Promoting Yourself With your BFS Membership

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, the overwhelmed human who runs this blog (that’s me!) shows how you can use the BFS to get eyeballs on your work.

The British Fantasy Society exists to celebrate, champion, shine light on speculative fiction of all kinds—and that includes the work of its membership. Which is where I come in: Hi, I’m Lauren, and I’ve been the BFS’s volunteer Marketing, PR and Online Content Officer for about 18 months now. Yes, it’s me who’s constantly harassing people to do member profiles and write blogs for the website. Sorry not sorry.

One of the great things about being part of this community is the masses of opportunities it opens up to be seen and spread the word about what you’re up to. But it can be difficult to know where to start, so I’ve rounded up below just some of the opportunities you might want to seize with all hands and maybe even a tail or two. 

A caveat, though, before we dive in: we can’t do everything and be everything to everyone. All of this is an offer and an invitation, but we might not always be able to make it work. Best thing to do is give us plenty of notice, and to make sure your idea sits well with the ethos of the Society at large.

Let’s start with the obvious one…

Share your news

Got something to celebrate? Published something new – a book, a blog, a podcast? Nominated for an award? Just really excited to be at an event? We have a whole community of readers, listeners and viewers who’d love to know about it. 

There’s a few ways you can spread the word with us:

• Pop the details in the BFS’s Facebook group – that attracts members and non-members alike, people who are trying us out for size so to speak
• Head into the members-only Discord and let everyone know; the community there is always ready to cheerlead and shower you in congratulatory gifs
• Tag us on your social media so we can pass it on

(Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash)

There’s also the matter of the member newsletter sent by BFS Secretary David Green every month. Here’s what Dave says about that one:

“We like to celebrate news from our members, and there are a few places you can do this. One is our Facebook group and another is our Discord server. The third way is the newsletter. Although we can’t guarantee selection due to the volume of news and other items that have to go into the newsletter, my email is always ready to hear about our member’s news.

“The newsletter comes out once a month, so there isn’t a deadline for entry—unless the member has a specific date in mind. Selection hinges on what news we have to share as a society, how packed the newsletter is, and what kind of news and value it will bring our members. I try not to have every piece of news going our members’ way to have a price tag on it though; as an author myself, I’m sensitive to the need to self-promote. But, ideally, I try to bring balance to the newsletters and if you’re not selected one month, it doesn’t mean you won’t be next time.”

But what if you don’t have NEWS to share, per se? What if you’re just trying to be seen, to get your name out there? Never fear; we have something for that as well. 

Write for the blog

The BFS blog is thriving these days. For the last 18 months, I’ve been working hard to make it a place to not only meet other members, but for members to be able to wax lyrical about the things that mean the most to them. 

As a member, you have the opportunity to “pitch” a blog to the BFS via this form—all you need to do is let me know what you want to write about and why it’s relevant to our members and/or the wider speculative fiction community. Remember the BFS exists to help shine a light on British sci-fi, fantasy and horror; that doesn’t mean you have to be an author or have a book out to write for our blog. Of course, if you are an author and want to write about your work in progress, your process, what inspires you, how you create, or something incredibly geeky (I haven’t yet been pitched a love letter to stationery!), then let’s hear it. But our members would also love to know about your world, your fandom, your interests. We’ve had blogs about everything from D&D and LARPing and Buffy, to trees and forests, myth and folklore, creatures and crowdfunding and the climate crisis. If you’re not sure if it’s relevant, get in touch and let’s talk about it. 

The process is straightforward: there’s no ‘house style’ because I want to have your voice come through; I just ask for around 1000 words plus a photo of you and a bio. It’s that last bit that really helps you be seen—we can link to your website, your blog, your social media, anything that’s relevant to your membership and our community. With my marketing hat on I cry: “Think of the SEO link juice! We have great domain authority!”

Indie author Alexandra Beaumont has written a couple of blogs for us (one on how Cornish folklore inspired her current book, Dissonance of Bird Song, and one on how LARPing helps her write believable conflict scenes), and she has this advice to give: “Pick something you love, shove enthusiastic words together and embrace CHAOS. Then edit. Job done.”

