New Author Challenge 2011

New Author Challenge 2011It’s time to I’ve been doing this challenge for the past couple of years and have had a lot of fun.  However, this year, I’m going to try and be a little more consistent with doing monthly updates and what not. I don’t know about everyone else, but when I first started book blogging, I didn’t know that many authors in my favored genre, so I went looking.  I gave myself a goal of finding 50 new authors and ended up reading 56 the first year I did this.  I loved finding these new worlds and cultures, so I want to help others find new ones as well.  Since 2007, I’ve tried over 100 different authors I may not have tried otherwise and I have found some great new authors.

The idea behind this is to find new authors that you’ve never tried before.  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 the 2009 and 2010 Challenge pages.  With over 1000 reviews posted, I’m sure there will be something there for everyone.

Here are the guidelines:

  1. The challenge will run from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011.
  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 can be from anthologies.
  3. I want this to be an easy challenge, so you can pick to do either 15, 25 or 50 new authors.  It all depends on how fast you read and how adventurous you want to be.  For me, I’m trying another 50 new authors.  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

Once you reach your goal, you don’t have to stop.  Any new author you try, go ahead and head back here and add it to the list.  Introduce us all to whoever you find.  Afterall, there’s no reason to stop trying new authors, right?

Mini-Challenges:

NA Mini-Challenge: TBR Newbies

Reviews & Participants

26 Comments

  1. You know, I did 15 this year — even though I’m a big fan of debuts, I never really looked at how many new to me authors I read each year. I reached the goal so early, I’m doing 25 this time around. I don’t think 50 would be a stretch, but I’ll work my way up!

  2. I was surprised that I’ve done almost 40 this year so I’m aiming to actually hit 40 next year. It’s hard tho as I tend to end up reading authors that friends or kids give me and it’s always series so then I read the whole series before moving on to the next thing. And then the next year I end up reading the next book in each series as well as trying to find new stuff. LOL

    • @Jena – I’ve been having that issue as well. The first year I did this challenge, I only knew a handful of new authors, so pretty much any UF was new to me. Now, it’s getting a little harder to ensure I read 50 new authors while still keeping up with the ones I’ve found.

  3. Woohoo! I just figured out I read over 50 new authors in 2010. Didn’t think I wasn’t going to make it but did. Set to do it all over again in 2011. Look forward to the mini challenges and actually participating this time. Thanks for hosting again.

  4. This’ll be an interesting challenge for me. I’ve got quite a few books in my TBR pile here at home and I need to get through them using any sort of push I can. After all, I’ve got a list I need to get through and reviews to write up ;)

  5. I was looking at my list and hit almost 40 new authors this year which I was thrilled to see. I have tons on my bookshelf so I’m going to give 50 a whirl for 2011.

  6. I just went over my list of books read last year. 33 of the 79 were by new (to me) authors! I’m definitely in for this year – heck, I’ve already got two books by new-to-me authors lined up as my next two reads. ^_^

    I’ll add myself to the Mr. Linky later today or tomorrow, once I get an introductory post up. ^_^

  7. I read some new authors last year, but not as many as I would have liked. I’m going to aim for 50 this year as a way of pushing myself to branch out more in 2011.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


CommentLuv badge