Finding new authors

[Christopher]

UNESCO estimates that in the USA alone, nearly 300,000 new books are published each year, which is staggerings. I know a goodly amount of those are pretty awful but with the vast number, odds are at least some are great.

What are some very good, high quality Sci Fi authors that people can recommend, particularly independent authors? We've lost so many classic, exceptional true science fiction authors over the years (Clarke, Bradbury, Asimov, etc), it would be good to find some new ones to replace them.

So what do you recommend?

[Sam]

Seriously go look at the reviews of 'The Origin of F.O.R.C.E.' on Amazon, Goodreads and Inkiit. The whole book is currently available free on Inkiit. Http://Inkitt.com/stories/15877

[[deleted user]]

How about looking at the authors registered here as members of Goodreads? Many of them are independent authors still trying to pierce through in the open.

[K.]

I second, Mich! I've written a scifi fantasy I poured my heart into, and trying to find readers has been tough. My publisher doesn't do that for me. In fact, no publisher does, unless you're already well established, which is just silly (except for the return on investment factor).

Definitely check out the people who are part of the group. We work hard an would love to be read.

[Christopher]

I think the guy that wrote The Martian which is now a film by Ridley Scott was an independent author, too.

[Pete]

We all think our own books are masterpieces - but it's up to the reader to decide. Trouble is, indies on Amazon sink without a trace to the bottom of the list in milliseconds, so there's little chance of readers finding our books in the first place. Amazon is primarily interested in mainstream authors, i.e. money, and not in promoting new talent.

Twitter or Facebook : these are about the only free advertising opportunities online, but hardly anyone reads ads or book plugs. So, if you are looking for new authors and you get a tweet, take a few moments to check it out. You never know - it may be from just the type of author you're looking for!

Goodreads is a great all-round community site, for topics such as this, but it's deliberately not a shop window for authors. Okay, we can post on the author's pages, but you can't brazenly plug your books.

BookHippo and similar sites are good for searching for indie authors, mainly because their lists are shorter than Amazon's and also some, like BookHippo are somewhat discerning as to who they take on.

Pete - indie sci-fi author.

[M.L.]

That brings up a question. How do you find independent authors as a permanent category in a book club. There is the Author section at the end of the group front page but those rotate out pretty quickly and only show one book at a time.

Example: what I would be looking for is a link, like the "Bookshelf" link upper right for Indie Author that would take me to members in this club. Any suggestions?

[V.W.]

Perhaps an "Authors" thread, allowing only the member author's name and link to his author's page. No adverts or promotions allow. Just a list.

[Pete]

There are 'meet the authors' threads in most genres in Goodreads with sub-threads 'introduce yourself'. There you can scroll through but not possible to sort. For example : https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group... (UK Kindle group meet the authors - only 535 threads!) I'm currently on page 5, something I'd only tell you if I were trying to plug my books! My thread is hopelessly out of date, because I forgot about it!

[M.L.]

Thanks! I'll keep these things in mind. For new/different voices, I've recently read two Chinese translations, The Three-Body Problem and The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin and enjoyed the new voice, very different and epic view of alien invasion and looking forward to the 3rdDeath's End.

[Frank]

I find new authors be checking out "people also bought' section in online shopping. IBooks it's under [Related]

[Marcel]

M John Harrison
Dan Simmons
Iain M Banks (ok he's no longer alive - RIP)
Neal Asher
Ballantyne

[Julie]

Aschwood Academy by M.B. Cohen - great YA sci fi/ adventure novel. Loved it! First book in this new authors series. Aschwood Academy: The Bloodline (Aschwood Academy Series Book 1) by M. B. Cohen http://www.amazon.com/dp/B010KJP4RE/r...

[Thaddeus]

I don't read too much sci-fi any more but Ralph Kern and Jo Zebedee spring to mind. The former has an unusual structure due to time jumps, and the latter's mid-way through a grimdark sci-fi trilogy (so, not for the faint of heart).

[Kristian]

I recently read a very good historical fantasy novel set in China. It is called

The Sage, the Swordsman and the Scholars: Book I of Trials of the Middle Kingdom.

How often do you get a historical fantasy set in China? Not very. I thought this was well-done and well-researched. There is a very good spicy sprinkle of high-fantasy blended seamlessly into the story, which in itself is very refreshing in related genres. Check it out! The ebook version got a major price cut on Amazon, B and N, etc.

[Michael]

If you like military scifi, check out Rod Carstens, great series on Amazon!
Also Jami McFarlane writes a great adventure/action series.
Elliot Kay writes in a very interesting universe in Poor Man's war.
Tori Harris is heavy on military dialogue but interesting story there.
Vaughn Heppner writes a pretty fun tale.
Luke Sky Watcher with the Admiral Who series is outlandish but a great bit of fun.
Sara King and the legend of Zero, is heavy on the characters personally enjoyed the heck out of it.

Also for your considerations I submit to you the Free Fleet series, I cannot make many comments as I'm a bit biased, but it's an action space opera.

There are a good number of authors out there, it's just hard dredging the good ones as older ones have had so much time in place. That said Amazon is a great place to find quite a number of real self-published gems.

[Sharon]

Almost all of my 'new to me" authors the last few years have come from the free download lists for Kindle. I particularly like finding a really good first book in a series when the series holds together and I generally do a 'follow this author' link on Amazon so I get notifications of new books by that author.

Some of my newer favorites I'm following: Nathan Lowell, Glynn Stewart, Dietmar Wehr, Wilson Harp, Landon Porter.

[V.W.]

Gaunt's Ghosts: The Founding by Dan Abnett is an excellent Military SF series.

[Don]

I have been writing science fiction book reviews on new and old authors for over ten years now. You can find some really good Four and Five Star authors I recommend reading by reviewing my list on Goodreads at this link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

[Anna]

I read Collective Mind book last month. As far as I know Vasily is a new author. The book itself about AI. Worth reading if you like cyberpunk subgenre

[Rob]

Jamie Sawyer (full disclosure: labelmate of mine on Orbit). His Lazarus War series is the biz.

[Susan]

Anna wrote: "I read Collective Mind book last month. As far as I know Vasily is a new author. The book itself about AI. Worth reading if you like cyberpunk subgenre"

Good to know! You might also enjoy Anne Charnock's A Calculated Life

[Quantum]

Christopher wrote: "UNESCO estimates that in the USA alone, nearly 300,000 new books are published each year, which is staggerings..."

great thread! thx for starting it.

it would be interesting from a marketing standpoint, stats on the different genres. i'm sure the major publishing houses and amazon keep track of that and guard it w/vicious cyber-dogs--the kind that you don't want to meet when you pick up your toy poodle at the kennel.

[Faith]

The Raft is good sci-fi from a new author, Fred Strydom. My review is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Holly]

There is an Indie Science Fiction, Fantasy Paranormal Listopia; shame all those get lumped together. =|

Are you looking for hard sci-fi, or just someone good, whatever the sub genre? Niven and Pournelle are still around at least, although I think I don't know if anyone will replace Bradbury for me.

I've read a few Dan Simmons and I think some of his stuff if good, although it can get a little crazy sometimes. Read Peter Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction Book 1, but I put down book two. The novels had just too many story lines and odd interconnexion for it to be a compelling read for me, although the universe was intriguing.