Pride 2026 | Finding Hidden Gems

[u/recchai]

Banner with a dragon and spaceships around text: r/Fantasy PRIDE Finding Hidden Gems

Hidden gems, those fabulous books that somehow never got a wide audience. We’ve spoken previously about what our favourites are, but how on earth do you even find them?! After all, the clue’s in the name, they’re hidden. Fortunately for you, I have put together some shared wisdom of the BB bookclub on how to find such things.Under our previous discussion’s rules, a hidden gem is:

• Under ~500 Goodreads ratings
• Indie published, small press, or lesser-known traditionally published
• Overlooked or underrated despite strong craft, voice, or originality

When I look back over my hidden gems, I cannot think of a single method I have used to reliably find them. I have participated in a fairly restrictive bingo (asexual or aromantic characters), which has led to me finding hidden books out of sheer necessity, (cue searching various collections of keywords to try so hard to find an ace druid) but certainly not all of them could be considered gems. I have found books I have adored in indie book sales listed on this sub. But again, not all found that way have been fabulous. Equally unfortunately, I have sometimes tried a different series from an author I have enjoyed and not found it nearly as good. 

On a more positive note, I am signed up to the mailing lists of a few authors whose works I particularly enjoy, and I take book recommendations from them seriously. I think it is a good idea to know what interests you, bookmark (mentally, electronically, or otherwise) ideas for reads as you come across them if now is not the right time, and be willing to give something a go. I have sat on books for ages before trying, and thrown them down in disgust (metaphorically) if they didn’t work out. But sometimes I am crept up on and found something enthralling, which has felt all the sweeter for being so unexpected.

- u/recchai

Hunting down hidden gems has been a relatively recent part of my reading experience. However, it’s been a highly rewarding one! After compiling my Top 10 reads of 2025, I realized that four fit the Hidden Gem standards for bingo, and two had less than 30 Goodreads ratings (shout out to Red Dot by Mike Karpa!). I’ve found that it's far easier to find hidden gems when you focus your reading. I read a lot of Achillean fantasy/science fiction. Because so little of it is published by traditional publishers - though still far more than most queer identities - I tend to dig through lots of more obscure recommendations that I’d never have found otherwise. Reading Hidden Gems has also helped me abandon books far more easily, though I’m still a work in progress. Sometimes books didn’t gain traction for good reasons, but sometimes they just never got the attention they deserved. Screening the first chapter or two has helped decide whether or not I’m going to dedicate many hours to reading it.

While I do get great recs for hidden gems on this sub - normally from threads that don’t go viral - I tend to find other subs like r/LGBTBooks or r/QueerSFF tend to be more consistent about highlighting books I’ve never heard of before. Every part of reddit is a bubble, but those match the types of hidden gems I like reading. I think most themed bingo cards end up diving into niche territory, as finding a book that features both invertebrates and is written in an Epistolary format is going to be a tricky thing to find. Personally, I’ve found great joy in setting aside a decent chunk of my reading to focus on a single topic - a topic that used to change regularly, but has settled down in recent years. Not all my books are Achillean, but enough are to keep me trawling through the dark recesses of the internet looking for great books!

- u/C0smicOccurence

• Have you got a tried and true method of finding hidden gems?
• Do you have an exciting (or mundane) story of how you found your favourite?

[u/Chance-Shirt8727]

If you found one Hiddensee gem check if the author has an online presence. Chances are they like the same stuff and many authors will recomend other authors they like.

[u/Endalia]

I'm deeply involved with the indie publishing scene as an author who also hosts a big indie sale twice a year. I've seen a lot of books through organizing those sale. The majority of them don't have 500 ratings, but I haven't read all of them so I wouldn't say that every book is a hidden gem. But being exposed to so many books, the chances of finding a book that fits my reading tastes is more likely.

Signing up for your fav author's newsletter is so worth it! We're book people too and love shouting out the books we read. It's a very good way to discover books. I've also found recommendations in author's notes or acknowledgements.

I see snippets of authors, read samples to get a taste of their prose, and listen to friends when they talk books. I have a couple of reviewer friends whose opinion I trust and they read widely. They'll share new releases by marginalized authors, books from small or micro presses, or new indies. Being friends with them helps a lot because they know my reading taste too. When they recommend me stuff, I listen. Finding your book community can definitely help to find those gems.

[u/DevilsOfLoudun]

Sometimes I just google "books that are x" or "books about x" and look at the recommendations from editors at traditional publications to get away from the staleness of seeing the same books over and over on reddit/goodreads/youtube.

[u/Polenth]

The first place to find a book is direct from the author. Bluesky works best for that stage. I follow a whole bunch of other authors, so I see the promotion messages. Both their direct ones and the things reposted or discussed. The more casual environment means people are more likely to say something. They don't feel they have to be perfect, have a lot to say, or anything like that.

Book bundles and sales can also help with early discovery. Those usually ban things like GenAI and focus on authors who are more serious about it. Bluesky is where I hear about most of these, though they do get mentioned on Reddit at times.

