What a great year it’s been! Thank you to all our wonderful historical fiction reviewers who participated in the 2016 Australian Women Writer’s Challenge. We have kept pace with last year’s figures which is marvellous – 239 reviews of 127 books by 92 authors. This year I thought I would look at the figures by author instead of book. Drumroll please and this will surprise a few. The most reviewed author this year is Anna Romer with 14 reviews for two books:
Next up is Hannah Kent with 13 reviews, also for two books:
And in third place is Alison Stuart with 9 reviews for six books.
Two authors received seven reviews – Natasha Lester and Sulari Gentill. And six authors garnered six reviews each – Melissa Ashley, Kate Forsyth, Pamela Hart, Anita Heiss, Kim Kelly and Kate Morton. And what of our wonderful reviewers? Our top three were Brenda with a staggering 36 reviews, Jennifer Cameron-smith with 14 and Carolyn with 12.
Last month Brenda reviewed Daughter of the Murray by Darry Fraser, The Autumn Bride by Anne Gracie, The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham and The Perfumer’s Secret by Fiona McIntosh. Jennifer Cameron-smith was one of the many reviewers of author Anna Romer with her review of Thornwood House, whilst Carolyn reviewed Chasing the Light by Jesse Blackadder and The Good People by Hannah Kent. We also had a brand new reviewer join our ranks in December and she clocked up an impressive 8 reviews in one month. Well done Marina! Congratulations!
What an amazing year it has been and I must now bid you all adieu as this is my final post as the historical fiction rounderuper or is that rounderuperer? I will still be reviewing though so you’ll see me around and I wish my successor a fun and enjoyable 2017!
My name is Debbie Robson and I am a bookcrosser, booklover and author. I love researching the 20th century and finding those small but relevant details that can make the past come alive. You can find me on twitter: lakelady2282
These numbers are interesting. I received and reviewed Beyond the Orchard by Anna Romer and The Good People by Hannah Kent from publishers, so I wonder if this is impacting on the results. It’d have to be, given many of the challenge participants also review for publishers.
Very interesting anyway, so thanks for sharing. Historical fiction is my favourite genre 🙂
Thanks Tracey. I believe Anna Romer was the winner of this roundup because of a publishing push, a blog train I think. And evidently Kent’s publisher is very supportive and hardworking too.
Interesting post Debbie as always – fascinating to see the list of most reviewed authors.
BTW I think I like rounder-upperer best!!
Tracey makes a good point about figures being swayed a bit about which books are sent out as review copies, which I think is a question Elizabeth asked in a recent post when we were looking at some overall figures. But also Hannah Kent got a lot of airplay, didn’t she, because of her first book. The booksellers are giving it a lot of visibility. Interestingly, I’ve had a rush on hits on my post of her first book since the second came out. Once you start thinking about stats it’s hard to stop!!
Anyhow, thanks for your work on your category over the last couple of yours. It’s been good working with you, and I know we’ll stay in touch.
Yes, the figures are interesting aren’t they, Sue. And thank you for your support.
Thanks for a great wrap-up, Debbie, and for all your efforst on behalf of the challenge over the past two years. You’ve certainly inspired me to take more of an interest in the area and I hope our Classics push this year may turn up some earlier works in this category. We’ll see. Good luck with your own writing. I’m glad to hear you’ll continue to review as you’ve come up with some great titles. Looking forward to hearing more about your discoveries.
Thanks again, Elizabeth. It has been an education and I do have some really good titles coming up soon including Margaret Gifford’s excellent memoir, a Jean Curlewis, the unpublished manuscript of Capel Boake, Nadia Wheatley’s wonderful biography of Charmian Clift and Charmian Clift’s Peel Me a Lotus.Will get that 1920s post together soon.
Overcome! Thank you so much for your support AWW! Unlike many of the wonderful writers on this list I am not published by big mainstream publishers and you won’t find my books in bookstores so I am in awe that your reviewers have sought me out and taken the time to read and review my stories.
Just a point of clarification – some of my titles are published by Harlequin Australia’s digital only imprint, Escape Publishing but for that reason don’t get the exposure that print titles do. Three of the 6 reviewed titles are indie.
Hi Alison, what does constitute Indie? I’ve always been a bit confused by this.
Self-published, ‘independently’ of a traditional publisher.
So it can be self-published and small publisher?
I’d say so. To my mind, it’s all about producing books that are independent of the mainstream. There are small publishers that tag themselves as ‘indie’.
Well deserved Alison!
Well done Alison! The results speak for themselves and your books are much appreciated.