BFS Online Library: A Showcase and a Marketing Gift for its Authors

To help us get the year started right, we’re highlighting some of the amazing work done by our BFS volunteers and the great opportunities our members can seize. Today, dark fiction author Stephanie Ellis is here to convince you, dear writer, to submit your work to the BFS’s YouTube library.

To read or not to read, that is the question – one the BFS has been mulling over since the launch of their Online Library on YouTube. This library should be stocked to the rafters with readings, but it seems many are shy or reluctant to come forward. I’ve puzzled over this somewhat when I heard about the lack of uptake.

“Oh, but I think I look awkward,” they say, and so do I – but I did it.

“Oh, I can’t stand the sound of my voice” – neither can I, but I did it.

“Oh, but I’ll fluff my lines” – and so did I – but I did it (redoing it if it was really bad!).

See, everything you might fear or worry over, I am exactly the same, and possibly more so. I cringe every step of the way and envy those who seem to be able to come up with a really entertaining delivery: I’m looking at you, Heide Goodie and Iain Grant and your puppet! Eugen Bacon delivers straight to the camera, no backdrop, then switches the view to text, running a video of herself reading alongside. Me? I’m sat in front of my untidy bookshelves reading from my book. But as it’s a story, it’s the listening people will be doing, not the watching.

(Ed note: you can watch Steph’s reading at the bottom of this page!)

Unfortunately, writers need to be visible to sell their books

The scariest thing out there, for me as a writer, is showing my face and speaking in public, yet the visibility aspect is something we can’t fight in these days of social media and the ongoing battle to get our work noticed when so many are publishing. And it’s hard if you have no budget for advertising.

If the thought terrifies you, too, then doing a reading for the library is actually a terrific baby step. You can read and record to your heart’s content, because you are in control. And once you’ve done one, look for other places to offer your readings because – and this leads to the most important point of all – your place in the BFS Library is a wonderful bit of free promotion showcasing your writing.

There, you will find readers – though remember this is a long game so don’t get disheartened if initial views are low. Views will build over time.

Marketing is something authors complain about – it takes a lot of effort to make our work visible – but the BFS has handed us a gift we’d be daft to refuse.

And if you honestly can’t face doing your own reading, there are now many volunteers who’ll do it for you.

Or you could be like me, do your recording then watch back through your fingers and with one eye closed and then press send. 

Go on – one way or another, just do it. Let’s all help the BFS show what great writers we are.

To take part, go here: https://tinyurl.com/BFSLibrary

And if you really can’t stand to do it yourself, don’t let that stop you. The BFS has a range of readers available – professional speakers, actors and SFFH enthusiasts who can’t wait to lend their talents to your story.