Are you missing out on the good stuff?

I was just interviewed by USA Today for their Happy Ever After blog.  The interview comes out on June 30 (yes, I’ll remind you!).  The interesting thing is that they wanted to talk to me about Faring Soul, book 1 of the Interspace Origins series.

Why is that interesting?  Well, for me, the writing and publishing of Faring Soul was quite a while ago.  From your perspective, that was seven books ago.  From mine, it was ten books ago.  I’ve already finished the Interspace Origins series and started a second SFR series*, plus added books to five other current series and finished three series.

I’m not mentioning this to display how fast I write.  I actually get nervous about mentioning facts and figures like this because readers start to think (wrongly) that if I write fast, the story can’t be any good.  My argument is that I don’t actually write any faster than anyone else, I just spend longer doing it.  I have that luxury now — I can spend all day, up to and over twelve hours if I want — doing nothing but add pages to the next story.

The reason I’m talking about “how long ago” Faring Soul was for me and for you is because the rest of Romanceland is just starting to catch up with a book that was released in September last year.  This is a phenomenon that is becoming more noticeable now that indie publishing is booming.  If I was legacy published, Faring Soul would be the most current book I had published, while my next book would be scheduled for the end of this year, if I was lucky.  Indie publishing allows me to publish as often as I want (even so, I still have three books stacked up, waiting for their turn).  Because of that speed, it tends to underline exactly how long it can take for word of mouth to spread.

Here’s my point:  Relying on your preferred book review or promotion sites to provide the most current news about your favourite author, or even all the news about your favourite author may mean you’re missing out.

These days, when there are so many authors putting out so many books via so many different booksellers and publishers, you can’t possibly keep up with everything.  No one can.

Your best strategy to make sure you don’t miss out is to be proactive.  Don’t wait for the news to come to you.  Go out and get it yourself.

Use newsletters like Bookbub and sites like Goodreads to find new authors.  The “Also bought” lists on Amazon are really useful, too.

Once you have found a great new-to-you author, don’t depend on promo sites to keep you up to date.

1. Hunt down the author’s website
2. Or their Facebook page if they don’t have one (astonishingly, some don’t.  I don’t understand it, but they don’t.)
3. Most important:  Sign up for their newsletter.
4. If they don’t have one, sign up to their Author update link on their Amazon author page.

As a last resort, if none of the above is available, you can dig up an email address for the author and ask them directly how you can stay informed about their latest releases.

It pays to go to the source directly for news and updates.  Clearly, as the USA Today demonstrates, news can take a long time to filter down to you if you just sit and wait for it.

*PS:  The second SFR series I mentioned earlier?  Greyson’s Doom came out last Thursday.  It’s book 1 of the new Endurance series, that reviewers are calling “simply amazing!”

Details and buy links here.