Authors Helping Authors - Mark Lawrence's Self-published Blogger Challenge

Well, if you snooze you loose, and so this event is already closed, but I think it is worth talking about anyway. Mark sent me an email about this last Sunday, but I already had an "Authors Helping Authors" post for that day, and when I went to write this post, it had already closed. Doh!

So what is/was it?  Well Mark was helping to get some publicity for well-deserved self-published authors by utilizing the fantasy book blogging community. Here's how it works:

• He assembled a team of 10 bloggers
• Accepted 250 (actually 275 before it closed) self-published books
• Assigned each blogger 25 books at random
• Asked the bloggers to act as "agents" in that they wouldn't read all the books but would pick one to move to the "next round."
• After six months, the bloggers (who are free to review any books they  were assigned) deliver their verdict.
• The pooled books from round 2 will be looked at by the bloggers who will rate them on a scale from 1 - 10
• Totally the scores will give a single winner which be read and reviewed by the bloggers 

You can read all about the "process" in Mark's post here.

The list of bloggers that Mark compiled are:

1. Sarah Chorn of Bookworm Blues
2. Steve Diamond &co at the Hugo-winning Elitist Book Reviews
3. Mark Aplin &co of the award winning Fantasy Faction
4. Mihir Wanchoo of Fantasy Book Critic
5. Lynn Williams of Lynn's Books
6. Milo of The Fictional Hangout
7. Bob Milne of Beauty in Ruins
8. Ria of Bibliotropic
9. Tyson Mauermann of The Speculative Book Review 
10. The guys at Fantasy Book Review

So, why still post about this if the event is closed?  Well, a few reasons. First, I want to give a shout out to Mark and all the bloggers for their generosity of spirit. I believe what goes around comes around and hopefully you, fine readers, will support Mark by buying one of his amazing books (See a list of them here). As to the bloggers, they are all excellent and if you are a fantasy fan and not already following them, please do. I'm sure if you check out their reviews and interviews, you'll find some great new books to explore.

The other reason why I'm posting this, as I'd like to follow this process as it goes along. I'm always looking for new indie authors to read, so I'm excited to see what is recommended.  I'll keep you posted.