Be notified of new music/films/books from specific creators?

April 24, 2021 1:04 AM

I'm tired of learning about new music/film/book releases from my favorite authors, directors, artists, etc. months or years after they happen. I want one or more services that will let me follow a person or series and notify me when new media by that person or from that series is released. I also don't want to sift through a bunch of noise; I want to hear almost nothing from these services except for release notifications.

Some example use cases... I'd like to be notified upon the release of:

• Any new graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley.
• Any new movie by director Christopher Nolan.
• Any new album by band Death Cab for Cutie. (Muspy can do this but it has a lot of false positives.)
• A new volume in the Yotsuba&! manga series (ideally only when available in the USA).

Hoping for email notifications or RSS feeds; I probably won't remember to open a special app or website on a recurring basis.

posted by commander_fancypants to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

For authors: Depending on whether you want to use Amazon or not, you can follow an author and Amazon will let you know when they release new material. That only works for authors who sell their wares on Amazon, of course, but that includes Bryan Lee O’Malley and probably every other author you can think of as well.
posted by underclocked at 1:23 AM on April 24, 2021

My experience using Amazon for new book notifications has been very frustrating. It will tell me that a hardback will be coming out in ten months' time, but will not remind me about that hardback when it actually does come out, or mention that an existing hardback is being issued in paperback tomorrow. I see the logic, but it doesn't meet my needs, and if there's a way of configuring it, I've not found it.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:06 AM on April 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

You can follow authors on Goodreads and set up email notification so that it will notify you when an author you follow releases a book. I don't follow a lot of authors so I haven't really tested this but it does seem to email me pretty reliably on the day that books I've marked as "to-read" (before they're out) get released.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:10 AM on April 24, 2021 [9 favorites]

Best answer: I just went back and looked through my email, out of curiosity, and on October 27th Goodreads successfully notified me that The Sacrifice of Darkness had been released because I follow Roxane Gay (and that was definitely not a book I had marked as to-read or even heard of.) And there is a specific box to check in the notifications sections for "Email me when an author I follow releases a new book" so hopefully if you uncheck everything else you won't get other emails.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:19 AM on April 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

Google Alerts is simple, easy and effective for this purpose.
posted by JimN2TAW at 4:42 AM on April 24, 2021

I usually learn of new books from Twitter. Many, maybe most authors will have a Twitter account that if nothing else they announce new stuff for sale, author events, etc.

Also, the Pandora new releases section will have anything released through the label system the day of release. I tend to scroll through it on Fridays as I think Thursday is album release day for many labels.
posted by COD at 7:41 AM on April 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Bookfeed.io is exactly this for authors. Works great and is not Amazon/Goodreads dependent.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:08 AM on April 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

Best answer: MusicButler
posted by bluefly at 2:27 PM on April 24, 2021 [3 favorites]