One of my favorite authors, Ilona Andrews, just came out with a new book.  While I was at the book store–yes, I actually drove to the store to buy it, BUT Barnes and Noble didn’t have it–I ended up buying another favorite author’s book that I was on the fence about, Patricia Briggs’s latest Mercy Thompson novel.  I probably would have passed on this one, since Mercy is on her own in Europe without her usual cast of characters (or so the blurb makes me think), BUT my online friend Midu read it and told me I HAD to give it a chance, I’d like it.  And I trust Midu, so it’s waiting its turn near the top of my reading list.

I’ve bought more than a few books lately to read on my Kindle.  No matter.  For the next week or two, they’re all getting bumped.  It made me think.  I have NO name recognition as a writer and when I come out with a new book, I probably get bumped by a whole battalion of favorite authors before a reader is willing to take a chance on me.   It’s not easy to get readers to notice you, let alone buy you.  Even harder to get them to read and review you.  Favorite authors, though, have EARNED your loyalty.  They deliver what you like.

Even my bookshelves verify that it’s hard to find room as a new writer. I can’t bear to part with my favorite books, and as soon as those authors come out with a new one, I want to buy and read it.  Which means they get more and more space and new authors get squeezed or shuffled to the bookcase upstairs, along with Harry Potter and the favorite children’s books I read to my kids.  (I’m slowly but surely giving these to the little girls who live next door when they come to visit).

I have quite a few shelves, but two of them are filled with cookbooks.  (I just bought another one of those today on the clearance rack, like I don’t have enough recipes already:)  Agatha Christie takes up most of another one.  Elizabeth George’s book are so thick, she spills from one shelf to another.  Ilona Andrews and Patricia Briggs each have a shelf of their own, then Nancy Pickard and Martha Grimes share another.

A lot of my brand new favorite authors exist in my Kindle.  I’m more willing to take a chance on someone unknown to me when I can buy their books at a cheaper price.  Sad, I know, but true.  The other bright spot of storing Kindle e-books?  I don’t have to dust them.  I admit, though, it’s not the same as walking into my office and being surrounded by books I love.

Someday, I hope each one of us will have our books lining someone’s bookcase, that someone will cherish our words and characters too much to part with them.  But for now, happy writing!  And have a great July.