SPFBO3 puts self-published fantasy books and reviewers in the spotlight

December 29, 2017 5:37 AM

The scoreboard for the 3rd annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off has been updated to show that a 10th novel was chosen as a finalist this morning. A denser page charts the history of the event, linking to reviews of the 300 submissions, noting semi-finalists with a + sign, and highlighting finalists in green. The event is administered by Mark Lawrence, whose novel Red Sister (Tor.com review) is among the most popular traditionally-published fantasy novels of 2017. 10 fantasy fiction bloggers work throughout the year to select 10 self-published novels that all 10 will read. Their criteria can be quirky. Their favorites in the end can be near unanimous or a bit mixed.
posted by Wobbuffet (2 comments total)

I still haven't read any of last year's Self-Published Fantasy book winners or runner-ups. I have to admit that I have enough prejudice against self-published books that I'm afraid they are going to taste like badly prepared vegetables, so I'm reluctant to try them. (I did buy and read Red Sister.)
posted by puddledork at 10:38 AM on December 29, 2017

Maybe instead on just assuming you should make an effort to try reading even just one of them?

I have been pleasantly surprised by some of just years entries. But all are great, but I didn't read any that were worse than conventionally published fantasy I've suffered.

Indeed, I really appreciate people like this acting as filters for the tide of crap that comes out of self publishing.
posted by smoke at 5:18 PM on December 29, 2017 [2 favorites]