Waiting for the Next Book …Nonlinear Time?

February 24th, 2016 Kimberly Feature 44 Comments

24th Feb

Last year I was flabbergasted to realize the movie Home Alone was 25 years old. Where did the time go? Birthdays sneak up on me and I lose track of how old I am..but the wait between book releases is painfully slow. A blogger commented it seems like forever since the last Mercy Thompson book release but in reality, it hasn’t even been a year..and yet time seems to slow down when we think in terms of books. It’s like the whole Space-Time Continuum is torturing book lovers. What about those books we have been waiting years for? The wait is painful, the months drag on FOREVER! 

 

Time

Do you ever feel like this when waiting for a release?

giphy (1)

How about waiting for the Audiobook release? 

Waiting for books

The books out, everyone is raving about it, and there you sit…waiting and waiting. *wipes tear* You think we would break down and just read it. Nope, we are fickle creatures. (this is a whole other confession topic)

What about the books that take YEAR(S) between releases?

We all have books we’ve been waiting for. For me, 2016 is finally delivering books I’ve been waiting on….

I’ve been waiting for The City of Mirrors and The Visitor for four years!! It feels like a century. Marked in Flesh and Morning Star only about a year, but the wait was even worse! Is it just me? Do you feel time slows down when waiting for a book release?

What about a series you have been meaning to start?

Time speeds up right? I see a book and think I am going to add that to my tbr pile. The next minute I see a blog post about book four’s release. WTH? Book 4? How- book one just released yesterday!

Is it just me? Do you feel time differs in terms of “book releases?”

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About Kimberly
Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

44 Responses to “Waiting for the Next Book …Nonlinear Time?”

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  2. Ioana

    YES yes, I completely agree!!! I know books take time to write but I’m impatient 🙂 I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next in the Tudor mystery, Shardlake series, for years :/ You definitely speak to something here I think all book lovers/readers have felt at some point!

  3. Kay

    I know exactly what you mean!!!! Waiting for the last Mara Dryer book was very painful. My husband is certainly dying over the wait for the next Game of Thrones novel. Waiting for a new book is the WORST. But if the book is epic then I can understand why it took so long. I remember waiting for the last Discover of Witches book…. it was torture!

  4. Karen Blue

    Omg! I thought it was just me. I am so with you on waiting FOREVER on a book’s next series release and then missing out on a whole series due to ….well, I am not really sure what happened. Grea post!

  5. Cyn

    It just kills me when it takes years in between books! Sometimes, I’ll forget about a book I’m waiting for then sudden it’s out and it’s awesome! But most time it’s I’ll forget, a while later remember, and sadly go over the same feelings of tortured waiting because it’s stillllll not out yet, haha.
    I’m glad a few of the books you’re waiting for is out this year though! Great discussion, Kim!

  6. Eva

    I totally get what you’re saying and, funnily, enough, I just wrote a post on the opposite of this! But! I totally agree sometimes when you are waiting and it is the worst and all you want to do is read that next book! I feel this way about The Raven King but I have resigned myself to waiting

  7. Rita

    Funny, and true! When I close a cover and think, wow, I can’t wait for the next installment and then have to wait at least 12 months for the next one…. But there is the flip side of the coin, as you mentioned, when I finally break down and buy a book that’s recommended but oops, there are several more already published, yikes! Time is not a friend to some book lovers.

    Thanks for the tip about the new Justin Cronin now releasing this year. I read book one and devoured it, loved it… then finally got book 2 and forgot some of the characters and had to go back and refresh my memory, which I didn’t like to do. Book 2 wasn’t as good for me, but WTH?? 4 years since book 2 until book 3? Hope I love this one!

    The mother-daughter duo, PJ Tracy, also put years between their releases in the Monkeewrench series, and I will say I’m done with it, but now they are releasing a new one finally this year, so I’m back in 🙂

  8. Lover Of Romance

    This can be fairly annoying. Especially when its a book that you can’t wait for. But what is worse is when the pub date gets delayed. It can be so frustrating especially when its a book you need NOW LOL !!! Great post.

  9. ShootingStarsMag

    Yes! It’s so true. I’m bad at keeping up with series, so I tend to think “omg, there are so many titles out already”. Like Anne Bishop! I’ve had the first book on my wish list since before it came out and now look at how far it’s coming along. Sigh. I will get to them. hah This is probably why I don’t like series that are TOO long, because then I feel like i’ll never get to them. But yeah, waiting for the next book in a series is pure torture sometimes. I had this on a crazy scale for the Harry Potter series.

    -Lauren

  10. Naomi

    Yes… I feel like this with Karen Chance’s books! I have waited a long time in between…each series is from the same world. The Cassandra Palmer series had two years between the last two books, but hopefully book 8 is only 6mths after, so April.
    The Dorina Basarab series… last book was 2012, there’s still no date for the 4th book.
    FRUSTRATING!