Adds podcaster Chris Hawton: “Lauren wanted something about Doctor Who podcasts for the 60th anniversary, and (as my wife) she knew I had one of those and was also a consumer of plenty of others. It was a quick process; I wrote about stuff I knew well so it came together quickly, and before I knew it, it was all over the BFS’s outlets. And it ended up being one of the most read posts of 2024, and maybe even got us a few new listeners! Very exciting.”

(Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash)

And one last word from Will “WriterGoblin” McCloughlin: “When I first joined the BFS I was a little intimidated. Not just because of the wonderfully active Discord server (I have accepted just chirping in as and when I can); not just because of the expansive and long-running blog with its many posts (these are great fun to read!); but also because I’m rubbish at being passive. I decided the best way to get past my nerves was to dive in and ask if I could write something for the blog and what a delight to do that turned out to be! I decided that I’d introduce myself, and some of my philosophy and nerd out with likeminded folks in one go. The process itself was nice and simple and I would encourage every other member to give it a go as well I cannot wait until I have the free time post-uni course to do more.”

Put yourself in the member spotlight

Our blog is also home to the weekly member profile. Every Friday, we meet a member of the BFS and peer deep into their soul (or, at least, a form they filled out). This is a fantastic way to get your name out in the public domain and to draw attention to what you’re up to. And again, you do not have to be an author with books to flog; I would really love to feature more of our non-writer members as well, all those bloggers and reviewers and publishers and dare I say “influencers” that are still a massive and important part of the community. 

The same questions are put to members every week, and while they can look quite writer-focused we can definitely tweak them to fit as needed. Again, just get in touch via this form and ask to be part of it. It’s good for me to know if you have something coming up (a launch?) that you’d like to draw attention to, and I can then make sure we schedule the post for maximum impact, timing-wise. 

Contribute to community content

A final note on the blog: every month we have some regular features and they tend to be driven from the Discord server (another reason to join in?). If you aren’t yet in the Discord server, check the latest newsletter for a link, or email the secretary to request an invite.

One is our Ask an Agent column, where Laura Bennett of the Liverpool Literary Agency stands by to tackle those questions you’ve always wanted to ask about querying and the general literary landscape but never really known who to ask. 

(Side note: I’d love to do more “ask an…” columns, so if you’re a publisher, editor, content creator, podcaster, or anything to do with the biz, please wave!)

The other is our monthly community-driven blog. This is just a very clunky way to say that every month I pop a question in a dedicated Discord channel and everyone who’s interested can chat about it and provide an answer. Then, I round up the answers and publish them on the blog along with your name and any linkage you care to provide. (I used to go searching for them but it takes so darn long.)

This is another way to “be seen” online, a way to maybe get some more followers or attract readers to your work because they like the cut of your jib. (Dare I call out LINK JUICE again, my SEO friends?)

Submit to the BFS Online Library

So you’re one of those writer types among us? We have a seriously cool way for you to share your work with potential readers: the BFS Online Library. Dark fiction author Stephanie Ellis wrote about why she submitted to the library, saying: “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.”

Become a reviewer

Promotion isn’t just about shouting into the void asking people to buy your stuff; there are plenty of other ways to be seen and get your name into the world. One of them is becoming a reviewer—it gives you an excuse to share stuff on social media and in groups and show off your opinions. Become a tastemaker, maybe? Get in touch with our reviews editor Adrian and see what he needs. 

Volunteer for the BFS!

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention the volunteering. The BFS is entirely driven by volunteers—yes, even I do this for the love of the community without any money exchanging hands, and I can’t even begin to describe what this role has done for my visibility in the community. 

But the whole “driven by volunteers” thing does mean we really need help! The volunteering page lists some of our current needs—including behind-the-scenes assistants for those more shy among us who still want to help—but we’re always open to ideas. 

If you’d like to get more involved in the community, get in touch and let the Chair know what talents you can bring. For example, we’re looking for more regional events coordinators to organise in-person meetups and bookish stuff in their local area. As for me, well, I would dearly love some help with the whole marketing thing: want to get hands-on and learn more about content, about blogging, about social media, about publicity strategies in general? Yes please, I’ll take it. 

(Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash)

We’re here for you, by you, from you, with you

It can’t be said enough that the BFS is for YOU, the members. We exist to support and celebrate British speculative fiction, and to do that we need to know what you’re up to and what you need. No, we won’t think you’re a bother—we literally can’t help you if we don’t know about it. 

So, member: what are you working on? Spread the word.