Well folks, the second Self Published Science Fiction Competition has come to an end. Rory August followed in the footsteps of last year’s winner S. A. Tholin to take home the grand prize, and three dozen bloggers collectively heave an exhausted breath and return to their TBRs and, I would imagine, a long rest and a nice drink. For SPSFC2, the work is over. And for me, my SPSFC days are over for good.

I decided some months ago that I wasn’t going to come back for a third year, for a number of reasons that I’ll get into in a little bit. But first I wanted to add a little disclaimer. All of this is based on my own personal experience (which is why it’s on my blog) and is not intended to reflect the opinions of anyone else involved in the competition, be they organiser, judge, or contestant.

Why I Became A Judge

Like most people, I first learned about the SPSFC on Twitter, thanks to following a lot of other bloggers on the site. At this point, it’s important to know two things about me. The first is that I’m always looking for good science fiction. The second is that I don’t read self-published books. I don’t enjoy reading e-books, I find new reading material through brick-and-mortar bookshops, and there’s enough traditionally published stuff out there to keep even a voracious reader like me satisfied.

However, I also like trying new things. Add in the fact that I wanted to confront my own biases about self-published books, and I was sufficiently intrigued by the competition. It also never hurts to get more involved with the blogging community, which remains infuriatingly insular at times. So I added my name to the list. Initially, I planned to be a solo judge, but it turned out that wasn’t an option. Instead, I put myself forward as a team leader, and stayed in that role for the second year (albeit it with a slightly different team makeup).

Throughout both years of the competition, my goal has been the same. Read everything put before me and judge it by the same criteria I would any other book. Ultimately, find out what the self-publishing malarkey is all about.

Breaking Down The Numbers

SPSFC1

• Read 20% of 30 books
• Voted YES on 9 books
• Voted NO on 21 books
• Read 100% of 11 books
• Read 6 additional Semifinalists
• Read 5 additional Finalists
• Rated 1 book 8/10 or higher

SPSFC2

• Read 20% of 28 books
• Voted YES on 9 books
• Voted NO on 19 books
• Read 100% of 7 books
• Read 6 additional Semifinalists
• Read 5 additional Finalists
• Rated 2 book 8/10 or higher

TOTALS

• Read 20% of 58 books (Approximately equivalent to 11 books)
• Voted YES on 18 books
• Voted NO on 40 books
• Read 100% of 40 books (quarter-,semi-, and finalists)
• Rated 3 books 8/10 or higher

The Realities Of Being A Judge

Reading roughly fifty full books’ worth of material across both years sound like a lot. And it often felt like a lot. Reading to a deadline puts a lot of pressure on when you’re struggling through a book. A couple of times I was forced to rush through books onwards the end of a phase after having trouble finishing earlier ones. I am proud to say that, once out of the slushpile phase, I did not DNF a single book. Nor did I use the Not My Style option made available in the second year. To my mind, that would be an abdication of responsibility. While personal connection to a book is a key part of the judging process, I consider myself smart enough to know good editing when I see it, and not abandon a book simply because I dislike the characters. Case in point, this year’s winner failed to hit me emotionally, but was undeniably a well put-together piece of fiction, so it still scored highly.

The other pressure came from being a team lead. In both years, my team was set back by having a judge drop out mid-contest. For perfectly good reasons, I should add. Life gets in the way of everyone eventually, but trying to maintain a steady stream of information from judges. At this point I would like to thank my fellow judges Ale, Ryan, Paul, and Athena for their hard work. There are few cats I’d rather herd than team At Boundary’s Edge.

On a personal note, my main struggle was working through so many e-books. I have a personal preference for physical media, but my shoddy eyesight made reading that many e-books an absolute nightmare. Clearly, it’s the only cost-effective way of providing copies to several dozen judges, but it’s something to consider if you’re thinking about judging this sort of contest in the future.

The State of Self-Published Science Fiction

Look around book blogs, and you’ll see hundreds of self-published books being reviewed. The SPFBO fills up within hours every year. For the inaugural SPSFC, we had a little over the desired 300 submissions. For SPSFC2, we hit a little over half that before flatlining. Either the books weren’t there, or the authors did not want to submit, perhaps being unaware of the contest. For that reason, books eliminated in the first year’s slushpile were made eligible for a second chance this year. This helped those books that ran into tough competition and poor book-judge matches the year before, but also meant that the books eliminated early on in the first year were now back to trouble us again. To me, this exposed one clear fact. The overwhelming majority of slushpile books were terrible.

Now, it’s possible that I ran into weak books both years by coincidence, but I don’t think so. So many of these books were not only weak, they were bad. Books riddled with typographical errors and poor editing. Books that were structurally all over the place. Books that couldn’t even spell the main character’s name consistently. The fact that these errors were replicated as far as the semifinals makes me think was a universal problem. Of course, many of the books were rated highly by other judges. One judge’s favourite book was eliminated in the slushpile phase of both years. There is no accounting for taste, but a lot of the problems I saw in these books could easily have ben caught by editors or proof-readers. I can only assume these books didn’t have those.

Anyone who has read my blog will know I give out four star reviews as if they’re candy, and I’m not too fussy about five stars either. The equivalent score in the SPSFC would be 8 stars and above. And yet, after reading 58 books, I only have three books that I would put in that category. Those Left Behind, by N.C. Scrimgeour. A Star Named Vega, by Benjamin Roberts, and The Last Gifts of the Universe, by Rory August. All of these books are ones I would happily recommend, and there are a couple of 7 and 7.5-rated books I’m positive on too. But 3/58 is a terrible ratio of success. For context, in two years of traditionally published books, that ratio is 56/330.