  11. The Bibliophile Babe

    It always feels like forever! I know we’re getting the next Mercy Thompson book soon and I only just got caught up on that series, but the time is dragging by. I’m nearly done with The Dirt on Ninth Grave, and the wait for the next book, even though it’s this year….!

    Don’t even get me started on waiting for the audiobook. I want to cry with happiness when the audio releases same day as the physical or ebook.

  12. Jess

    This post made me laugh. Book time is definitely all mixed up. Sometimes fast, other times slow. I have to say I was blown away by the fact that Home Alone is already 25 or 26 years old. How can that be?????? Wow!

  13. Braine Talk Supe

    The Visitor is a surprise, I thought the series is only a trilogy. Also there’s Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts. I know it’s not over yet but it’s been forever since the last installment was released!

  14. Lynn Poppe

    This is what happens when you start a series that the author hasn’t finished writing! I always forget to go back and read the next books. I end up with tons of series that I’ve started. Few that I’ve finished.

  15. Candace

    Yeah, I feel the same way. Sometimes it seems like FOREVER but other times it seems like the first book JUST came out and suddenly the second is out (usually for the series I haven’t started yet).

  16. kindlemom1

    Goodness yes, especially for The Visitor, the wait was so hard but the book was good so it was worth it. As for City of Mirrors, I’m so glad I just barely read the first last year, that wait would have killed me! It is funny how waiting for the release of a book is so long, even when the wait is only six months, it can feel like forever.

  17. Mary Kirkland

    Yes, some book series take forever in between books coming out. Especially if an author is writing 2 or 3 different series at the same time.

  18. Tanya

    This is so true! With my favorite series, as soon as the next book available for preorder I do it. Now I look at my preorder list and there are titles well into next year! This is going to be the longest year ever!

  19. Kathy

    I completely agree with the feeling of time delay when it comes to books. Even a book releases in just a few months, it seems like a lifetime. There is only one author I will always buy into, even though the next book in the series releases annually or every two years, sometimes. That’s Karen White’s Tradd Street series. I’ve never lost interest in any of the books, but the time between releases seems SO long, even though I have plenty of books to keep me company while waiting. Those books could release monthly, and it wouldn’t be fast enough for me.

  20. Melissa (Books and Things)

    Yep, time is a tricksy thing. I mean what is up with that? Plus, there seems to be neverending time when you forget your book when you have to wait for something but it goes so quickly when you want to read a dozen books at once. Time… behave!

  21. Lorna

    Totally agree! And sometimes the wait is so long that I completely forget about the series. I go back and look on Amazon and find that not only has the next book released but the one after that one. And sometimes I just don’t read on with the series. However there are some series that I truly think it takes forever. I was lucky with The Others series that the first 3 books were out when I started it but now that I have read Marked in Flesh, I can not wait for the next one! Dannika Dark’s books and Amber Lynn Natusch’s books can’t come fast enough for me either! I am just spoiled I guess. Great idea for a post!

  22. Katherine

    What happens to me is I get a book that I just have to have and am sure I’m going to love it or a review book that I’m really excited about that I have plenty of time to read before the pub date and then wham! The book’s been sitting on my shelf for 6 months and the pub date was 3 months ago! Oh and the series I’ve wanted to start that I’m pretty sure just started and then somehow the 3rd book is out. I seriously need a pause button!

  23. Christine

    Oh, yes time plays bookish tricks on me too! Another variation is how quickly time seems to speed up to the paperback release of a book — You know, the ones I was so antsy to get as soon as they were released in hardcover and what do you know? It’s now out in paperback and I STILL HAVEN”T READ IT YET. lol

    When it really started sinking in that I had unread ARCs of books that were coming out in paperback, it was time to seriously reconsider review copies in general which is why I really don’t do them anymore.

  24. Greg

    That’s a good point- time seems to flooooow like molasses when we’re waiting for that next book, since cliffhangers half the time (thank you, authors, thank you). LOL. I therefore love and respect the authors who are very timely with their books -more power to ’em!

    And God forbid you be waiting for george Martins’s next book- time is REALLY the enemy then . 🙂

  25. Heidi

    I totally agree. I feels like ages until some books release. It has been so long since we got an Amanda Stevens book, I understand why but still.. What I hate is when the releases are unreliable and instead of once a year that start getting delayed and pushed back. Drives me nut. There is nothing worse than devouring a book and facing the long wait. ARGH>

  26. AngelErin

    I know just what you mean! It sure is slow waiting on those books to release. I’m right there with you on City of Mirrors and don’t even get me started on George RR Martin ha!

