I was lucky to get an interview with Becky M. She’s one of the lead judges (aka blog-head) of the #SPFBO competition and the woman behind the Becky M BookTube channel.

Please, tell us a bit about yourself…
I'm a fantasy and sci-fi fan from the UK! I have 2 cats who love to knock the books off my shelves. I have far too many unread books and an absolute weakness for sprayed edges and washi tape.

The Becky M Youtube Channel
Becky M is a UK based book lover. Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror, Apocalypse, Dystopia, and plenty more genres loved. Big Stephen King fan as well.

Year blog/channel started: 2013
Number of subscribers: 6,600
Number of videos: 846
Number of views: 1,057,619

Becky M links
The Becky M Youtube Channel
Twitter
Feel free to email: sirvinyavid@hotmail.co.uk

What got you into reviewing books?
I've been on youtube for much longer than my current channel, I was one of the early beauty youtubers from 2008! I really had issues with how the industry ended up using beauty youtubers and stopped. I realised I really enjoyed making videos though and decided on a fresh start. Books seemed like a natural progression considering the number I would get through and reviews came pretty soon after I started my new channel.

Why should I visit your Youtube channel?
I would love to say I have a theme, but my channel is really my love letter to books and reading. I might post a review, a reading vlog, a book journal update. I might review a hyped new release or a random self published book with barely any ratings because it looked fun. Everything is centred around fantasy and science fiction. You might convince me to read horror. Sometimes. Especially if there are aliens.

How long have you been a judge in the SPFBO?
This is my third year as a judge and I'm so excited to bring you videos about the books in my batch! I had applied a couple of times previously and decided to give it one more go for SPFBO7, when Mark asked for bloggers. My youtube channel has been running for a decade at this point (whaaat?), so I've got plenty of reviewing experience!

How many other judges are working with you on your batch of SPFBO books?
It's just me! I keep trying to get the cats involved but you know, opposable thumbs and all that.

I asked my cat, but he didn’t want to help either, sorry!!
Super impressive, reviewing all of those books yourself, and thank you for getting back to me as the very first judge!

Do you have any tips for those that would like to publish their reviews and/or become an SPFBO judge?
Planning, planning and planning!! You don't necessarily need to script your reviews down to the word if you do videos, but notes really help. Youtube takes a surprising amount of time so it really helps to have everything ready and a planned day to get them done! Blogging is a little more forgiving, in that you don't have to get the entire thing written at once.
I'd really recommend having a history of reviewing self published books as well! There's so much going on in the self published fantasy world that it can be overwhelming. Also, most importantly, figure out if you're going to go solo, or if you are going to join a team.

Why did you choose to review fantasy?
I don't remember a time when I didn't read fantasy! The Chronicles of Narnia are some of the earliest books I remember reading and I just kept going, I love being swept away in an entirely new world. So I'm definitely more of a fan of secondary world fantasy than fantasy set in ours (though I will recommend Rivers Of London forever). As for subgenre? Well, I'm still a huge fan of farmboy is chosen one and goes off on an adventure (if anyone can recommend farmgirl as chosen one :-). But I love uncovering new genres, the explosion of cozy fantasy has been exactly what a lot of us have needed after the last few years. I haven't gone too far into grimdark, more dipped my toes. But I'm pretty interested in most fantasy subgenres.

What challenges did you face during the creation of your Youtube channel, and how did you overcome them?
Time. Always time. That 5 minute review might have a couple of solid hours of work on it (minus reading time). Then, of course, the time it takes to read the books in the first place. Back to planning, planning, planning.
And sometimes just choosing the next book to review! The genre is huge!

Which author is your all-time absolute favorite when we talk indie publishing?
I'm having 2 :-) Firstly, Rob J Hayes, his war eternal series is utterly brilliant. Secondly, Carissa Broadbent. I never expected to fall so in love with fantasy romance (romantasy??), but I had her Daughter Of No Worlds in SPFBO 7 and I'm an unabashed fangirl at this point.

Who is your favorite author when we talk traditional publishing?
I'm not sure we can consider Stephen King as fantasy, no matter how hard I try. VE Schwab's Darker Shade Of Magic remains and absolute favourite (my grey and white kittie is named for Lila from this series).

I love Stephen King, too, and I would have let it slide, just to claim him for fantasy :-)
I do have some of his books on my shelves that I’d consider fantasy, like… —>
But sure, people think of him mainly as a horror writer…still…

Name three things that annoy you constantly in books.

• Miscommunication!! Ugh, books that would be 300 pages shorter if 2 characters spoke for 2 seconds. It always feels forced to add tension.

• Insta-love. Insta-lust I can get, but love? They don't even know each other! What if one of them snores like a train? Or smacks their mouth when chewing :-(

• Horses are not fast transport devices.

And three things that you really appreciate when authors get right.

• Friendship and found family for all the cozy feelings.

• Keeping gear, supplies clean and accounted for. It's too often glossed over, I want weapons cleaned, camps set up, rations considered.

• Dragons. Is there a right with dragons? I love it when an author makes me believe dragons can exist in their world.

Do you have a tip, or an app, tool, or resource, that you’d recommend to other judges?
A pretty notebook. Buy it and use it!

What new projects or changes to your blog are you working on?
SPFBO is going to keep me pretty busy over the next few months, but there are some themed reading vlogs I want to try. Vlogs are fun to record and are pretty well received so I want to play with the format a bit.

Do you have any dreams you’d like to share?
Of course, it would be nice to pick the winner! But I'm happy being a judge! I'd like to grow my channel, I know it's not all about the numbers but it can get a bit disheartening when a video you're really happy with doesn't do well. 2022 felt pretty stagnant for me, I didn't get a lot of movement on my channel, but 2023 is showing some signs of improvement.
I'd like to be a bit more consistent with my channel, which does help, but it's the first thing I run out of time for when life gets busy.
Meeting authors is always fun, but not really something I get to do much. I'm not near London, where so many of the events are and it's not looking like I can get Worldcon next year to work. I did meet Gareth L Powell (who is a favourite sci-fi author) randomly outside a bookshop in Bath a few years back :-)
Stephen King liking one of my reviews would, of course, be a dream. Neil Gaiman liked one of my tweets once, maybe I peaked then.

Anything else you would like to say before we close?
Don't forget to check out the #spfbo and #spfbo9 tags on Twitter, this year has barely begun and the hype has been amazing!
And thank you for having me here!

Thank you so much for being the first judge I interviewed, Becky!
I wish you the very best in the SPFBO and hope you discover some new favorite books this year.