Debut Authors Sprouting Again

I've been frantically scouring the publisher websites again, hunting down new authors for Number One Novels. I began the year with only two authors booked. Two weeks isn't a large cushion, especially when I factor in the time I spend looking for debut authors, waiting for their response, and giving them a reasonable amount of time to complete the interview. Two authors was making me a little panicked, especially since for the last three months I've had over a month of authors booked ahead of time.

Not a lot of novels are released right after Christmas, and everything I was finding was big-name author releases or re-releases. And then I parted the invisible veil, and debut authors started popping up again on publisher's sites. As it stands, I've several authors with interviews coming in soon, like Randy Susan Meyers, Rebecca Cantrell, Stephen Deas, and Alexandra Hawkins, and I've queried a plethora of additional debut authors. The lineup is looking great, and I've got some breathing room again.

I still can't believe how many times I find debut authors on publisher's sites, only to discover that the authors in question haven't bothered with a website! It's such a simple, and relatively cheap thing to do, I'm shocked that this easy marketing tool has been overlooked by these authors. And I'm not talking about authors with books coming out in a month or two; I'm talking about authors who are releasing novels in the next few weeks.

More than one websiteless author had a Facebook page. That's all well and good for other Facebook members, but what about your potential readers who aren't part of that social network? Or what about others, like me, who join just to learn about you, only to be too confused to figure out how to message the author? (Okay, yes, I need to get a little more savvy. Cody's promised to teach me about Facebook, but honestly, I find it cluttered and rather annoying at this point, especially when all I want to do is find out information about an author.)

I find it frustrating that NON could be bringing attention to nearly twice as many authors as it does, if only I could contact all the debut authors I find. And I'm very thankful to have found the debut authors I have. There are a lot of great books being written out there, and it's fun and rewarding to find new voices and get a chance to learn how each person navigated the road to publishing.