I’m like a lot of writers…I read way more than I write and always have. It might be said that I’m a book devourer, I’m such a reader. The downside of that is cost, of course.
For a long time, I had no idea there were sale prices on ebooks now and then. Instead, I refused to pay more for an ebook than a paperback and would go borrow any book that was overpriced at the library, which made my poor kindle feel very lonely and unloved.
Then I discovered Indie Fiction and I was absolutely hooked. Inventive, outside the bounds of the “what sells formula” and so, so fun. That led me to discover that there were email lists out there that actually tell readers when a book goes on sale.
Do you hear that noise? That’s the echo of me whooping when I found those lists.
Like a lot of people, I basically signed up to the biggest one or two (no names) and enjoyed it for a good while. But then some of them began to shift to only showing us the “already famous” and the same books and the same authors kept showing up.
Half the fun (okay, maybe three quarters of the fun) of these big email lists is that I can get introduced to a new author that’s languishing undiscovered, and do it at a bargain price that makes the risk minimal. When a newsletter starts to be limited to the already well known, I get less reading joy.
So, I started searching and finding more of these newsletter lists. Most of them are fairly small because the top ones sort of have the markets cornered, but some of them are growing really well because they do what people like me want: feature books I might not have seen ten-thousand times at bargain (or free) pricing.
Again, that noise is the echo of my past whooping.
But…and this is a huge but…there are a lot of them. It can quickly get overwhelming. To avoid that, I’ll share some that are so cute, visually appealing, genre specific or otherwise super-noteworthy. Just in case you’re also looking for books.
Book Barbarian: This one is super selective and I don’t think an author can actually buy a spot here. They feature about four books a day, specifically two in SciFi and two in Fantasy and generally, at least one will be free. I’ve discovered some amazing new-to-me authors on this list. Very, very worth the sign up.
The Midlist: This is another list that doesn’t inundate you with books every day. They are small, selective and I think something like only 5% of book submissions make the cut there. Midlist isn’t limited to SciFi/Fantasy, which is my preferred genre, but because of that I’ve found books I would have never found any other way.
SciFiFantasyFreak: This is a genre specific list that is very cool. The newsletter is extremely visually appealing, well organized and doesn’t feel like you’re being tested. And I like the books. Worth a look!
The Fussy Librarian: I crunch on the FL newsletter. Seriously. They screen their books very, very well, so you can rest assured you’re getting something that passes the smell test. They feature all genres and again, I’ve found stuff waaaay outside my favored genres through this list. You can choose which genres you’d like to see.
BookScream: This is another newer list that has awesome visual appeal and limited numbers of books. And, they show an audiobook that’s on sale, which is new and very nice. Many genres represented, but you can choose which genres you want to see, keeping your very colorful and cool daily email from them small enough to enjoy.
Question for you: Do you have a favorite book newsletter list? Tell me! Even better, list it in the comments so other readers can find it, too.
*Note: I don’t mean to offend any list-owner. I’m just going by what I’ve received lately and I may love your list, but it didn’t get included here due to faulty memory or something else. Also, I’m doing newer lists, so if you’re already huge, I didn’t include you. I’m sure I’ll do more of these posts! Please don’t shoot.