Monday, February 21, 2011

Looking For Something New To Read?

I love to read and I have two to three favorite authors that I never hesitate to pick up their book (Nora Roberts, Carla Neggers and Robyn Carr) knowing it will be good. But there’s no way they could write enough books to keep me reading happily all year long.

So what happens when you’ve read what your favorite authors have put out and you have four to five to six months or longer to wait for their next book? You don’t stop reading, do you? I don’t. I go looking for a new book, hoping to find a new author to add to my list.

How do you choose what to read next? Do you peruse the covers, contemplate the titles, and read the back book blurb to see if it grabs your interest? You probably don’t walk away from the shelf or hit the purchase button on your computer screen with the first book you look at because you just don’t know if it will measure up.

But wouldn’t it be nice to add one more favorite author to your list? The more favorites you have the less likely you are to run out of reading material. And if you’re lucky you’ll not just like, but love this new author and they’ll have a back list of books, like Robyn Carr and Maddie James, giving you lots of reading options in the months to come.

New release by Maddie James.
Bed, Breakfast & You
Click on cover to read excerpt

(Maddie James is widely published in fiction and non-fiction, with numerous romance novels published in both e-book and paperback formats. Writing with an edge of suspense, her stories span the romance genre from contemporary category to paranormal.)

Books by Maddie James and Mia Jae can be found at the following booksellers: Amazon and Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks, Fictionwise, Resplendence Publishing.
Find out more about Maddie James and Mia Jae’s at Maddie James Website, Maddie James Blog, Mia Jae's Website.

Now I admit, my reasons for picking up a book over the past year have changed. I read both to learn what is popular and to support my fellow author friends. Or at least that’s my excuse for taking a break from writing and loosing my self in a good story. Lucky for me, I’m expanding my reading list to include some pretty great authors that I would never have known about or tried had I not gotten involved in this industry.

So have you read a new-to-you author lately? What made you decide to give this author a try? Was it the cover, the book blurb? Did you open the first page and know you would love the story?

By the way, if you’ll like to see the book trailer for my upcoming debut novel Two Brothers, scroll down to the next blog post to see the video. Feel free to let me know what you think of it by leaving a comment there, as well.

11 comments:

Bobbye Terry said...

Good post, Christina, and Maddie is a good choice for a read. I plan to enjoy this one with my feet propped up and a glass of wine. ;)
Bobbye

Nancy Naigle said...

Covers usually grab me, but I'll admit the last "new to me author" I read was someone who was going to be a keynote at a conference I was attending and I wanted to read something they'd written so I could relate.

They weren't in my genre of choice, but I loved the book. Not only a new author..but a whole new read :)
Loved it.

Calisa Rhose said...

Great topic Christina. I love finding new authors. Like you I have changed my way of choosing over the last year since two of my cps have first-time books coming out. In fact today is one of those wonderful ladies' debut release in a partnership with the other cp who now has eight books out since August! I love their writing though it's not my preferred genre (erotic). But the style is wonderful- and I will support them. My list of faves are in a wide range. Contemporary- Paula Graves, Donna Alward, Michelle Willingham (one of the few historical writers I like), Jules Bennett, Robyn Grady (who was one of my first ever cps right before she sold her first Hqn Desire). Last year I discovered Brenda Novak and Sherylyn Woods. Of course I love Ms. Nora. I will have to check Maddie out now too. :)

Maddie James said...

Thanks, Christina! You are awesome to post about Bed, Breakfast and You here. I hope you enjoy BB&Y as much as I did writing it. I can't wait for Two Brothers. Sounds awesome!

Margaret said...

Great post, Christina! I've read a few of Maddie's books and look forward to picking up BB&Y. As for finding new authors, I think word of mouth is still the best way. I have a circle of friends with similar tastes, so that helps. I also troll GoodReads and Amazon communities looking for fresh talent.

Unknown said...

I’ll join you metaphorically, Bobbye, but I’ll trade the wine in for a beer. I can’t wait to settle in to read BB&Y and after reading Maddie's interview over at Past The Print, I can’t wait for her “Dead Guys Still Want It” series.

The cover is always what grabs my attention first, as well, Nancy, but how neat to unexpectedly find an entire new genre to work your way through. Do you mind sharing what the genre is?

Unknown said...

Hey Calisa, with the parade of authors you have coming to your blog, I’m sure you are never short on reading material.

Congrats to your friend on her debut novel. That’s exciting and I think it’s awesome the way everyone I’ve met so far in the writing industry is so supportive to fellow authors. Probably because we’ve all shared the common heartache of rejection. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping in Maddie. It was my pleasure to highlight a fellow Turquoise Morning Press author.

My husband is going to be gone tomorrow evening and I already know what I’ll be doing. Emulating Bobbye – feet up, cold beverage in hand and a copy of BB&Y.

Thanks, Margaret. I agree, word of mouth is by far the strongest influence on what people will and will not buy. I’ll have to give GoodReads a try.

Renee Vincent said...

I've read several of Maddie's books, RED, FALLING FOR GRACE, and HEARTBREAKER to name a few. And I've loved every one of them. They great thing about Maddie is that she'll never fail to write a great romance, no matter what genre.

Great post, Christina! And congrats on another release, Maddie! I'm sure this one will great just like all the others in your backlist!

Becke Davis said...

I love the cover of Maddie's book! It's funny you mentioned running out of books by the authors you like. I've been hooked on romance for years, but I went through a dry spell when my kids were at school where I drifted away from the genre. Nora Roberts brought me back, and since then I've read every single book she's written. I panicked when I realized I'd read them all, but that's when the fun REALLY started. You don't want to know what my TBR pile looks like now. It's so much fun discovering new authors - thanks for a great blog, Tina. *waves madly* to Maddie, too!

Unknown said...

Hi Becke. You probably get sent a lot of books for review, don't you? I'm sure that gives you a TBR pile that would intimidate most of us.