Back in May, I entered my urban fantasy novel Many Savage Moons in this year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, aka SPFBO, aka the truly wonderful contest spawned from the brain of fantasy writer extraordinaire Mark Lawrence (Prince of Thorns, The Book that Wouldn’t Burn). The contest spotlights three hundred self-published fantasy novels, with ten bloggers parsing through thirty books each to select ten finalists.
I entered Many Savage Moons in this year’s contest after it came heartbreakingly close to traditional publication: back in 2021 a literary agent that I admired offered to represent the book, and for the next twelve months I lived with my heart in my throat as editor after editor passed on Many Savage Moons. When this year’s SPFBO rolled around, I decided it was time to pick up the pieces of my broken heart and throw my book in the ring.
The experience has been wild. The social media industry behind the contest is expansive, with bloggers, youtubers, and all manner of book enthusiasts excitedly weighing in on their favorite covers, favorite first lines, favorite first chapters, and, of course, favorite full reads. One month into the contest, a fellow SPFBO contestant read Many Savage Moons and championed it on social media with a glowing review. That meant the world to me. There’s nothing more rewarding as a writer than discovering that your book genuinely connected with someone, and when that someone takes the time to share their feelings about your book with a wider audience…what more can you ask for?
The contest also led to a couple of interviews. Check out my interview with Katherine D. Graham HERE and my interview with Melinda Kucsera HERE.
As of now, I’m still waiting on my blogger’s verdict. With book tastes being so reader specific, I’m guarded about getting my hopes up. Also, there are a ton of talented authors in the contest, many of whom would be deserving finalists. Regardless of what happens, I’m glad I entered Many Savage Moons into this year’s SPFBO. The connections I’ve made with other writers across the independent publishing world have been worth it alone.
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Over the past few months, I’ve sat down to write a new newsletter for Substack multiple times, but after a few minutes of staring at the computer screen I invariably retreat and elect to continue laboring on my current fiction work-in-progress instead. Part of the reason that I started Ben Spencer Writes on Substack was because I knew in my heart-of-hearts that writing fiction wasn’t enough; I needed to tell the world about my work more consistently if ever I wanted to build an engaged readership. But does it come naturally to me, dear reader?
No, it does not.
Writing about writing is an art form. I follow a few writers on Substack—Scott Waldyn and Jennifer Baldwin, to name two—who write about what it means to be creative with beauty and insight. I feel very confident in the fiction that I put out into the world, but every time I write a newsletter or a blog post I feel that I’m doing the equivalent of hand-waving, drawing needless attention to myself in an already oversaturated attention economy. That being said, I love Substack: the platform provides a space for writers to craft meaningful, long-form pieces in an age where social media is threatening to drive the thoughtful take into extinction. I want to use Substack as a complementary arm of my writing life, although, being a writer of fiction, I think it’s going to take some time to work out the kinks.
At the outset of the newsletter, one of my goals was to write about the influences that fueled my work. While I still intend to do that, I won’t force it. Otherwise, I’ve thought about posting original works of fiction on here…for a brief spell I considered posting the whole of Many Savage Moons on Substack before releasing it to the wider world. I have big goals for my fantasy fiction, goals that are sometimes tempered by the amount of daily attention I’m able to give to my work. It could be that one day I’ll share the novelettes that I’ve written in conjunction with my epic fantasy project on Substack as a perk to those who subscribe to the newsletter.
But that day is not today.
Alright, everyone, that’s it for this month. Thanks again for subscribing to the newsletter. July 2023 was my most successful month ever as an independent author. I’m excited to see where my writing life takes me from here, and incredibly grateful to everyone who has joined me on the journey.
I am so happy to hear about your victories! This has been a long time coming, and it warms my heart to see people reading and enjoying your work. I'll definitely give the interviews a listen.
Also, thank you for the shout-out, and I also really resonated with your comment about social media threatening the "thoughtful take".