How Can You Participate

September is right around the corner and the SPFM crew is gearing up for a great event! We’ve been communicating with authors for guest posts and interviews, recording podcasts, planning each piece of the event, and frantically trying to sort out our TBR stacks.

One question we’ve been getting a lot as we prepare for Self-Published Fantasy Month is, “how can I participate?” That’s a fabulous question and the answer depends on you and your interests and the platforms you use to rave about books. Below is a list of options the SPFM crew has come up with. Whether you choose all of them or just one we hope you’ll join us for a month of great self-published fantasy reads. The only general rule we ask you to live by for any of the options below is not to be offensive or demeaning. If you add a post to Twitter or Instagram and use the hashtag #SelfPubFantasyMonth we’ll be on the lookout and boost it. If you have a blog post and want to link it back to us we’ll try to boost that as well.

Read A Book

The first option, and one which doesn’t require you to do anything else online if you don’t want to is simply read a self-published fantasy book. Ultimately this is what the event is really about, introducing self-published fantasy to readers who’ve never picked one up, or to readers who are looking for another great self-pub read. We hope you’ll join us in talking about these great books but nothing says you have to…though we may really, really, really encourage it.

––

Book Reviews

Book reviews are the core of what we’ve always done with Self-Published Fantasy Month. The SPFM team is hoping to read and review at least four books each (a total of 16 books). But Self-Published Fantasy Month has never been limited to what the admins are reading and reviewing. Every year you have been invited to join-in, and this year we hope you do it in droves! Whether you’re a blogger/reviewer, an author, or simply a book lover who occasionally likes to tweet “I LOVED THIS BOOK,” if you have a platform and want to scream to the heavens about the amazing new read we all need to know about then please join us. A review can be long or short, or even just a few words. It’s really up to you. Whether you read and review one book or five, we’d love to have you.

If you have a dedicated blog you post to, feel free to download our event banner for use with your reviews or other related posts. So join the team and let’s celebrate everything self-published fantasy!

We also invite you to show off your Self-Published Fantasy Month pride by sporting our official Reviewer badge. Once you write a review, email the link to selfpublishedfantasymonth@gmail.com, and we’ll send over your badge!

––

Non-Review Posts

You’re not limited to writing book reviews. Nothing says you can’t expand into other areas. Basically you can write and post about just about anything you want related to self-published fantasy. Here’s some ideas:

• Write a top 10 list
• A post about favorite self-published authors
• A post about own voices in self-publishing
• List you’re most anticipated new releases
• Tell the world about the book that got you hooked on self-published fantasy

You see, the options are about as endless as any other topic you might blog about. If there’s something you’re itching to tell us then climb up on your soapbox and shout it to the rafters.

––

Daily Challenge

If you’re a visual person you’ll love this option! The Daily Challenge is a new feature this year and perfect for those book lovers who live to snap pictures of their favorite reads. We have a list of daily prompts to stir your imagination and put your picture crafting skills to the test.

This option is perfect for all the Instagram users out there as well as Twitter. So snap those photos, tweet those tweets, tag some authors, invite friends to join in, let’s have some fun with this one. Follow us on Instagram at @selfpubfanmonth and Twitter @SelfPubFanMonth then tag your posts with #SPFMCHALLENGE so we can find all your glorious pics!

SEPTEMBER 1ST–SEPTEMBER 30TH

––

Read Along

Another new feature this year is the Read Along. Over the course of September we will be reading the first ever #SPFBO winner, The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung! Those who participate will also be eligible to win a copy of Pulled Spat Knocked: The Amra Thetys Omnibus 1 courtesy of Michael himself. The omnibus contains the first three books in the Amra Thetys series. Three books!

SCHEDULE

We’ll be breaking this book into four chunks, and having weekly discussions over on Goodreads. Head on over to the Self-Published Fantasy Month Group and join in on the fun. We hope to see you there!

Monday, September 7th
Chapters 1-8

Monday, September 14th
Chapters 9-17

Monday, September 21st
Chapters 18-25

Monday, September 28th
Chapters 26-34, Epilogue

––

Self Promo Sundays

This one is for the authors out there. When we first started planning for this event one element we wanted to include was some way for authors to participate. You’ll see author guest posts and interviews nearly every day in September. But we recognize there are many, many authors who couldn’t be included in those posts because we only have so many days and slots to fill, and there’s only so many authors we can contact and incorporate into the event. In order to try and include as many other authors as possible we are launching Self Promo Sundays!

Self Promo Sundays will be your opportunity to post whatever shameless self promo you can think of. If you tag us on Twitter or Instagram we’ll RT and share.

*I’m already getting nervous sweats thinking about non-stop retweeting on Sundays*

We only have a few rules:

• One post a day
• No spamming
• As with everything above nothing offensive or demeaning to others.

We hope you’ll join us in September to rave about your favorite self-published fantasy and/or to try out something new. Whether you return to an old favorite, uncover a hidden gem, or discover the next classic of the genre we want to share in the experience with you. So come along as we explore new worlds together!