Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off 2017 Winner

Where Loyalties Lie by Rob J. Hayes is the winner of Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off 2017. The scoring matrix is at the link.

SPFBO began with a 300-book longlist. There were ten finalists, each the top pick among 30 books reviewed by one of the participating bloggers (named in parentheses.)

Here’s how the finalists ranked after being scored by all the bloggers:

  • Where Loyalties Lie by Rob J. Hayes (Fantasy Book Review)
  • Sufficiently Advanced Magic by Andrew Rowe (Bookworm Blues)
  • Crimson Queen by Alec Hutson (Fantasy Book Critic)
  • Devil’s Night Dawning by Damien Black (Kitty G)
  • Jack Bloodfist:Fixer by James Jakins (Lynn’s Books)
  • The Way into Chaos by Harry Connolly (Ventureadlaxre)
  • The War of Undoing by Alex Perry (Pornokitsch)
  • Chaos Trims My Beard by Brett Herman (Fantasy-Faction)
  • Tiger Lily by K. Bird Lincoln (Qwillery)
  • Pilgrimage to Skara by Jonathan Pembroke (Booknest)


Mark Lawrence started the SPFBO self-published fantasy book contest three years ago.