If you’re at all active in the bookish sphere of social media, chances are you’ve at least seen the acronym SPFBO floating around. It’s the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, an annual contest in which 300 self-pubbed fantasy books are chosen (out of many more that were submitted) and distributed among 10 book bloggers for review—so that’s 30 books per person. Over the course of the contest’s first round, each blogger selects a single book out of their 30 to move on to the next round. Then the 10 bloggers trade books amongst themselves and, over the course of the following rounds, eliminate them via kind of a bracket-style setup until a single winner remains.
Last summer, Hugh Howey announced that he would be spearheading a new sci-fi version of the contest, the SPSFC, or Self-Published Science Fiction Competition. I decided to submit Dakiti but kept my expectations very low. That’s the great thing about both of these contests—they’re completely free for everyone involved, so you have absolutely nothing to lose by submitting your book. And if it does get chosen and move on through the rounds, you get some nice extra exposure. The SPSFC ended up working a little differently than the SPFBO, with 10 teams of bloggers who would each read 10-20% of their allotted 30 books and decide on 10 to read in their entirety. Out of those 10, only 1 would be sent on to the next round.
Anyway, Dakiti got accepted as one of the initial 300 books but didn’t make it past the first round. Sure, it was a little disappointing (and I had hoped the book would do better in the cover contest), but like I said, I went in with pretty low expectations and had nothing to lose by trying.
Recently, there was a conversation going on in an indie author Facebook group I’m in—a few authors were talking about how SPFBO was getting ready to start again and wondering if it was worth it to apply. At first, I was thinking, “Well sure, it’s worth it, you’ve got nothing to lose.” But then I considered it for a minute, and the answer wasn’t so clear.
See, one of the stipulations for both of these contests is that any books submitted must be standalones or first-in-series. Sure, makes sense. But then under the submission guidelines, they also tell you to:
“Be sure you’re submitting your best work.”
Again, makes sense. High-quality books are more enjoyable for everyone involved. But here’s the thing. Unless you’ve been writing for a LONG time and have multiple series under your belt, if you’re an indie author—and especially if you’re self-published, as all of the contestants are—then it’s pretty much guaranteed that your first-in-series novel is not going to be your best work. I know mine isn’t, and that was probably part of my problem.
Confession: I’m always blown away and relieved when people actually enjoy Dakiti and want to continue reading the other books, because despite the fact that I’m still proud of it in terms of it being a foundation for the story, I can only focus on how much I know my writing improved over the course of the series and can’t help but think of it as rubbish compared to the later installments (namely Ronan and Embers).
So my answer for the indie author wondering if it was worth it to submit to SPFBO involves some reflection and self-awareness. If you’ve written a number of standalone novels over the course of several years, that’s obviously a different matter, but as a series author, I can’t speak to it. If you’ve written a trilogy and your first-in-series book is also the first book you ever wrote, chances are it’s not as well-crafted as your more recent installments (and that’s a GOOD THING—if my subsequent books were no better than my first, I’d be concerned 😅). So by all means, go ahead and submit your first book to a contest, but keep in mind that it might not perform too well.
(Side note: it doesn’t help that the SPSFC bloggers only read 10-20% of each book before deciding whether to keep it or DNF it—depending on the length and exact genre of the book, that’s hardly enough time for anything interesting to happen. But I digress.)
Anyway. In light of this train of thought, I find myself leaning more toward focusing on my standalone bounty hunter story, rather than any sort of continuation of my current series with familiar characters. Make no mistake, I will still make a valiant attempt to plot and jot down notes for both, but it seems like it would be worth it to have a standalone-yet-connected novel in my repertoire, if for no other reason than to have something new to submit for contests like these and to provide a fresh jumping-in point for new readers. The second year of the SPSFC is starting up in the next month or so, but I can’t submit Dakiti again, and I personally don’t think Fracture is first-in-series enough to count for a contest like this. But now that I’ve gotten a feel for how everything works, I don’t mind standing back, watching from afar, and waiting until I have better material to submit.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is…obviously, always do whatever you can to put out your best work. But “your best” is more than likely going to change over time, and it should. At the time it was published, Dakiti was my best work compared to all the other crazy stuff I’d written prior, but it’s certainly not my best anymore. And nobody’s “best” is the same as someone else’s “best.” It may be that your “best” isn’t quite as polished as another author’s, but your storyline is more fun and the reviewers or contest judges like that better. Or maybe it’s vice versa.
The contest itself, however, isn’t the point. The point is knowing yourself. Recognizing how you’ve grown and improved as a writer. Recognizing how you can improve further and what steps you can take to succeed. I’m honestly super excited to see what I can do with this standalone bounty hunter story now that I’ve got 5 other books under my belt, each of which has progressively gotten better than the last (if I do say so lol—that’s one of the few things I’m capable of objectively acknowledging about my work).
Do your best. And then do better after that. And after that.
(Note: if you’re a self-pubbed sci-fi author and you’re interested in applying for the SPSFC this year, it looks like author submissions for 2022 open July 15. Find all the info HERE)
