Many thanks all, the response was huge, 13 in the comments and a similar number by email. I really appreciate you all volunteering.
Since the goal is exposure for the authors I've favoured the more established blogs and those with a larger audience. There were 3 of 10 places to fill. And they go to:
1. Fantasy Book Review, returning after a year's rest.
2. Booknest.eu, new, but with a big following in a short time, a strong footprint on Goodreads, and a team to tackle the slush pile.
3. Kitty G on youtube, some video reviews would be a great addition and Kitty has a strong following.
On to the next stage! Let me see if there are enough book 1s out there to make this happen. After all, have used up 576 of them in the past two years...
The Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Offs 1 & 2 were a great success in terms of getting more eyes on some of the best that self-published fantasy has to offer.
Big 5 publishers have noticed our efforts and this year made offers to the winning book and at least one other that did very well in the contest.
The SPFBO involves a lot of work for the bloggers who take part.
In phase 1 which takes 6 months they agree to:
1. Put on their agent's hat and go through the slush pile of novels allocated to them (between 25 and 30 books) to find the one title they will put through to the final.
This does not mean they have to read all the books. My own agent would go through that number in a day. But hopefully they will read part of all of them and all of some.
2. Review that chosen title.
3. Select their 3 favourite covers for the cover art contest in which they will later vote.
It is hoped that they will also review some of their favorite books from the selection they were given.
In phase 2 which takes 6 months they agree to:
1. Read and score all 9 finalists from the other blogs.
2. Review their favorite.
3. Review the winner.
If their own finalist turns out to remain their favourite and to win, then they have no reviews to write in phase 2!
It is hoped they will feel moved to review some of the other finalists too,
The final result looks like THIS.
While some bloggers have had the endurance to last through two SPFBOs and be ready for a third, it can obviously be quite a lot to take on and so each year some fraction of the field opt to sit the next year out.
This year we need two new blogs (possibly three) and reserves are always handy as real life can get in the way during the course of a year.
Rather than hit up people I know I thought I'd do an open call and maybe bring in a wider range of input.
If you are a blogger, or part of a blog team, interested in taking part in SPFBO 3 (which will start in July if a sufficient number of authors enter, or will be delayed for a year if we have drained the pool of reachable talent) then either let me know by commenting here, or email me at empire_of_thorns@yahoo.co.uk
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