I was recently notified that I was accepted as an influencer for the Small Spec Book Awards! I have never been called an "influencer" before, so this is exciting in multiple ways.
To introduce the SSBA to you, I asked the founder and cofounder some questions about the SSBA, how it works, what it does, how you can get involved, etc. I found the SSBA through social media and immediately was sold on the idea of uplifting and promoting small and independent publishers and their books.
As this year (and next year) progresses, I will be featuring some of the nominated books on my feed and hopefully some of you will find your new favourite book in this space!
I, for one, know that my TBR will be stacked by the end of this!
What is the SSBA and what is its purpose?
L. N.: The mission of the Small Spec Book Awards is to recognize and promote independent and small press authors writing exceptional speculative fiction. We also hope our efforts will aid readers in finding superb books.
What inspired the SSBA?
L. N.: As a writer, I realized how few opportunities there are for small/indie press authors after I wrote and published Space, Collisions with Ghost City Press. We have these amazing small and independent publishers who believe in our work, do the difficult job of packaging and publishing them, and then—after all is said and done—don't have any budget leftover for marketing. Social media can only take you so far, especially now that the algorithms have gotten greedier and better at stifling certain posts. It feels like only money can get you anywhere, and that's almost never a possibility when working with a small or independent publisher. With Space, Collisions, I had precious few opportunities for reviews, interviews, or readings, and not all of those opportunities panned out. I understand pitching a micro-chapbook of stories is different than pitching a novel, but I still ended up selling the work in two bookstores, landing a few reviews and interviews, and reading at a few local events. I was so grateful to each person or organization that said yes, but it took years of hard work to open those doors.
Outside of marketing and selling books, finding opportunities to be considered for awards proved very difficult. Often I would find out I was eligible for an award after the time limit had already passed. It didn't necessarily matter, however, because my story was a tiny spec in a sea of writers, and readers and judges likely didn't know I had a story they could consider.
Fast forward to now, as I'm pitching my fantasy novel. I'm watching the tremendous uphill battle that small and independent presses (and their authors) are fighting to stay open and to turn a profit. I'm watching tremendous talent fall through the cracks. Many readers don't even know these books exist.
Then I stumbled on Mark Lawrence's SPFBO and my mind began turning at a gazillion rpms. I loved that the award's focus was on promoting self-published authors and connecting them with readers. Why isn't there something like that for small and independent presses and their authors? I wondered. So I did some research. Turns out, there are a few awards specific to small/indie presses out there, but almost all of them charge fees to enter. Other awards require membership, and you might be competing with Big 5 authors in addition to that. How can a small/indie press author, who might have a $0 budget for opportunities, possibly afford to compete for these awards? The answer: they can't.
Honestly, this frustrated me, and I was done waiting for someone else to fix the problem. I decided to do something about this gap in opportunity. That's how the SSBA was born.
Millie: This was all L. N.'s idea, but as soon as she introduced it to me, I was sold on the concept. Like L. N. said, many readers don't know about books published by small presses. Getting those books out in the world and between the hands of readers is much more challenging than with books published by one of the big 5. An award is an excellent way to bring recognition and awareness to these books and their authors.
How did you as founder and cofounder get together to create the SSBA?
L. N.: I knew I didn't want to launch this award by myself, so I considered who would be best to help me with this idea. Millie Abecassis immediately came to mind. She is the creator of #SmallPitch and has already worked tremendously hard to bring small/indie press writers together. Her expertise into the small/indie press community elevated this project to an entirely new level. I am so glad she was on board with the idea and decided to come on as cofounder.
Millie helped me fine-tune everything on the website and in the Google forms. She's also been a tremendous help with outreach and runs the Bluesky and Instagram channels for the SSBA.
Millie: I'm glad L. N. reached out and offered me the opportunity to partner with her and leverage the network I had already created to spread awareness about the SSBA. L. N. came to me with a serious project she had already given a lot of thoughts, and I was happy to help her refine the concept and rules of the SSBA. There were a lot of things to consider, so I asked a lot of questions to L. N. to help her shape the project into what it is now, while providing my own recommendations when needed.
What is a small/independent publisher? And how do they nominate books?
L. N.: For the sake of the awards, our definition of a small or independent press publisher is any publisher that is not affiliated with the Big 5. They also cannot be a vanity publisher or a hybrid publisher. Self-publishers are also excluded, but they have their own awards, as we've already established.
Our website has more information about what we consider a small or independent publisher.
Which books are eligible for the SSBA?
L. N.: We are looking for very specific things: speculative fiction (including fantasy, science fiction, and horror with speculative elements), novels (40,000-120,000 words), and published in the year prior to that year's award (so the 2025 awards will honor books published in 2024). Books must be published by a small or independent press and nominated by the publisher.