  27. emma

    Fortunately, most series I enjoy right now have started years ago, like the series by Louise Penny. I have almost caught up with her, so I can easily imagine my frustration waiting for the next volume. And I don’t even want to think for the time when the main character will have to die… Thankfully, the author puts one out every year.
    BUT I have been waiting and waiting for #3 by Hilary Mantel on Cromwell!!!

  28. Terri M.

    Yes, time is different when waiting for a book.

    Time between Outlander #5 and Outlander #6 = 4 years!
    Time between Outlander #6 and Outlander #7 = 4 years!
    Time between Outlander #7 and Outlander #8 = 5 years!

    You know what makes the wait worse? The author publishing bits and bobs of the Work in Progress on the Net. Diana Gabaldon does this nearly every day.

    The biggest problem about waiting is forgetting that the latest book in the series is even releasing. I still haven’t read book 3 in the A Discovery of Witches series. I was so excited it was being released and then I found other things.

  29. Debbie Haupt

    What!! 25 years since Home Alone, OMG! Kim you’re not the lone ranger when it comes to time flying and time standing still in the same instance. LOL
    I’ve also been waiting it seems like forever for Cronin’s (last?) in the trilogy.
    Great Post! Oh and thanks for making me feel even older than I am LOL 😉

  30. Jonetta (Ejaygirl)

    When I first began reading these new-to-me genres (romance, urban fantasy), I was so late to the party that all of the series I was reading were complete. My friends groused about having to wait and I didn’t have a connection to what they were experiencing. They talked a lot about waiting until all the books in a series were released and collected before starting. Now I know what they meant!

    The Visitor is one I’m really looking forward to reading. At least a release date is now scheduled. I’m also waiting impatiently for the next Downside Ghosts installment. Talk about an addictive series!

    Great post, Kim!

  31. sherry fundin

    I think as I have gotten older, my attention spanned has shortened. It’s one of those things, out of sight, out of mind, so I rarely am waiting…just moving on to the next. LOL

  32. Stormi

    It’s why I am so bad at keeping up with series, by the time the next one is released I have done forgot about it the mass of other books I have read. I have actually had to start writing them down so I can remember to look for the sequel. 🙂

  33. Lekeisha

    It has taken forty forevers for The City of Mirrors! I am so excited for it, that I can hardly sit still. I can’t wait to read Morning Star, once I catch up.

  34. Angela

    I agree, it feels like an eternity when waiting on a new release. There was this historical fiction series about Mary, Queen of Scots I read about 7 or 8 years ago, and I devoured the first three books and I’m still waiting on the last book to come out.

  35. Jenny

    YES!!! Time seems to move at warp speed except in the case of book releases. With those, the months just crawl by! I think the most painful wait for me book-wise was with Burned by Karen Marie Moning. It was nearly 3 years in between books and then Burned turned out to be a huge disappoint which made the whole wait that much worse. A year is about all I can handle before the wait starts to slowly drive me insane:)

  36. Melanie Simmons

    I think you nailed it! The wait for books like Marked in Flesh (soooo good), seems like forever. But yet, I can’t believe I’ve lived in my house 13 years. It seems like it has only been a few years. I have a horse that 16 years old and it seems like he was just born a few years ago, but yet he is a middle aged man. I know all about the wait for years between books too. Grave Visions is one that I’ve waited years for. I’ve got another release that I’ve been waiting years for in the Nikki Glass series by Jenna Black. I’ve also got two series that don’t have release dates yet in Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane and Charlie Madigan by Kelly Gay. I’m hoping that they come soon. Great post. I’m so glad I’m not the only one who feels this way.

  37. Nick

    Oh man! This is so true, Kim. We booknerds seem to be very impatient when it comes to book releases. I’ve been binge-reading series because I’m so impatient, especially if I’ve heard the books have cliffhangers!
    I’ve noticed that some pubs are getting better about audiobooks now. Hopefully, they all start to release them at the same time.
    Great post!

  38. Bookworm Brandee

    OMG, this was hilarious! In a ‘I know exactly what you’re talking about’ kind of way! I’m a patient person…really, I am. But having to wait on a book to release…Gah! Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, I’m looking at you two. Okay, so maybe there hasn’t been that much time between Briggs’ last release, but there have been times when it was a 2 year wait. And whether it’s 6 months or 4 years, it seems interminable. And don’t get me started on series. You know I can’t keep up. 😉

  39. Lexxie

    My goodness, Kim, that’s so true! When we’re impatiently waiting for something, it takes forever, and when we look away for just a moment or two, it’s already there 🙂

  40. Melliane

    yes for some it looks so long, it took years for Kalayna Price to release her book 4, but the one I always wait for is Caroll O’connell, she is an awesome mystery writer but she doesn’t write a lot in he series. I want more!!!!!