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Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off
The Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO) is an annual literary contest intended to bring greater visibility to self-published English-language fantasy authors. The SPFBO has been operated since 2015 by the author Mark Lawrence. He distributes about 300 novels submitted by the authors to ten fantasy bloggers to review. Each blogger selects a finalist, which is then reviewed by all ten bloggers. The winner is the finalist with the highest average review score. The contest has been credited with making high-quality self-published novels discoverable, and with boosting the careers of the winners. Though not the primary purpose, it has helped several authors find publishing contracts. These include Jonathan French, the 2016 winner, and Josiah Bancroft Josiah Bancroft is a writer of fantasy, known for his initially self-published debut novel ''Senlin Ascends'' (2013). Works ''Senlin Ascends'' and its sequels, the ''Books of Babel'' series, deal with the adventures of the schoolt ...
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Literary Contest
A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Many awards are structured with one organization (usually a non-profit organization) as the presenter and public face of the award, and another organization as the financial sponsor or backer, who pays the prize remuneration and the cost of the ceremony and public relations, typically a corporate sponsor who may sometimes attach their name to the award (such as the Orange Prize). Types of awards There are awards for various writing formats including poetry and novels. Many awards are also dedicated to a certain genre of fiction or non-fiction writing (such as science fiction or politics). There are also awards dedicated to works in individual languages, such as the Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( Spanish), the Camões Prize ( Portuguese), t ...
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Self-published
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (print on demand) technology. It may also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, games, video content, artwork, and zines. Web fiction is also a major medium for self-publishing. Definitions Although self-publishing is not a new phenomenon, dating back to the 18th century, it has transformed during the internet age with new technologies and services providing increasing alternatives to traditional publishing, becoming a $1 billion market.Jennifer Alsever, Fortune magazine, 30 December 2016The Kindle Effect Retrieved 9 November 2017, "...has become a $1 billion industry..." However, with the increased ease of publishing and the range of services available, confusion has arisen as to what constitutes self-publishing. In 2022, the Societ ...
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Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror fiction, horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient mythology, myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Traits Most fantasy uses magic (paranormal), magic or other supernatural elements as a main Plot (narrative), ...
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Mark Lawrence (author)
Mark Lawrence (born 1966) is an American-British novelist who wrote ''The Broken Empire'' trilogy. In 2014, Lawrence won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best novel for ''Emperor of Thorns''. He operates the annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. Biography Mark Lawrence was born in 1966, in the United States. While he was still young, his parents moved to the United Kingdom. Lawrence has a degree in physics and holds a PhD in mathematics. He is married and has four children. Lawrence is the primary carer of his disabled child Celyn, and for this reason he does not travel to promote his books or attend conventions. He works as a novelist and was a research scientist in the field of artificial intelligence. He has held secret level clearance with both US and UK governments. Since 2015, Lawrence has operated the annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off, a literary contest intended to bring greater visibility to self-published English-language fantasy authors. In 2021 Lawren ...
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Blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page. Until 2009, blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often covered a single subject or topic. In the 2010s, "multi-author blogs" (MABs) emerged, featuring the writing of multiple authors and sometimes professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, advocacy groups, and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other " microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into the news media. ''Blog'' can also be used as a verb, meaning ''to maintain or add content to a blog''. The emergence and growth of ...
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Foster's Daily Democrat
''Foster's Daily Democrat'' is a six-day (Monday–Saturday) morning broadsheet newspaper published in Dover, New Hampshire, United States, covering southeast New Hampshire and southwest Maine. In addition to its Dover headquarters, ''Foster's'' maintains news bureaus in Rochester and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. History and politics Founded by Joshua L. Foster on June 18, 1873, the paper was named after the U.S. Democratic Party, which then was the conservative and less-popular party in New England. Foster was already known, by then, as a political firebrand; one of his previous publishing ventures had been the ''States and Union'', a pro-slavery paper in nearby Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during the American Civil War. ''Foster's Daily Democrat'' for most of its history was a right-leaning paper but in recent years it has gone far to the left, endorsing Democrat candidates and supporting left-leaning political issues. As recent as 2000, however, ''Foster's'' endorsed George ...
