New Author Reading Challenge 2013

NAC.2013
Anglerfish by Vlad Gerasimov

NAC.2013I may be kicking this off a little early this year, but I like to give people time to plan. It’s November and that means there’s less than 2 months left of 2012. I’m not sure if I’m ready for 2013 to happen yet, but I’ve already started thinking about the next New Author Challenge.

Back in 2008, I challenged myself to read over 50 new authors and managed to do 56 that year.  For the fifth year in a row, I’m challenging everyone else to try a new author as well.  Whether they are a debut author, in a genre you’ve never read before or someone you just haven’t had a chance to get to, here’s the nudge you’ve been needing to make the time.

The idea behind this is to find new authors that YOU have never tried before.  Whether an author is a NYT Bestselling with a long backlist or someone who has just released their first novel, as long as YOU haven’t read them, they count. *grin* They can be in your genre of choice or be brave and try something new.  You never know what you’re going to like until you try it.  If you’re looking for some suggestions, you can check out the Author page here at Literary Escapism or any of the previous challenge pages: 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.  With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

I know everyone likes to see the details, and they really haven’t changed over the years, but here they are:

  1. The challenge will run from January 1st through December 31st.
  2. Since this is an author challenge, there is no restriction on choosing your novels. They can definitely be from other challenges. However, the authors must be new to you and, preferably from novels.  Anthologies are a great way to try someone new, but only a third of your new authors should be from anthologies.
  3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so it’s really up to you as to how many new authors you want to try. My suggestion is to aim at either 15, 25 or 50 new authors.  It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.  If you reach your goal halfway through the year, don’t stop.  Any new author you try can be added to Mr. Linky.  We all want to know about your new experience.
  4. After reading your new author, write your review and then come back here and add your link to Mr. Linky.  Make sure you include your name and the author, but adding the title is completely up to you.
  5. Bloggers or Non-Bloggers alike are welcome. Reviews can be linked from anywhere.

So what do you think? Are you game to try a few new authors? If so, join the challenge by clicking here.

Since this is the fifth year for the New Authors Challenge, I’m brainstorming an idea for 2013. I’ve tried mini-challenges in the past, but time just wouldn’t allow me to be consistent with it. So this year I’m going a different route. We all know the big 6 publishers (err 5 with the latest merger) – HarperCollins, Random House/Penguin, MacMillian, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Books – but what about all the various smaller pubs?  Have you tried a steamy romance from Ellora’s Cave? What about a new young adult from Entangled‘s YA line? Did you know that Samhain has a horror division? There are so many out there: Angry Robot, Smartpop, Flux and Carina Press just to name a few.

My idea for 2013 will be to spotlight a different small pub (or more) each month and the mini-challenge (if you want to think of it that way) will be to read an author from one of those pubs. I’m still working on how exactly this will end up working, so any thoughts/suggestions/recs of small pubs are more than welcome.  Hopefully I’ll be able to make this work and the full details will be explained in January.

Disclaimer: Artwork used (with permission) is Anglerfish by Vlad Gerasimov. Please be sure to post a link to the artist when using the button – thanks!

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.