Hugh Howey

Bestselling author of Wool and other books. Currently sailing around the world.

The SPSFC continues!

Welcome back to the Self-Published Science Fiction Competition! Now in its second year!

In case you missed it last year, you may be wondering what in the world is the SPSFC? Well, it’s an opportunity to shine a great big laser beam on wonderful works of self-pubbed science fiction.

For a few years now, Mark Lawrence has been organizing a contest known as the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. Science fiction authors and bloggers have been clamoring for something similar. So we made it ourselves. Just bigger, faster, stronger. Scouring the world for amazing scifi, and whittling down 300 entrants to just 7 finalists over the span of a year.

The format is simple:

Ten book blogger / judging teams, 300 science fiction novels, a year of reading and reviewing. At the end we have one winner. Next year, we will do it all over again. And again. And again.

The winner gets a badge and a raygun trophy. Most importantly, they get heaps of recognition and bragging rights. All the finalists and many of the entries will naturally get more eyeballs on their books, which is what authors and eye-eating aliens crave the most.

Some rules:

1) Your book must be a standalone or the first in a series.
2) One book per author. So send your best!
3) It must be a novel, not an anthology.
4) The book must be self-published and available for purchase now.
5) Works must be at least 40,000 words.

For more information on the competition rules or the results of the first ever #SPSFC, or for a general gander, you can check out the website here.

Our 2021 finalists:

Our 2021 winner:

Applications forms for the SPSFC 2022:

Applications for Authors and Judges are now open.

Note: Applications close July 31st.

What authors need to know:

Ebooks will need to be sent in .epub format. If we get over 300 submissions, we will winnow them down based on very subjective slush-pile criteria + time of submission. ie. Early bird gets the bookworm.

What reviewers need to know:

Applications are now open to be one of our ten reviewer teams! As a former book blogger and reviewer, I know what you’re in for. It will be a lot of work, but if you enjoy helping readers find hidden gems, it will be rewarding.

1 reply to “The SPSFC continues!”

Hugh and Duncan: Thanks for setting up this great competition! My coauthor, Jack Lyster, and I were thrilled to be part of it. The reviews posted by the judging teams were both informative and excellent–and helped us get the word out about our book. I’m eager to support this year’s upcoming competition, so I’m going to volunteer to be a member of one of the teams for 2022. Good luck to all the writers entering the second annual SPSFC!

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