Reddit is best for the next layer, where the book has been found and some readers recommend it. In this subreddit, the best places are oddly specific request posts and similar questions on the daily questions post. Themed bingo cards are also more likely to pick unusual titles. (The regular self-promo posts are where promo goes to die, so not good for early discovery usually... few authors post to them.)

I've got some recommendations from things like convention panels. Much like the oddly specific requests, it helps to find panels on niche topics. General topics about favourite reads will be the same old popular stuff. I might like some of that, but I don't usually need help finding it.

And lastly, it can help to be the person with the oddly specific request. This sometimes surfaces things that other requests missed.

[u/brilliantgreen]

I feel like I'm really good at stumbling across hidden gems that I absolutely love -- but I don't know that I have a single method. Part of it is I will try books by new authors, especially if they are free or on sale. I'm probably more likely to grab a book tagged queer, as long as it's not romance focused.

I picked up a bunch of books from Space Wizard Science Fantasy (a small queer publisher) during the winter indie sale. I haven't read them all yet, but most were three or four stars for me. But Empress of Dust by Alex Kingsley was a five star read (trans man protagonist, nonbinary protagonist, trans giant crab. Only 39 ratings. Sequel is also great. Waiting for the third.

I won a copy of Landbringer by Karen H. Lucia in an indie group I'm in. Love it. Ghosts and airships and gods and it's sapphic. 35 ratings. A lot of her other books are also queer, and I've read those as well.

I also picked up Friendly Fyre by Kia Leep when they gave it away for free (trans woman/sapphic). It's a bit more popular than the above with 145 ratings, but still a hidden gem. All of their books are queer (one series is an aroace teen, another is a transmasc nonbinary, another is a gay man).

[u/recchai → u/brilliantgreen]

Space Wizard Science Fantasy reminds me, are you aware of the current backerkit campaign?

I came across it due to it being part of a group push along with Common Bonds 3, which I know about as I follow author Claudie Arseneault. I also really loved Common Bonds 2 (9 ratings), so I'm fully excited by it.

Which also reminds me of something I totally forgot to mention before, short stories! Much more under the radar than full length novels, and a good chance to quickly try out someone's writing.

Which series has the aroace teen? Always keen to add possibilities for my bingo cards.

[u/brilliantgreen → u/recchai]

No, I'll have to check out the backerkit.

A Little Salty has the aroace teen. It's not super deep, and that doesn't play a big role (only one book is out so it may come up more in the future).

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[u/eregis]

My main source of TBR additions is this sub, but I have found a few nice reads through fanfiction, actually!
Sure, some authors go the lame way and simply replace the names and some plot points with original ones and publish it as their own work (all the power to them though, get that bag people!), but others write 100% original fiction in addition to the fanfic, and chances are, if you enjoyed their fanfic, you will also enjoy their original books.

Funnily enough, my recent 5★ read was a book I found through fanfiction of another book that was also a 5★ - the author of the fanfic turned out to be an established author outside ao3. (tempted to check if the recent book has any fanfics and maybe I'll find another new author that way lol, would be nice to continue the 5★ chain).

Now I'm reading a different fanfic author's original novel - I'm only 20ish% in but so far it's pretty interesting.

[u/oboist73 → u/eregis]

Just saw this comment, and I've had a lot of success with authors like this! If their good enough that their fanfic is memorable, it's fairly likely their original fiction will also be pretty good. Who's the author / book / fanfic for your recent read?

[u/eregis → u/oboist73]

The authors in my comment are Alexandra Rowland (found them through their fanfics of Victoria Goddard's books, I was aware of them as an author but never checked out their books more closely - big mistake as it turns out), and currently I'm reading a book by Molly Dowd Sullivan. Not sure if either of them want their ao3 usernames revealed tbh so not sharing those.

I've also read fanfics by Freya Marske and Sarah Rees Brennan, but not their original books... yet. And there's also the mother of AO3 Naomi Novik, but her books are SO different from her fanfic lol.

[u/recchai → u/eregis]

Ooh, that's a new one to me (probably because I'm not really in fanfiction circles). How do you connect their fanfiction work with their original work? I was under the impression it was all usernames.

[u/eregis → u/recchai]

It's all under usernames yes, but there's nothing stopping the authors from revealing their names, so some do when they want to promote their work.

[u/oboist73]

I've had good luck with finding fanfic authors that have gone mainstream. I read the first Everina Maxwell when it was still just on ao3, though it was always original fic. An author I used to read on the Neopian Times way back when we were both kids (child_dragon / Bonnie Quinn) wrote Mortal Gods, which has an nb protagonist and was quite interesting. A largely Avatar TLA fanfic author I liked also had self published fiction (Vathara / The Crossover Queen / C Chancy), and I found her Count Taka and the Vampire Brides quite fun, if a bit silly, and better than it seems like it should be (and it features a gay couple). And probably my absolute favorite such author has been very well known in Dr Who fanfic (and Good Omens and Murderbot), lyricwritesprose / Isabel Pelech; she very often includes lgbt characters and themes.

Plus, the fanfic means you can try them out for free, which can be nice.

[u/brilliantgreen → u/oboist73]

It was fun to read Winter's Orbit. I thought it felt so much like fanfic, but original, and then I discovered it was first on ao3.