One thing that always irks me when I visit the big chain bookstores is the dominance on the shelf by the huge name authors, and publishers like Wizards of the Coast. I understand that people like to buy books from their favorite authors, and I am no exception, but how about a little variety. I think it is a waste of shelf space for a bookstore to stock every single title an author has published in the last fifteen, or in some cases fifty, years. There is so much undiscovered talent out there! How about spreading the love a little?

Our one saving grace (as both readers and upcoming writers) is the internet. There are some really great literary search engines, like Google Booksearch, and Bookfinder.com and many others.

A friend of mine did a search for me, and not only came up with my work, but also came up with a great book I had written a promo blurb for. Tales for the Thrifty Barbarian is an anthology some writer friends of mine published with Lulu. You can buy this book online virtually anywhere, but, since they are all new writers, and damn fine ones, you will not find it in Barnes and Noble… Hence my ire.

So get out there off the beaten track, look for new work from new authors. Don’t fall into the rut and just pick up the next novel in the never-ending series by your favorite author. Who knows; you may end up with some new favorites!