I read a lot, a book a week mostly (biographies typically take me longer). I tend to select authors by genre (horror, crime, thrillers and biographies generally) and then by volume (they can't be that bad if they've written a few books).

The problem is that I've read most of the authors I use as "go to guys" (with the possible exception of Laurel Hamilton, who I'm inclined to think write romances, which aren't my cup of tea anyway (if you disagree I defy anyone to show me a description of guy from about book 3 or 4 on where the guy isn't described in at least slightly sexual terms)), so I've got to find another author to get into. It sort of irks me when that happens, it can be a bit of an effort.