Author: Melody E McIntyre

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Who sold the most books in 2023?

Who sold the most books in 2023?

Women authors filled the bestseller lists for 2023 with 17 of the top 25 bestselling books on Publisher Weekly’s list being written by women. Similarly, Amazon’s top 25 best selling books in 2023 featured 13 books by women. Another trend this year was the dominance of adult fiction over children’s fiction. Publisher’s Weekly’s list only has six children’s books included and Amazon’s list only has five. But which authors sold the most books?  Spread across multiple platforms, formats, and sellers, finding the exact numbers to determine the exact order of best-selling authors is difficult. So I have chosen to feature 10 of the best-selling authors in 2023.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror, ed. Jacob Stephen Mohr

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror
Editor:  Jacob Stephen Mohr
Genre: Horror/Epistolary
Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing
Release Date: 1st December, 2023

Synopsis: EVIL LURKS BETWEEN THESE PAGES

A video game walkthrough harbors a sinister secret. A grieving sister’s letters cross the barrier between alive and dead (and alive again). A chain of frightening emails is the only evidence a young woman ever existed. And a series of journals follow a dwindling wagon train marching straight into Hell—or someplace worse.

Haunted podcast transcripts. Blood soaked police reports. Bewildering court findings.

Brace yourself for Dead Letters, an anthology that resurrects the chilling power of epistolary fiction—where ordinary documents become hidden records of our darkest fantasies and bleakest nightmares.

Across 21 all-original tales from talents like Gemma Files, Ai Jiang, Gordon B. White, J.A.W. McCarthy, and Red Lagoe, and curated with precision by Jacob Steven Mohr, Dead Letters: Episodes of Epistolary Horror serves up a prolonged sojourn into the macabre—and promises to haunt your sleepless nights.

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Epeolatry Book Review: The Wretched Bones by C.M. Saunders

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: The Wretched Bones
Author: C.M. Saunders
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Grinning Skull Press
Release Date: 14th October, 2023

Synopsis: The Regal Retreat is an exclusive resort situated deep in the countryside of East Anglia where the rich and famous go to unwind. However, far from being a place of rest and relaxation, bad things happen there. Its history has been plagued by tragedy and misfortune. Over the years there have been scores of killing sprees, accidents, suicides, and even the occasional sighting of the resident ghost.

In a desperate attempt to save the business, the resort calls in paranormal investigator Ben Shivers. Since the devastating loss of his daughter and the subsequent breakdown of his marriage, he has been traveling Europe in a vintage VW camper van with his sidekick, a rescue cat called Mr. Trimble. He sees the assignment as the perfect opportunity to break the cycle of self-destruction he has been on, but as he delves into the case, he uncovers a history many would rather forget—sordid family secrets, witchcraft, murder, and an ancient curse, all coming together in a perfect storm deep in the heart of the English countryside.

Welcome to the Regal Retreat.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Winter’s Ghosts by Alyson Faye, Stephanie Ellis, Charlotte Riddell & Edith Wharton

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Winter’s Ghosts
Author: Alyson Faye, Stephanie Ellis, Charlotte Riddell, Edith Wharton
Genre: Ghost Stories, Gothic
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: 29th November, 2023

Synopsis:Winter is traditionally the time for a ghost story. Alyson Faye and Stephanie Ellis continue this custom with their short stories, ‘Chilled to the Bone’ and ‘Dead Man’s Fair’ where, in both gothic mansion and remote hills, blizzards close in and the dead walk. Pairing with these modern day writers are Charlotte Riddell and Edith Wharton, both known for their skill in weaving a ghostly tale but whose stories are in danger of being forgotten. Their inclusion here is intended to help prevent this and honour those female authors who paved the way for the rest of us.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Such a Lovely Family by Aggie Blum Thompson

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Such a Lovely Family
Editor: Aggie Blum Thompson
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Forge Books
Release Date: 12th March, 2024

Synopsis: The cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Washington, D.C., and the Calhouns are in the midst of hosting their annual party to celebrate the best of the spring season. With a house full of friends, neighbors, and their beloved three adult children, the Calhouns are expecting another picture-perfect event. But a brutal murder in the middle of the celebration transforms the yearly gathering into a homicide scene, and all the guests into suspects.

Behind their façade of perfection, the Calhoun family has been keeping some very dark secrets. Parents who use money and emotional manipulation to control their children. Two sons, one the black sheep who is desperate to outrun mistakes he’s made, and the other a new father, willing to risk everything to protect his child. And a daughter: an Instagram influencer who refuses to face the truth about the man she married.

As the investigation heats up, family tensions build, and alliances shift. Long-buried resentments surface, forcing the Calhouns to face their darkest secrets before it’s too late.

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Who Sold the Most Books in 2022?

Who Sold the Most Books in 2022?

By Melody E. McIntyre

 

2022 was a strong year for adult fiction. Publisher’s Weekly notes an 8.5% annual increase and that adult fiction dominated the top of the overall bestsellers list with 15 of the 25 top-selling books. Which authors sold the most books in 2022? Spread across multiple platforms, formats, and sellers, finding the exact numbers to determine the exact order of best-selling authors is difficult. So here are 10 of the best-selling authors in 2022.

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Epeolatry Book Review: Split Scream Volume 4 by D. Matthew Urban and Holly Lyn Walrath

Disclosure:

Our reviews may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through the links in this article we may receive a small commission or referral fee. This happens without any additional cost to you.

Title: Split Scream Vol 4 
Author: D. Matthew Urban – “Nonsense Words” and Holly Lyn Walrath “Bone Light”
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Tenebrous Press
Release Date: 31st October, 2023

Synopsis: SPLIT SCREAM has a new home at Tenebrous Press! Editor Alex Ebenstein brings his acclaimed split-novelette series back for a fourth round featuring:

Nonsense Words by D. Matthew Urban

An aging professor of ancient history strikes up a friendship with her new colleague, Dr. Paul Duncan, a scholar of undecipherable inscriptions. As she finds herself drawn into Dr. Duncan’s life—his brilliant wife and mystical daughters, frightened students and uncanny associates—darker forces behind his research emerge, plunging her into a nightmare of mythical absurdity and ritualistic death. Dark academia meets cosmic horror in Nonsense Words, where the incomprehensible is granted a conjured form—but too much imagination can be a dangerous thing. If the cosmos is nonsense, merely a divine or demonic joke, will she live to have the last laugh, or will she die a punchline?

Bone Light by Holly Lyn Walrath

An icy surf batters Bone Light as its beacon calls to weary souls at sea. This edifice built of bone and wretchedness sits atop a cursed rock, surrounded by death, watched over by the ghosts of light-keepers past. Their records tell of the inhospitable environment, but it is Mary Long’s writings that show the heart. Misfortune necessitates the arrival of her dear Ida, laying bear to the obstacles that shaped their history—a husband and taboo among them. These log entries illuminate Mary’s world—the banality, the heartbreak, the magic. In Bone Light, a beacon of death might finally be the thing to give life to a long-denied romance.

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A Look at Amazon’s New Features: Your Books and Book Clubs

A Look at Amazon’s New Features: Your Books and Book Clubs

By Melody E. McIntyre

 

Recently, Amazon has introduced two new features for its users, Your Books and Amazon Book Clubs. Both are currently in early access, but are open to the public on Amazon.com. Your Books launched December 13, 2023. Amazon’s Book Clubs have been around for a while, but are still in “early access”. I have taken a quick look at both of these new sites and can offer some preliminary thoughts.

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