Fiction Uncovered promotion opens to self-published authors

09.01.14 | Sarah Shaffi - The Bookseller

Fiction Uncovered has secured funding to continue for two more years, and is opening to self-published authors for the first time in 2014.

The annual promotion, launched in 2010, celebrates the best of contemporary British fiction by selecting eight books to highlight over the summer.

While the promotion will now be open to self-published authors, if digital-only works are chosen for the promotion, physical copies will need to be available for retailers.
Sophie Rochester, c.e.o. of The Literary Platform, running the promotion, said: "It's been a balancing act because Fiction Uncovered obviously want bricks-and-mortar retailers to continue to support the promotion, but we also recognise that many authors are now choosing to self-publish, and ebook-only imprints are emerging.

"We have tried to strike a balance and accommodate as wide a pool of writing as possible, whilst also ensuring that there are eight print titles available for high street retailers and libraries  to promote."
This year’s Fiction Uncovered also hopes to get more short story collections by working with The Word Factory, a group specialising in events and masterclasses for short story writers.
2014’s chosen books will be announced in June.

Fiction Uncovered, which has received National Lottery funding for this year and next from Arts Council England’s Grants for the Arts scheme, will promote its chosen books through its website, a retail promotion, author events and its pop-up radio station, which in 2012 and 2013 was hosted by Foyles.
The scheme will also work will eight Regional Development Literature Agencies to grow audiences and support for the authors involved.

Rochester said: “We’re delighted that Fiction Uncovered will run again in 2014 and 2015, and to be able to bring this project under The Literary Platform umbrella. The promotion has great momentum and with our developing network of partnerships we look forward to growing it nationally and internationally.”
Rosa Anderson will join as Fiction Uncovered’s programme manager in 2014, having worked part-time on the promotion since its inception in 2010.

Supporters of Fiction Uncovered in previous years have included Waterstones, Foyles, Kobo, Net Galley and book discovery website Nudge. Among the books included in last year’s promotion were The Heart Broke In by James Meek (Canongate), Secrecy by Rupert Thompson (Granta) and Black Bread, White Beer by Niven Govinden (HarperCollins).