It is possible, and indeed likely, that there are brilliant self-published books out there who have not submitted to the competition. But if we are to judge purely from books submitted, then my overwhelming impression is that most self-published books aren’t worth reading. Theodore Sturgeon once claimed that 90% of everything was bad, and that therefore 90% of science fiction was bad. I don’t agree with that, but in terms of the SPSFC, he’s not far off the mark. While there are a handful of great books in the selection I’ve read, if someone asked me to recommend them a book, I would in all likelihood suggest a traditionally published one. The odds are in their favour.

Who Is The SPSFC For?

My approach to judging has been as clinical as I can manage while still allowing for a personal perspective. Often I found myself reviewing a book by pointing out its flaws. By virtue of this being a competition, it behoves a judge to say why a book is not progressing further, just as much as talking about why it made it this far. Each member of my team has different tastes, which helped balance our books, but overall we were definitely scoring our favourites lower than some other teams. This was a shock in the semifinals, as we were given poorly edited messes that had been scored higher than any of our own books. Unsurprisingly given our low baseline, our early favourites were eliminated by other teams. Even with our favourites, we were open about their weaknesses.

Other judges, however, took a different approach. I won’t name them, nor do I believe they were doing anything wrong. They were simply judging by different criteria. Some took advice such as ‘show don’t tell’ as an absolute, and judged every book by rigid metrics, with seemingly little allowance for open discussion of taste. Others chose to focus only on the positives, writing hype for each book rather than criticism. I followed reviews from other teams, but there were some for whom I couldn’t find any. The majority of teams were also reticent to show their scores in public, for a variety of understandable reasons, but which added to a sense of everything happening behind the scenes, rather than upfront.

One given reason I saw for the not showing of poor scores was to protect the dignity of writers. I have no problem saying in the open that this strikes me as incredibly dishonest. As judges, we were are asked to score these books. A negative reaction is as valid and as valuable as a positive one. If all we show is the good, then we are not helping readers find books. Furthermore, if you submit your book to a competition, you have a right to know if we did not enjoy it. I’m not going to start tagging authors in critical reviews, but honesty and integrity are key.

One thing I have noticed in both years of the competition is that the conversation surrounding the SPSFC almost entirely consists of bloggers an authors. I remain unconvinced that the competition has had an impact on readers. Initially, yes, there was a great deal of excitement. But from my own blog statistics, I can easily tell that excitement has tailed off. Few of this year’s posts reached even half of the views of the previous year’s equivalent. As a blogger, I want to get views. The SPSFC brings those, but the interaction comes from authors and bloggers, rarely from disinterested readers.

This is a problem that I think the self-published community has at large. So much of what I see is authors and bloggers supporting each other, but in a close-knit group that is utterly self-focused. It’s all very nice and friendly, but is it really reaching an audience? I’m not so sure.

Why I’m Bowing Out

The main reason I’m bowing out as a judge is because I want to get my life back. The workload isn’t too bad, but it is taking time away from things I’d rather be doing. Like writing academic essays that no one will read. Simple lack of enjoyment is enough for me to call it a day, but there were a few other factors that helped me make that decision.

As I said above, the self-published community can be very insular. I have seen numerous blogs go from the ones I read every day, to the ones that I barely touch. Why? Because they drop everything else to focus on books I’ll never read. The SPFBO was a major factor in me giving up on fantasy discussion groups. I don’t want my blog to become yet another indie mouthpiece. I’m glad I found a few good self-published authors, but I want to focus on the books I truly care about, and all of those are traditionally published.

Then there are the structural issues within the contest itself. The first year, it seemed as though Hugh Howey and Duncan Swan would be running the show. To his credit, Swan has done marvellous work, though real life has kept him distracted. As to Howey, very little can be said. Clearly, he too is busy, not least with the monstrous success of the Silo TV series. And yet his actions still have an impact on the contest he founded. Because of Howey, we became embroiled in the heated AI art debate, which is a mess on every side. Not having any clear hierarchy of command within the contest makes it all but impossible to achieve anything. This year we went through most of the finals without any coherent gathering of team scores.

This is even more of an issue when each team lead has a different idea of how things should be run. All of this is done with the best of intentions, but there have been alterations to the scoring system, debates over the rights of low-scoring judges to impact the score, and proposed major reformations to the semifinals, if they should even exist at all. The debates just go endlessly in circles, and I honestly can’t be bothered to put up with them any more.

One final point sealed the deal. In discussing the SPFBO, it was pointed out to me that the judging teams there are essentially locked in, with few opportunities for fresh judging blood. Well, lack of new opinions is the death of any competition. I have had my share of being the gatekeeper of what is and isn’t good self-published science fiction. It’s time to let someone else take up the mantle of responsibility. Maybe someone better suited to the needs of the competition.

What Am I Taking Away From The SPSFC?

As you can probably tell, I have some grievances. And yet, the experience overall has been a good one. They may be few and far between, but there are some great self-published books out there. As well as the ones I’ve already mentioned, I want to make a special congratulation to T.A. Bruno, whose books are indistinguishable from traditionally published releases, not only in content, but in presentation.

And then there’s been the people I’ve met along the way. With only a few exceptions, the authors have been a delight to engage with, even in my self-posed limited capacity. I didn’t always enjoy their books, but it was great to see the enthusiasm from them. I’ve found a bunch of new blogs to follow, and made a few friends too. I’ve even started dating one of my fellow judges. A urprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

So yeah, it’s been a rough ride these past two years. But ultimately it has been worth it. Good books, good people, and an overall good experience. My judging days may be at an end, but I hope the contest endures and goes on without me. Who knows, I might even read the next year’s winner without being forced to.