Take part in the 2020 Fantasy Indie Reading Challenge
Are you looking to expand your horizon and discover your new favorite author? Take part in the 2020 Fantasy Indie Reading Challenge! I’ll admit, it gets daunting sometimes to choose from the many, many self-published books out there. While there are gems waiting for you to be discovered, not all the stories out there have the same type of quality. But fret not! With this challenge, I will help you choose among the pile of indie books so you can find your new favorite read.
Perhaps I’m a bit late to the party since we’re already well into 2020, so it’s hardly a whole year challenge anymore, but nonetheless, I think it will be fun! Since the challenge is supposed to be fun and lead to newly discovered reads and authors, there’s no pressure with how many books you read. Whether you end up completing all the challenges, half, or less, doesn’t matter.
Who knows, perhaps I won’t manage to fulfill all the challenges either. But I’ll give it my best shot and share with you my findings!
What’s next?
And so, as I begin each challenge of the Fantasy Indie Reading Challenge, I will send out suggestions for books in my mailing list and post a blog highlighting these suggestions. After I’ve finished the challenge, a review will follow for the book that I chose. Of course you can also select your own pick!
I’d love to know what books you’re reading and your thoughts on them! Whenever you start of finish a book, please let me know by emailing me (info@irismarsh.com), contacting me on goodreads or instagram, or use the hashtag #Marsh2020IndieReading on instagram.
I’d also love to add your chosen titles to the lists & credit you!
So, are you in?
Allright, before I start each new challenge, this page will be updated with links to the relevant posts. To never miss an update, you can also join my mailing list. I generally send 1 post per week, where I send you a new book review, updates on the writing challenge, and also updates on my own writing and writing tips.
2020 Indie Reading Challenges
Author from a non-native English speaking country
April 2020
There are many authors who write in English but whose mother-tongue isn’t English. While impressive that they write in a different language, it also means that the pool of books to choose from is now narrowed. So, for this challenge: find a book that is in English, but the author is not living in an English speaking country and doesn’t speak English as their native language.
Part of a series
May 2020
What is even more fun than diving into a world that the author created, is being able to read more of the characters you’ve come to love and the world you’ve become entrenched in.
Has Multiple Protagonists
May 2020
I love books written from multiple perspectives. It can give more depth to the story, and it creates a different type of tension than having a tale with 1 protagonist. Multiple protagonists are often used in romance stories, but also in epic tales.
A debut Novel
June 2020
I can imagine nothing more scary than putting out my very first novel, and look in aw at all the brave self-published writers who have published several books already. Every writer starts somewhere, so this challenge is about beginnings.
Quick read: Around 200 pages
July 2020
Sometimes you just crave a big book to spend many days engrossed in the story, and sometimes you’re more in the mood for a quick read you can finish in a weekend or even an evening.
With 5 or less reviews on Amazon
July 2020
It is tough out there for the self-published author, with the many books available on Amazon to compete with. Reviews are extremely important for authors, as the more reviews a book has, the more the algorithm picks it up and shows the book to customers. So in choosing a book, pick one with view reviews and when you’re finished, don’t forget to leave a review of your own!
A title with more than 5 words
August 2020
A little arbitrary challenge: just choose a book that has a title with more than 5 words in it. This might actually be trickier than you think: many books love their titles to be short and easy.
With 500 pages or more
September 2020
We had the quick read, and now we have the big read. Time to completely immerse yourself in a tale of epic proportions.
Diverse Protagonists
October 2020
I’ve read many books that have a male, straight character as their protagonist, and it’s nice to see that there is more and more diversity nowadays. In light of that progression, this challenge is all about reading a book with a female protagonist, but if you want, you can stretch it out even further and read a book with a protagonist who isn’t heterosexual or who doesn’t identify as either male or female.
With a number in the title
November 2020
Again quite an arbitrary challenge, but it challenges to pick a book in a different kind of way. You don’t just have to look at the description of the story and if it appeals to you, but you also have to look at the title. This might lead to you picking a different kind of book than you would otherwise.
With a dragon on the cover
November 2020
I love books about dragons! Or dragons in general. If anything, I wish I could be like Danearys and ride on my dragon, flying through the sky *sigh*. So it seemed only fitting to close the year with this challenge.
Author with the same initials as you
December 2020
This is a tricky one, and also a tricky one to make a list for. I’ll try my best to come up with a diverse list, so that you may find suggestions for your own initials. But don’t hesitate to shoot me a message with your initials; I’ll find you a nice book to read!