Credit: Gerald_G at OpenClipArt.com

I’ve done this before. You can find details of it here. I wanted to read some new books in 2012 and I did pretty well. I doubt I’ll top 46 new reads, but I want to push myself to get more reading in. After all, reading is as much a part of being an author as writing is.

This year I want to read 24 novels. Doesn’t sound very stretching considering how I consume words, but with my own writing and publishing schedule it’s tougher than it sounds. But (!) not only do I want to read 24 novels, they must be novels that fit all of these criteria:

• Novels I’ve not read before
• Novels by authors I’ve not read before
• Novels self-published or published by small presses – Indie authors only!
• Novels from the genre I write in

Oh yes. This is how I intend to acquaint myself with my peers. I want to read what you’re writing. Not only am I fascinated by the idea of self-publishing, so much that I’m doing it myself, but I want to support others doing the same. So I’m going to read these books and review them.

I’ll post reviews wherever I bought the book (Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads, etc) but I’ll also do a full review here. These will be in the same style as previous reviews which will then get shared to my social media.

This is a goal I’m sharing with Raven because there isn’t much point in my reading and reviewing and erotic novel. While I like them, they’re not really my niche. Raven is in a much better position to talk about them so she’ll do that, and I’ll stick to fantasy and action-adventure pieces, with maybe a little horror and comedy thrown in. Heh, yes, that does give me a little more scope than Raven, but she doesn’t mind.

The wonderful part of this is not only do I get to expose myself to lots more new writing that I otherwise wouldn’t, but I also get to help other authors.

Double win if you ask me.

Keep an eye out for fresh pages over the coming days which will include these details and a running total of how I’m getting on. If I can figure out how I’ll even add it to Goodreads.