We hope to expand to more categories as the award grows.
Millie: To add to what L. N. said, we are only considering adult novels at this time. We may expend to YA and other audiences in the future, as well as other lengths and formats (novellas, short story collections, etc.). We thought it would be best to begin with a narrower scope to build momentum, and to expand later as interest in the SSBA grows. Expanding means getting more readers, more influencers, more nominations, more of everything, so we prefer to pace ourselves with an initial realistic goal, and grow when it becomes doable without overwhelming ourselves and our readers.
How can the public get involved with the SSBA?
L. N.: There are four main ways people can help us: spreading the word, volunteering as a reader, volunteering as an influencer, and nominating books.
Spreading the word: Don't have a lot of time to volunteer but still want to help us? You can spread the word. Share the SSBA on your social media accounts. Talk about the SSBA to your friends. Alert all your favorite small/indie press publishers and writers to this opportunity. Everything helps.
Volunteer as a reader: For people who are excited about excellent speculative fiction and read it voraciously, volunteering as a reader for the competition might be for you. You are the people who make this award work, so we are grateful for every reader who signs up. Not to mention, the more readers we have, the fairer the competition is for our writers.
Volunteer as an influencer: Are you invested in shouting about superb speculative books? We need influencers of all kinds to join our cause and champion our writers. You can use your platforms to write/record reviews of the winning books, interview our authors, or talk about the SSBA in general. All of it helps bring more attention to these deserving authors. You'd be doing a tremendous amount of good by directing readers to their fabulous books.
Nominate your authors' books: This one is for publishers. With no entry fee, this is an easy opportunity to support your authors. Why wouldn't you take it? No matter what, your authors are going to get attention during this competition, and that's what you need to sell books. It's good for your publishing company, and it's good for your hard-working authors. Don't pass up this chance. The deadline is January 31.
Do you have any book recommendations whilst we wait for the nominations to start coming in? (Please feel free to promote your own work here!)
L. N.: We already have two nominations for the SSBA: Bear Season by Gemma Fairclough from Wild Hunt Books and The Root of Hope by Ricardo Victoria from Shadow Dragon Press. I'd highly recommend readers start by checking out those titles.
Other than that, I could go on for days about all the amazing small/indie presses out there and the stuff they are publishing.
It's no secret that Two Dollar Radio publishes a great deal of the books that I enjoy. Their writers are powerhouses. Palaces by Simon Jacobs, Triangulum by Masande Ntshanga, and The Only Ones by Carola Dibbell are all books I would recommend. I'm so excited to read Sarah Rose Etter's The Book of X as well. I also enjoyed Taiga Syndrome by Cristina Rivera Garza from Dorthy. I picked up Graywolf Press's, The Impossible Fairy Tale by Han Yujoo and Small Beer Press's Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace. I read This House is Haunted by John Boyne after winning it in an Other Press giveaway. I'm looking forward to finally reading Tin Houses's Before the Feast by Saša
I also write speculative fiction. Most of my published work consists of flash fiction and short stories (check out "When Continents Collide," "Buried in the Ground," or "One Woman's Junk" to get an idea of what I write). I've written a fantasy novel as well. I've had some small and independent presses express their interest in my manuscript, so we'll see where that goes.
Millie: I'm going to recommend a few of my favorite indie presses: Neon Hemlock, Parliament House Press, Ghost Orchid Press, Tenebrous Press, Ghoulish Books, and Brigids Gate Press. Some books I enjoyed recently include The Dragonfly Gambit by A.D. Sui (Neon Hemlock), Oceansong by C.W. Rose (Hey Hey Books), Give Unto Us by Justin Lutz (Ghoulish Books), and Mazi by Koji A. Dae (Ghost Orchid Press). If you're into anthologies and love (or hate!) mathematics, give a try to Arithmophobia by Polymath Press. "Real Numbers" by Liz Kaufman is one of the best short stories I have ever read.
Like L. N., I write speculative fiction myself. My urban fantasy short story "The Corporate Witch" was published in the 2024 edition of the Fall Into Fantasy anthology by Cloaked Press (another great press). I also have three novellas coming soon with three indie presses. The one I'm the most excited about it Daughters of the Blue Moon that will be released by the amazing Anuci Press in early 2025. Finally, I completed a historical fantasy novel this year, that has already had some interest from literary agents. I plan to start submitting it to indie presses when they reopen in 2025 (most are closed to submissions right now), unless an agent snatches it before the end of the year!
Follow the SSBA on their social links below!
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