2019 Reading And Blogging Goals VII: Another Self-Pub Fantasy Month?

At the beginning of the year I posted about my 2019 Reading And Blogging Goals. I listed ten things I wanted to do this year. Wow ten. I didn’t realize it was that many until I counted it. Huh. Anyway, I listed ten things I hope to accomplish this year:

• Get caught up on my reviews
• Open the blog to review requests again
• Read more Self-pub/Indie Books
• Another Self-pub Fantasy Month?
• Finish up series I’ve started
• Dragonlance
• Warhammer 40K
• Star Wars
• Clean up the blog
• Reduce the size of my TBR

Because this isn’t simply a book review blog (I mean mostly yeah but not completely), it’s also my thoughts on books and reading and the blog in general, I’ve decided to take some time to address each one in more detail because I know you’re all riveted by it. OK, truth be told this is really to help me keep on task. Anyway, here’s the sixth deeper dive into my goals.

Another Self-Pub Fantasy Month?

This is a goal I’ve been putting a lot of thought into. Last year I designated September as Self-Published Fantasy Month here on the blog. I came up with the idea after first discovering some quality self-published fantasy books, and then starting to follow the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off #SPFBO hosted by Mark Lawrence. I quickly discovered that self-published doesn’t mean you lose quality and in fact it competes head to head with works from traditional publishing houses. I wanted to hit on that fact and make a point to focus on books and authors that may not get as much fanfare as in traditional publishing. I made the decision, created a banner, chose a month, and went with it…

And then life got in the way. My boss at work asked me to work on getting a professional certification which required me to take a semester long course at the local college (along with the usual amount of reading) and pass an exam that only has a 55% pass rate. Needless to say I was stressed and busy working on that certification (which I passed btw). This happened right as September started. I tried to stick with Self-Published Fantasy Month but the work for the course was just too much. I basically had to quit the month mid-stride and really paused the blog for a while. I kept on reading but didn’t do much in the way of reviews for a few months. I was really disappointed given the excitement I had for the month but I still feel like I made the right choice to pause.

Now I think I’m ready to give it another go. I’m really excited to read some more self-published fantasy this year and I still think devoting a month to it is a great idea. Here are my posts from last year where I first started exploring the idea and then made my final plans:

• The 2018 #SPFBO (And Maybe A Self-Pub Fantasy Month)
• Announcing Self-Published Fantasy Month
• Self-Pub Fantasy Month Update: Some Planning and Organizing
• Waiting On Self-Pub Fantasy Month: A Look At some Ratings…
• Self-Pub Fantasy Month!

The posts above should give you an idea of my thought process for the month and where I was going with it.

I only managed one review that month for The Great Restoration: A Tale of The Verin Empire, and I posted my first ever author interview with William Ray. I did still read two other books, Kingshold by D.P. Woolliscroft and The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso both of which I reviewed after the beginning of this year.

This year I want to give it another go. I’m still thinking about making September Self-Published Fantasy Month. I didn’t have any good reason for choosing that month last year except that I didn’t want to interfere with the beginning or end of #SPFBO and it just seemed to fit.

I’ve got four books I’ve already scheduled to read but I’m not gonna announce them just yet because if you know me by now you know I’m likely to change one or more of them before September. I may also try to work in some author interviews and other topics but it’s still a little early for some of those details.

I’d love it if you joined me. a few other bloggers reviewed books as part of Self-Published Fantasy Month last year and it’d be awesome to get more of you involved this year. Keep in mind I probably won’t be having events every day that I host, it’s really just a month I plan to devote to self-published fantasy. But if you decide to join in you can feel free to use the banner and I’d love it if you link back to me so I can share your posts as well.

So, if you’re interested in joining me for Self-Published Fantasy Month this year let me know. I’ll start making a list and as I settle for sure on the month and we get a little closer I’ll share more details. Until then I’d just like to get an idea for who out there join in the fun.

Oh…and Happy Reading…