Let’s Talk Bookish: Six Years of LTB: An Anniversary Freebie

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022, with Dini at Dini Panda Reads as co-host from February 2025.

For this week’s LTB, the topic is a freebie to celebrate six years of Let’s Talk Bookish. Six years! Definitely a milestone that deserves to be celebrated and a huge thank you to both Dani and Dini for all the hard work they put into LTB!

For this week’s freebie topic, I thought I’d come up with my own – Debut Authors!

Let’s Talk Bookish 29th August:
An Anniversary Freebie

  Prompts: How quickly does time fly for us to now be celebrating six years of bookish discussions?! 

  Whether you’re new to LTB or have stuck around for years, thank you for joining us in these weekly bookish discussions! 

 To celebrate, we’re making this week an anniversary freebie. Revisit a topic that you’ve done before, go back to a topic that you’ve missed, or write about something else you’re interested in. Check out our blogs—Aria, Dini and Rukky—for ideas!

Debut Authors

Prompts: Do you seek out books by debut authors? What do you like about reading debuts, and how do you find debut authors? Are there any favourite authors you’ve followed since their debut? Is there anything in particular you look out for before picking up a book by a debut author – does it have to be a certain genre/subgenre, do you try and support margenalised debut authors, or is ‘debut’ enough if you also like the sound of the book?

I feel like it’s recently got harder to come across debut authors on social media – I’m not sure if this is a lack of marketing from publishers, social media algorithms, or something else, but I’m finding more and more where I used to ‘casually’ come across debut authors, now I do have to seek them out a little! I tend to see ‘debut’ mostly used on NetGalley, and if I’m intrigued by the book itself, I’ll request it. If I’m really keen and get rejected, I may wishlist or preorder it.

I really like the promise in a debut author’s book – there’s a really sense of excitement in ‘discovering’ a new author, and I think there’s something exciting about being “one of the first” to read them, or to feel you’re supporting new voices in buying their books. I love when I read a debut book and that author becomes someone I feel really keen on seeing more work from.

Outside of NetGalley, I tend to ‘come across’ discussions of debut books and such on social media (though less frequently, as mentioned above). I do think NetGalley is my primary source for it though, as that’s often where I see/hear about new books.

The first author I think of when I think of authors I’ve followed since debut is Elizabeth Lim – I’ve been a fan of hers since her first entry into the Disney Twisted Tales series, and whenever I read one of her books, I know I’m going to enjoy it. Emily Hamilton’s debut The Stars Too Fondly came out last year, and I loved it – although she hasn’t yet released her next book, I’ll be keeping an eye for it! Similarly, I loved Molly X. Chang’s To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, and though I haven’t yet picked up The Nightblood Prince, I plan to do so. I read Leah Johnson’s You Should See Me in a Crown, and her second book, Rise to the Sun, and she’s without a doubt now a must buy author.

As for anything I look out for – I think being a debut author is incredibly difficult. It’s a great achievement, but there’s the stress of wondering if people will like or dislike the book, the anxiety that comes with the fact (hopefully!) a lot more people will now read it, and anxiety over the reception. And debut authors don’t always get the best support from publishers, especially in recent years where resources are stretched thin. Over the last few years, it feels like there’s been an uptick in the difficulties debut authors are likely to face, especially if they’re marginalised.

So, I think supporting marginalised authors is ALWAYS important, and for a debut, it’s crucial. That’s not to say I won’t also read debuts by, for example, cis het white men, but I think in general I don’t tend to read many books by cis het white men anyway, and I now naturally gravitate towards books written by authors who are in some way marginalised. I do try to look out for queer debut books especially. In recent years, we saw a group of debut authors targeted by another debut author, and the ‘incident’ put a few new writers on my TBR (including Molly X. Chang, who I mentioned above). It’s not a fun way to discover new debut authors, but I definitely think with the kind of toxicity out there, if I see it happening especially to debut authors who quite frankly have way more than enough to deal with, I want to lend support to that author, and that’s usually through purchasing their books.

What about you – do you read debut authors, do you seek them out, any favourite authors you’ve been following since their debut?