How to Keep Track of Upcoming Books in Every Series You Read (2026)

BookBinge · 2026-10-28

How do I keep track of upcoming books from all the series I'm reading?

Follow each author where they send release emails (Goodreads, Amazon and BookBub all email followers about new books), and keep one list of every series, the book you're on and the next book's date. Recheck that list a month before each date, because release dates move and US and UK editions often come out on different days.

This post is about tools and habits, so it has no spoilers for any book.

Why release dates are hard to keep up with

If you read five or six series at once, the next books are spread across different authors, publishers and years. Most notification tools are built around authors, not series, so a prolific author's novella, standalone and paperback reissue can arrive in the same inbox as the sequel you're waiting for.

Dates also aren't fixed. A book can be announced a year out and then move, and the same book often has a different date in the US and the UK. Harry Hole book 14, Kill Shot, is a current example: Harvill publishes it in the UK on November 5, 2026, and Knopf publishes it in the US on February 23, 2027. Any system you pick has to handle both problems.

Author newsletters and websites come first

The author is the first person to know about a title, a cover, a date or a delay, and many authors announce these in their newsletter or on their own website first. Signing up takes a minute per author, usually from a form on their site.

The limits are volume and focus. A newsletter covers everything the author is doing, from tour dates to other series, and some authors write monthly while others go quiet for a year. Newsletters are a good source of truth, but they won't build a list of your series for you.

Following an author on Goodreads

On Goodreads you follow an author from the Follow button on their author page. Goodreads says followers get an email digest of the author's activity and an email on the publication date of a new book by that author, even if they haven't shelved it. The option sits in your account's email settings, under newsletters and other mail, as a box for being emailed when an author you follow releases a new book.

Two limits: the email arrives on the publication date, not when the book is announced, so it isn't much help for pre-ordering. And it follows authors, so you'll get emails about every new book from that author, not only the next one in your series. Goodreads series pages do list books in order, which helps when you check by hand.

Following an author on Amazon

Amazon has a Follow button on author pages and book pages. According to Amazon's own author help page, followers are notified when a new book is released or becomes available for pre-order, as long as the book is eligible, the follower allows marketing emails from Amazon, and they haven't already ordered it.

The pre-order part is useful: you can hear about a sequel months ahead and pre-order it so it arrives on release day. The catch is the same as Goodreads: it's per author, and Amazon decides which books qualify.

BookBub New Release Alerts

BookBub is best known for ebook deal emails, but it also sends New Release Alerts. When you follow an author on BookBub, you get an email when that author releases a new book or novella in the U.S., as long as the author has added the ebook to their BookBub profile (BookBub's help page, updated October 22, 2026).

The limits are in that description. It covers ebooks, it covers U.S. releases, and it depends on the author or publisher listing the book. Authors also need an approved BookBub profile with at least five followers, so smaller authors may not trigger an alert at all.

Library holds through Libby

If you borrow ebooks and audiobooks, Libby can line up a new book before it's out, provided your library has already bought it. Libby's help pages list "the title hasn't been released yet" as one reason a hold hasn't arrived, so a hold placed early sits there until release day.

When your library doesn't own the book yet, many libraries offer a Notify Me tag. You tag the title, and if the library buys it, Libby notifies you and you can borrow it or place a hold. The tag doesn't put you on the waitlist by itself, and Libby says not every library offers the feature. Popular sequels often have long hold queues, so getting in early matters.

A spreadsheet or calendar you control

The low-tech method works for any series and any format. Make one row per series with five columns: series name, the last book you finished, the next title, its date (with the country, US or UK) and where you saw the date. Sort by date.

Then add each confirmed date to your calendar with a reminder a month before. That reminder is when you recheck the author's site or the publisher's page, since a date that was right in spring can slip by autumn. Once a date is firm, that's also a good moment to pre-order or place a library hold.

The cost is upkeep. Nothing updates itself, so the list is only as current as the last time you checked it.

Keeping track of where you are

BookBinge, our iPhone app, approaches this from the series side. It keeps each series in reading order and remembers which book you're on. With Release Radar, a Pro feature, it sends you a notification when a series you follow has a new book on the way. Release Radar covers series in our catalogue of 333 series only; if one of yours is missing, you can request it from search in the app. Catalogue updates, including new books, reach the app without an App Store update.

The app is free to start, with up to 3 series active at once and one free recap. Pro, which includes Release Radar, is $24.99 a year with a 3-day free trial, or $3.99 a week. If you'd rather not install anything, our new releases calendar lists the upcoming books for series in the catalogue, soonest first, with a link to each series' reading order.

What to do once a date is set

• Check which edition you're tracking. If you buy UK editions in the US or the other way around, use the date for the edition you'll read.
• Recheck a month out. Dates move, and the author or publisher page will have the current one.
• Pre-order or place a hold. Amazon and most stores take pre-orders, and Libby holds placed early wait for release day.
• Note which book you're on. If it's been more than a year since you finished the last one, decide whether you need a reread or a recap. Our guide to rereading before a sequel covers how to choose.

Related reading

• Upcoming books in series we track
• Should I reread the previous book before the sequel?
• How to never lose your place in a book series
• The best Goodreads alternatives for series readers

Frequently asked questions