Someone in a Yahoo book group asked if there’s a website that lists books that will be published in 2008.
She’s not interested in SF or fantasy, or I’d send her to the Fantastic Fiction or Locus site.
Is there a site for upcoming general fiction?
For one, Barnes & Noble provides a “Coming Soon” section on its site.
Thanks! That’s an excellent start.
I shouldn’t have clicked the link. I’m on a budget, and the new Geraldine Brooks book looks intriguing.
Depending on your tastes and needs, you also might want to check out book publishers’ sites individually. Many have an upcoming titles section. Penguin, for instance.
Publishers have a planned publication list a year or more in advance, but it is too early to be sure exactly what will be coming out, and when. A lot can happen between now and publication, so they would only be 100% certain on the first quarter of the year. My next book is coming out in Australia in July and later in the US. We are well into editing, but things can still go wrong either delaying, or even cancelling the book. Mine is a production book (has elements other than just text) which takes longer - a lot of photographs, drawings and so on. It’s non-fiction, so there will then be the index to prepare when the page proofs are done. My novel had a much shorter lead time being straight text.
A major publisher will rarely list more than a few months ahead, if that. Mine only does a month ahead. Partly that is due to marketing. My publisher has asked me to accept a media gag until the book comes out, so that I don’t talk about the topic to a media outlet beforehand and then lose the chance to talk to them once the book is published and it might sell books. I suspect they don’t like to release book titles too long in advance for that reason. They don’t want the media contacting authors in advance. That would be more the case for big name authors than little ones like me.
There are also a lot of books coming out each year. Would you make the list only major publishers? Would you include small, experimental print runs? Would you include self-published books? Would you allow kids doing a ten copy print run for their families to be listed? Fiction? Non-fiction? Education? Electronic? As soon as you allow a broad spectrum you will have thousands on the list in every category and it would be useless.
Lynne
Good point. I think the person who asked is looking for general, “popular” fiction – stuff that’s likely to make the best seller list.
I think such a list would be a good idea. The other trouble is that titles usually change at editing, often the last thing decided. I have had 14 books published now and none have come out with the ‘working title’ used right through writing. Major writers might be different.
Maybe we could search the web sites of popular fiction authors and see if they mention what they are working on… [Off she goes …]
I checked Minette Walters, Peter Corris, Reginald Hill … I am into reading crime … and none mention their next books, although all are prolific and regularly published. They all advertise their last ones, which is no surprise. This is an interesting question, I shall search some more.
Lynne
Hopefully, my husband’s !!!
Genre- SciFi/Fantasy
Email me if you want a teaser!
Ursula Le Guin has a new one coming out this spring. She says it’s different from her previous work. It’s one of the classics from a woman’s point of view–The Iliad, maybe?
Here’s the Le Guin: Lavinia.