How to Track New Book, Game and Music Releases with RSS

Short answer: You can track new books, games, albums and other releases with RSS by following the news and new-release pages of publishers, record labels, game studios and the creators themselves, plus the release pages of stores and platforms that offer feeds. Where a page has no RSS, turn it into a feed. Merge everything into one releases feed, filter it by the authors, artists, series or genres you care about and read it in your RSS reader, without signing up for alerts in every store.

Why release alerts are hard to get right

Fans and professionals both want to know when something new comes out: the next book in a series, a new album from a favourite band, a game from a particular studio or a new edition of a reference work. Stores and platforms offer alerts, but each only covers its own catalog, requires an account and often mixes in recommendations and promotions.

The result is a scattered set of e-mails and app notifications, many of which are about things you never asked for. Important releases still slip through when they appear in a store you do not use, or when an announcement comes months before the release date and is forgotten.

RSS offers a different approach: you follow the sources that announce releases, keep only what matches your interests and read everything in one place. No accounts, no promotional e-mails and no store-specific limits.

It also covers releases that stores handle poorly. Small publishers, independent labels and solo game developers often announce their work only on their own websites or newsletters, and their releases may never appear in the big stores’ recommendation e-mails. Following them directly is often the only reliable way to hear about new work from independent creators.

The same approach works for people who follow releases professionally. Booksellers, librarians, reviewers, music journalists and game retailers all need early notice of what is coming, and a well-filtered releases feed is a simple way to see announcements from many publishers side by side.

Sources that announce new releases

Releases are usually announced in several places before they reach stores. Following the right ones gives you earlier and more reliable notice.

Creators: authors’, artists’ and developers’ own websites, blogs and newsletters.
Publishers and labels: news and “coming soon” pages, often organised by imprint or genre.
Game studios and publishers: news sections and press pages for announcements and release dates.
Stores and platforms: new release and pre-order pages, some of which offer feeds.
Review sites and magazines: release calendars and upcoming-release roundups.
Video channels: trailers and announcement videos, which have their own feeds.

Video channels are an easy win, because channel feeds exist even when nothing else does; see how to get an RSS feed for any YouTube channel or playlist. Creators who publish on newsletter platforms often have feeds too, covered in RSS feeds on Substack, Ghost, Medium and other platforms.

Turning release pages into feeds

Many publisher, label and store pages list new releases with a title, an image and a date but offer no RSS. These lists are well suited to page-to-feed tools, which read the list and check it regularly for new entries.

Find the page that lists new or upcoming releases, ideally filtered to a genre, imprint or category.
Check for an existing feed link first and use it if there is one.
Otherwise, create a feed from the page and check the preview to make sure each release is one item.
Repeat for each source you want to follow.

Store search and category pages are especially useful, because they often have their own address for a search such as an author’s name or a genre sorted by newest. Our guide on turning a website’s search results into an RSS feed explains the technique.

Filtering by creator, series and genre

Release pages from publishers, labels and stores list far more than you want. Filtering turns them into a personal feed of things you care about.

What you follow	Filter words to keep
Books	Author names, series titles, translators, specific imprints
Music	Artist and band names, labels, producers
Games	Studio names, series titles, platforms you own
Film and TV	Directors, series titles, distributors
Professional titles	Subject areas, standards, edition numbers

Exclude words help too: remove items such as “merchandise”, “re-release” or formats you never buy. Start with a broad set of names and adjust after a few weeks, based on what slips through. Names that are also common words, such as a band called after an everyday object, need extra words like “album” or “tour” in the filter to avoid false matches. More on filters in how to set up keyword alerts using RSS feed filters.

Merging into one releases feed

Following twenty sources separately turns your reader into a second inbox. Merging them into one or two feeds, such as “books” and “music and games”, keeps things manageable. Duplicates are common when the same release is announced by the creator, the publisher and a store, so a merge with duplicate removal is valuable here.

A merged, filtered feed also works outside the reader. You can send it to a chat channel shared with friends or colleagues, turn it into a weekly e-mail digest or display it on a website, for example a bookshop’s “new arrivals from authors you love” page. See how to merge multiple RSS feeds into one clean feed and how to turn an RSS feed into an automatic e-mail newsletter.

Announcements, pre-orders and release dates

A release is often announced months before it comes out, then appears as a pre-order and finally goes on sale. A feed captures the moment each of these is published, which is usually when you want to know. For things you plan to buy, the announcement is the important item: it gives you time to pre-order or set a reminder.

Save announcement items in your reader or move them to a read-later list with the release date.
Add the release date to your calendar for items you do not want to miss.
Follow pre-order pages of limited editions, which can sell out at announcement.
Keep a separate feed for deals if you prefer to wait for price drops.

Price drops and deals are covered in how to follow deals and price drops with RSS alerts, and ticket sales for concerts and events in how to get alerts when event tickets go on sale.

Uses for shops, libraries and reviewers

Release tracking is not only for fans. Bookshops and record shops can watch publisher and label pages to plan orders and to tell customers about new titles from favourite authors. Libraries can follow publishers in the subjects they collect. Reviewers and journalists can watch for upcoming releases in their beat, and game retailers can track announcements from the studios their customers follow.

For these uses, keep feeds organised by supplier or subject, and assign someone to review them weekly. The same feeds can supply a shop’s own “new arrivals” page or social posts, as long as they link to the shop’s own product pages for titles in stock.

Professional users benefit from keeping a short record as well. Saving announcements with their expected release dates in a shared list or spreadsheet turns the feed into a simple release calendar, which helps when planning orders, reviews or promotional campaigns weeks ahead. Teams can then check the calendar in a regular meeting instead of scrolling back through weeks of feed items.

How RSS Feed Creator helps

RSS Feed Creator (Feeds) turns new-release pages of publishers, labels, studios and stores into clean RSS feeds with titles, images, summaries and dates, and uses a site’s existing feed when there is one. You can merge several sources into one feed, keep only items with the names, series or genres you follow and drop items with words you do not want. Duplicates are removed automatically and feeds refresh on their own, so new announcements reach your reader without accounts in every store. You can create a feed on the free plan.

The bottom line

New releases are announced by creators, publishers, labels, studios and stores long before they reach your recommendations. Follow those sources with RSS, turn release pages without feeds into feeds, merge them, filter by the names and series you care about and remove duplicates. You get one calm feed of what matters to you, without store accounts or promotional e-mails.

FAQ

Can I get alerts for a specific author’s new books?

Yes. Follow the author’s website or newsletter feed, and filter publisher or store release pages by the author’s name. Merging these sources gives you one feed for that author.

Do record labels and game studios have RSS feeds?

Some do, often for their news sections. Where they do not, their news or release pages can usually be turned into feeds because they list items with titles and dates.

How do I avoid duplicate alerts for the same release?

Merge your sources into one feed with duplicate removal. The same release announced by the creator, publisher and store then appears only once.

Is this useful for bookshops and libraries?

Yes. Shops and libraries can follow publishers and labels by subject, plan orders earlier and inform customers or readers about new titles from authors they follow.

Can I get a notification on my phone for important releases?

Yes. Many RSS readers and automation tools can send push notifications for a feed. Use that only for a narrow, filtered feed so notifications stay meaningful.