# Can you get alerts when books by an author are published? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084 "2018-06-14T12:13:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/1 "2018-06-14T12:13:12Z")
There are maybe a dozen or two authors that I enjoy enough that I’d like to read a new book by that author whenever one comes out. But I don’t always know when they publish something new. I’d love to have a list of authors somewhere, like Goodreads or Amazon, that’ll send me an alert when NK Jemisin or Daniel Abraham or any of my other favorites have a new book available–but looking around those sites, I can’t find any such function. Am I missing a way to do this? Is there another site that can do this? Or am I out of luck? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/2 "2018-06-14T12:57:41Z")
Are any of these websites useful?: > **[5 Websites That Alert Book Lovers About New Book Releases](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-websites-alert-book-lovers-book-releases/)** > > The digital age has given the book lover another set of eyes to find out what new books are getting released and where to grab them. Welcome to the world of book tracking and notification services. The five book recommendation websites mentioned here... ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/3 "2018-06-14T13:08:43Z")
Check out the authors personal sites. I’m on a couple of those who regularly send out notifications. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/4 "2018-06-14T13:18:10Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Are any of these websites useful?: > > [https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-websites-alert-book-lovers-book-releases/](https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-websites-alert-book-lovers-book-releases/) Book Buzzes looked promising–but it’s dead. Author Alerts is also dead, apparently listed for sale. Boo–these are exactly the sorts of services I wanted! Are they dead because their functions are subsumed into larger sites, or because nobody used them? Boo again, I say–but thank you for the links! ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/5 "2018-06-14T13:18:14Z")
Amazon regularly sends me notifications when an author I’ve bought before has a new book available for preorder. I just got one for _Skyward_ by Brandon Sanderson. It may be a Prime perk, though. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/6 "2018-06-14T13:20:27Z")
Wait–I just figured it out! If I go to Amazon and surf to an author, there’s a “follow” button under the author’s name. They’ll send me alerts when the author publishes something I like. I tend to use my wife’s Amazon Prime–I’ll have to remember what my own non-prime account is, so the alerts go to me, not to her :). VICTORY! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/7 "2018-06-14T13:25:12Z")
I have no idea if it works, but Goodreads has a setting to “Email me when an author I follow releases a new book.” ---
**Author:** ![Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hook)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/8 "2018-06-14T14:25:57Z")
Book Bub sends alerts for EBooks at least. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/9 "2018-06-14T14:30:19Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > I have no idea if it works, but Goodreads has a setting to “Email me when an author I follow releases a new book.” Cool–thanks! I had that setting on, but I’d never surfed to an author’s page to follow them. Done now! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/10 "2018-06-14T15:18:31Z")
You can set up [Google alerts](https://www.bloggingbasics101.com/how-to-set-up-a-google-alert-and-why-its-a-good-idea/), but that will also give you news on anything the author does. It’s also not smart enough to know which person you’re talking about. I get alerts on the author Stephen King, but also the criminal Stephen King arrested in Tennessee. You can do it for anything. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-get-alerts-when-books-by-an-author-are-published/816084/11 "2018-06-14T15:46:49Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Wait–I just figured it out! If I go to Amazon and surf to an author, there’s a “follow” button under the author’s name. They’ll send me alerts when the author publishes something I like. > > I tend to use my wife’s Amazon Prime–I’ll have to remember what my own non-prime account is, so the alerts go to me, not to her :). > > VICTORY! Do you have a kindle? I receive notifications from Amazon via my kindle. Also, I’ve combined my library with my gf’s so that we can share our books. I haven’t bothered doing anything similar with my Amazon Prime account (is it even possible?).