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Fantasy Faction
Fantasy-Faction is a website and community for fans of fantasy fiction. They share news, reviews and interviews about books in the fantasy, science fiction, horror, and other speculative fiction genres. It was founded by Marc Aplin and has won or been nominated for genre awards including: * British Fantasy Award Nomination – 2013, 2014, & 2016 * World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ... Nomination – 2014 References External links * Fantasy fiction websites British entertainment websites {{fantasy-stub ...
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Josiah Bancroft
Josiah Bancroft is a writer of fantasy, known for his initially self-published debut novel ''Senlin Ascends'' (2013). Works ''Senlin Ascends'' and its sequels, the ''Books of Babel'' series, deal with the adventures of the schoolteacher Thomas Senlin, who is separated from his wife Marya at the foot of the immense Tower of Babel, and spends the rest of the narrative searching for her. The novel was uncommonly successful for a self-published work, due in large part to notice gained during the 2016 SPFBO competition, praise on social media from author Mark Lawrence, and a positive review by Emily May, a popular reviewer on Goodreads. As a result, it was republished, together with the sequel ''Arm of the Sphinx'', by Orbit Books in 2018. The third book in the series, ''The Hod King'', came out in 2019. The finale of the series, ''The Fall of Babel'', was published in 2021. Bancroft's inspirations for the story are numerous and include ''Invisible Cities'' by Italo Calvino, ''Midnight ...
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ''The Atlanta Journal'' and ''The Atlanta Constitution''. The two staffs were combined in 1982. Separate publication of the morning ''Constitution'' and the afternoon ''Journal'' ended in 2001 in favor of a single morning paper under the ''Journal-Constitution'' name. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' has its headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody, Georgia. It was formerly co-owned with television flagship WSB-TV and six radio stations, which are located separately in midtown Atlanta; the newspaper remained part of Cox Enterprises, while WSB became part of an independent Cox Media Group. ''The Atlanta Journal'' ''The Atlanta Journal'' was established in 1883. Founder E. F. Hoge sold the paper to Atlanta lawyer Hoke Smith ...
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Crown Publishing Group
The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded into publishing original content in 1936 under the Crown name, and was acquired by Random House in 1988. Under Random House's ownership, the Crown Publishing Group was operated as an independent division until 2018, when it was merged with the rest of Random House's adult programs. Crown authors include Jean Auel, Max Brooks, George W. Bush, Eitan Bernath, Deepak Chopra, Ann Coulter, Andrew Cuomo, Giada De Laurentiis, Will Ferrell (as fictional character Ron Burgundy), Gillian Flynn, Jim Gaffigan, Ina Garten, Mindy Kaling, Rachel Maddow, Jillian Michaels (personal trainer), Jillian Michaels, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Theresa Rebeck, Mark Brennan Rosenberg, Judith Rossner, Rebecca Skloot, Suzanne Somers, Martha Stewart, Jonah Goldberg, Mich ...
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Orbit Books
Orbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It is a division of Lagardère Publishing. History It was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company. In 1992, its parent company was bought by Little, Brown & Co., at that stage part of the Time Warner Book Group. In 1997, Orbit acquired the Legend imprint from Random House. In 2006, Orbit's parent company Little, Brown was sold by Time Warner to the French publishing group Hachette Livre. In summer 2006, it was announced that Orbit would expand internationally, with the establishment of Orbit imprints in the United States and Australia. Orbit Publishing Director Tim Holman relocated to New York to establish Orbit US as an imprint of Hachette Book Group USA. In June 2007, Orbit announced the appointment of Bernadette Foley as publisher for Orbit Australia, an imprint of Hachette Livre Australia. In 2009 Orbit expanded to France, used by the editor Calma ...
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Olivia Atwater
Olivia Atwater is an author based in Canada. She is best known for her ''Regency Faerie Tales'' trilogy, which comprises ''Half a Soul'' (2020), ''Ten Thousand Stitches'' (2020), and ''Longshadow'' (2021). She has also written the fantasy novel ''Small Miracles'' (2022), a novella with her husband, and non-fiction works about writing. Career Atwater started writing at a young age after being inspired by a '' Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign led by her father. She submitted her first novel to a publishing company at the age of twelve, but later decided to pursue different careers and continue writing in her spare time. She worked as a web developer, historical re-enactor, repairperson, and salesperson. After researching self-publishing, Atwater followed a friend's advice and published her debut novel, ''Half a Soul'', on her own in 2020. Inspired by British folklore, the Regency fantasy romance novel follows Theodora "Dora" Ettings, a girl who believes she was cursed after a f ...
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