By Bowen Greenwood. So you want to enter SPSFC? The fourth annual Self-Published Science Fiction Competition, or #SPSFC4 for short, is coming up probably sometime between mid-July and August, and I want to offer some advice about how to maximize your happiness if you enter.
My credentials: I was a judge in #SPSFC3, I had a book in SPSFC2, and I got rejected from SPSFC1. I’m planning to enter a book in SPSFC4.
The following are things I think will help increase your enjoyment.
Focus on reviews and readers, not first place
Don’t think of this as, “Am I the best indie sci fi writer in the world?” Think of this as a powerful and no-cost way to get the two things you most value in the world: readers and reviews.
As a judge I posted an Amazon review for almost every book I didn’t hate, and so did most of my judging team. You’re an indie author. Amazon reviews are life and death for you. At the very least, the contest offers a shot at getting new reviews for your book.
Moreover, you get eyeballs on your book, regardless of how far it goes. Let’s be real here. A lot of the time, we writers are just desperate to have someone read our work who isn’t our mother or our spouse. SPSFC offers that.
Finally, there are “quarterfinalists” (this is an unofficial designation), semifinalists, and finalists. In the past there’s also a “best cover” contest. So even if you don’t place first, there are accolades you might get.
Don’t get too focused on whether or not you “win.” A couple Amazon reviews and a new reader make you a winner no matter how far you go.
Get your first 20% PERFECT
The first round of the contest allows judges to DNF a book (Did Not Finish) at 20 percent if it’s not working for them.
In the second SPSFC, my book never made it out of the “scout pile” (I say that instead of slush pile because slush pile feels derogatory to me), and the judge who reviewed it said it was because the first 20% didn’t match what was being promised in the blurb and the cover.
If you want to get out of the scout pile, you must not lose a reader in the first fifth of the book. So polish, polish, polish!
The beauty of being indie is that even if your book is already published (it has to be, to enter the contest) you can still revise and upload a new manuscript. Make the first 20 percent of your book lively and attention grabbing. Make the characters sympathetic. Keep the promises your blurb and your cover make.
(I’m pretty sure this advice goes for trad pub too.)
Discord
Most of the talking that goes along with SPSFC takes place on Discord. My first two times around, I tried to follow what was happening on X (then called Twitter) and FaceBook, and it resulted in not even being aware of half of the contest. For all I know, maybe more judges than one reviewed my book and I never saw it because I didn’t get into the Discord.
Participating in the Discord helps you get more of those opportunities for reviews and readers. Lots of entrants want to read along, they’re sitting there waiting for one of the other contestants to successfully make the case that “Hey, my book is the one of these you should try.” It’s an audience that inherently gives indie science fiction more credibility than the rest of the world, and they’re just waiting for you to pitch to them in Discord.
So get in there! And who knows, you might find some indie sci fi you want to read.
Audiobooks
This is highly anecdotal and just my personal opinion, but that’s what social media is for, is posting our personal opinions, so here goes: I think having an audiobook version might improve your chances of getting readers and reviewers, and maybe even going farther in the contest. Do good things for others
Be one of those people hanging around the Discord letting other authors pitch to them. Pick one of their pitches, and give the book a try. Some writer in the contest is only going to get a couple judges to read the first few pages of his book, then DNF—help that guy! Be that one more reader he gets in the contest. Give him or her some honest, authentic feedback privately if he or she wants it. I believe, when the other entrants see you reading other people’s books, they will be more inclined to choose yours. When we all choose to read a few of each other’s books, we all get more of the readership and chance for reviews we came here for. Everybody wins.
Grateful and graceful
This is a rule for indie authorship in general, not just the SPSFC, but it definitely applies to the contest as well — perhaps even moreso. With the discord, there’s more direct, real time interaction between readers and judges than there is on Amazon, so a rule that every indie author should already know is more important than ever:
Don’t argue with reviewers.
I say this not because I think contest judges are above criticism. They’re certainly not. I say this not because book reviewers should be entitled to float over the indie landscape like nobility. They certainly shouldn’t. I say this because arguing with reviewers reduces your book’s success. Not just in SPSFC, but in all fields of indie publishing.
People hear about the argument, and at least one of two things happens. Either: Conflict avoiders like me will flee far away from both sides, and that means those conflict avoiders won’t be reading your book. Or else, Conflict lovers will start drama. Then people will take up sides. And then, suddenly, everyone on the other side is telling people not to read your book. That’s the last thing you should ever want.
My opinion is, don’t argue with a reviewer in public. It’s far more likely to hurt your book’s success than help.
It’s all volunteer
No one gets paid for this. The winner gets a toy raygun paid for by a big time author and that’s literally the only money that changes hands. Judges don’t get paid or rewarded. Only one author gets even that small reward, and none of the rest get anything with any cash value. This is a 100 percent pure volunteer effort. None of us owe any of us anything.
The judges are engaged in the free act of kindness of giving to us writers the blessing we most desperately want: someone to read our labor of love. The writers are engaged in the free act of kindness of trying to give someone entertainment at no charge.
Everyone is being kind to everyone else by participating. Let’s all work together to keep that going.
Have fun!
Getting read is a joy. Every single writer who enters is guaranteed at least a couple people to read at least a little bit of that book that’s so close to your heart. Relish it. Don’t waste your SPSFC on insomnia and anxiety about whether you’ll make it out of the scout pile, or whether people like you, or anything else. If three people read 20% of your book, that’s three more readers than you had before. And trust me, I’m an indie writer too: three readers are worth getting.
Bowen Greenwood is a fourth generation Montanan, a writer and former reporter covering the police and court beat, who was the Communications Director for many government officials in Montana before taking office as the elected Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court. He is the author of the sff series The Exile War. His series the Sherman Iron Mysteries, includes nearly 300 five-star ratings on Amazon. His website is here: Books by Bowen Greenwood.