditional publishers are more likely to have a list of what books are going to be published when since their release schedule is more defined and structured. Indies can have a release schedule or they can release as they finish the book.

Amazon isn't blameless in this either. For the most part, they have abdicated the maintenance of their books catalogue to the various publishers. That means it's not all that uncommon that you can pre-order the hard back, but the pre-order for the kindle becomes available later.

[theducks]

I hesitate (as in: all stop) to sign up at authors sites because I find the current trend is to FLOOD my inbox with stuff . I do have favorites I would be interested in, but I will rely on bookmarks I have set and an occasional visit, since I can't trust reasonableness any more .

Sorry, I have never been a candidate for the current social media trend where everything, 'YOU' do, been to, thinking of... is of value to me. IMHO User Reviews are for the extremities: Very good X , or very Bad X . I despise 'demands' for reviews.

Bulk mailing has made up for selective notification.
Heck, I had just bought a car, within a month, I am getting mails about the NEWER model (did I buy a lemon?).
The old way of 'really knowing' (and caring) about your customer is long gone. I also consider these business 'reminders' as treating me as an imbecile in that I can't remember WHO I bought something from.
(If I was happy, and I need another, I will be back without being nagged into it. Get on my bad side, and you end up on my blacklist of businesses I no longer use)

[Quoth]

Joanne Harris (famous for Chocolat and Loki) is infrequent enough mailing, but much more than new releases.

Seems a shame we can't just reliably get a single once off alert about new titles ONLY from the authors we want to know about.

[leebase]

Then you have the "Author as editor" like James Patterson. He has a few series I'm interested in (Alex Cross being my favorite) and LOTS of books he puts out (others write under his banner) that I have no interest in.

This year has been one of exploration. Lots (for me) of new authors and series. Now I have even MORE trouble tracking.

I have to remind myself I can't read everything.

[ShortNet]

I use tracknewbook.com. It isn't as good as authoralert was, and you can receive false positives, but it does help. If you set your settings to frequency "when available" and unclick the NY Times best sellers you will only get emails when a new book comes out.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by leebase

Then you have the "Author as editor" like James Patterson. He has a few series I'm interested in (Alex Cross being my favorite) and LOTS of books he puts out (others write under his banner) that I have no interest in.

He's almost like Stratemayer, (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Bobbsy) more than like Leslie Charteris (The Saint) who eventually plotted and employed Ghost Writers.

Originally Posted by ShortNet

I use tracknewbook.com. It isn't as good as authoralert was, and you can receive false positives, but it does help. If you set your settings to frequency "when available" and unclick the NY Times best sellers you will only get emails when a new book comes out.

Does it do only selected Authors? Also which publishers. I suppose I should click the link!
What about reprints of out of print?

[ShortNet]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

Does it do only selected Authors? Also which publishers. I suppose I should click the link!
What about reprints of out of print?

Tracknewbook.com appears to be publisher agnostic - even indies without a publisher. You can also do searches by title or keyword, but I've stuck to author.

As for reprints, chose Format - "All Formats" or format - "Printed" and reprints should appear. (I haven't tried this feature).

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by ShortNet

Tracknewbook.com appears to be publisher agnostic - even indies without a publisher. You can also do searches by title or keyword, but I've stuck to author.

As for reprints, chose Format - "All Formats" or format - "Printed" and reprints should appear. (I haven't tried this feature).

Thanks for the pointer.

Hum, I'm not sure if there is something I'm not doing, or if it just doesn't acknowledge adding a tracking. I think I put in an author to track, we will see when he comes out with a new book.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Thanks for the pointer.

Hum, I'm not sure if there is something I'm not doing, or if it just doesn't acknowledge adding a tracking. I think I put in an author to track, we will see when he comes out with a new book.

I believe you did something wrong, or spam filter ate it. I just tried, and it said on the the webpage that it added the tracker, and that a confirmation was sent and should arrive within 60 seconds. As soon as I could check my email it was there. This was on webpage:

Done! A confirmation will arrive at youremail.com in 60 secs. If not, please check email spam filter and email spelling.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

I believe you did something wrong, or spam filter ate it. I just tried, and it said on the the webpage that it added the tracker, and that a confirmation was sent and should arrive within 60 seconds. As soon as I could check my email it was there. This was on webpage:

Odd. It worked when I used Safari, but not when I used Firefox. I never got the webpage saying that it added the tracker on Firefox, much less the email. Hum. Just tried it with Firefox again and it worked fine. Must have been a problem with site when I first tried it, it certainly couldn't have been something I did wrong.