A Publisher's Conversation with Authors:'Tis the Season for Book Award Competition Entries




It is Tuesday. Time to tall turkey. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side.

Today's topic arises indeed from the fact that 'tis the season for book awards...at least, for the opening of accepting 2022 award entries. The question is whether or not to enter, how many, and which ones. After all, they cost. Are they worth it?

Here are some reasons they are worth entering:

  • Attention. The more attention your book receives, generally the better it will sell. Awards are a very positive source of attention.
  • Confirmation. You think your book is good. Your publisher through so when accepting it for publication. Winning a competition, especially the difficult ones, provides confirmation that you are right.
  • Opportunity to network. You can network at the awards ceremony, if your go. You can also send off an email to other winners and network with them that way. 
  • Promotional opportunity. You can send out announcements about the award, update your press release, put stickers on your book, write blog posts for your blog and others, and otherwise use the opportunity to rev up our promotional efforts. Often, the award comes at a time that a book is starting to lag a bit, so here is a chance for renewed life.
  • Credibility. An award is a good lead-in for a media pitch. How much easier it is to provoke the interest of a producer with an award-winning book than with just an "exciting," "novel" or "[add your own hype]" book. As well, if you are writing an article for publication, an award-winning book in the byline provides a tad more credibility.

Here are some reasons to forego entering book competitions:

  • Financial considerations. Contests cost money, and even if the amount is not all that much, it will add up. (If you do enter and win, avoid the push by some contests to get you to buy auxiliary products; you won the contest, you do not need anything else.)
  • Cost effectiveness. You are not likely to recoup the cost of the contest in increased sales, at least not immediately and not directly though, long term, depending upon how you market your book, you may. Some winners say they did not notice an increase in sale, but here at MSI Press LLC, we do often notice an increase in sales.
  • Time. While it does not take a lot of time to enter contests, it does take some time. If your time is limited, think about where best to invest the hours you do have.
  • Marketing plan. Perhaps contests are not an essential part of your marketing plans. There are many ways to market a book. Contests can be an important part of some plans, but they are not essential to book marketing in most cases. 

Which ones should you enter? This annotated list should help you make some decisions. Please note that more information is available at each of the contest's websites, and you might consider contacting some of the winners to learn their opinion.

  • Best Independent Book Award is one of the better competitions in terms of reputation and in the way in which winners are treated. The current fee is $55, which is an honest fee that likely does little more than cover actual costs. Any book published 2016 and later is eligible. Deadline is February 24. 
  • Eric Hoffer deadline closes January 21; cost is a reasonable $70. Eric Hoffer is sponsored by the US Review of Books. 
  • Book Excellence Awards takes in books on a regular basis. At $115, the cost is marginal though higher than some of the better competitions. The competition does not enjoy the same reputation as some other competitions, but they are considered legitimate awards. They do go after author winners to buy additional stuff that you probably do not need. 
  • Book of the Year (IndieFab) Award from Foreword Reviews is open for books published in 2022. The earlier the entry, the lower the cost. Less than $100, depending upon when you enter. Find the entry forms on the Foreword Reviews website. 
  • Readers’ Favorite is open until April 1. 
  • Next Generation Indie Book Awards are respected and inexpensive. 
  • Kops-Fetherling is a new competition; it is respected but has been around only a few years. There are three levels of entry fee. I would recommend the lowest: $75.
  • Pinnacle Book Achievement Award cost for entry is $50 to NABE. The deadline is right around the corner. January. 
  • IBPA’s Benjamin Franklin Award is a coveted award and hard to get. It is not expensive: $95. It is worth the entry fee whether or not you win because of the feedback that is provided.
  • Christopher Awards are hard to get. The entry, due in November, is free, but publishers have to enter the books. There is a narrow range of book topics that are acceptable.
  • IPPY is the first non-affiliated book award competition and has been running for 25 years. Open to books published 2020 and later. Fee is $95. Early bird specials in September and November, with book due by Feb of the following year. 
  • NYC Big Book Awards are on a rolling deadline; the next deadline is February 28. The cost is $99. 
  • American Book Fest used to be called the USA Best Books Award. Then, there was a merger. It is now called the American Book Fest Best Book Award. It has the advantage of offering five months of free publicity for every entry. Fee is $69-$89 (earlier is cheaper). Books published in 2020, 2021, and 2022 are eligible. Deadline is September 30, 2022.  
  • Run by the IPPY competition administrators, the Living Now contest is for lifestyle, homestyle, personal development and wellness books. Books published 2020-2022 are eligible. The Evergreen categories (health & wellness, spirituality, personal growth, and world peace) are for any books published since January 1, 2000. Fee is $75. Deadline is June 25. 
  • Literary Titan presents book awards in conjunction with its paid book reviews. It would appear that all 5-star books are given the gold award and all 4-star books the silver award. It is not clear how many books receive no award, so the competitiveness of this “competition” cannot be determined—at least, not from the outside looking in.
  • National Indie Excellence Awards has a deadline of March 31. 
  • Readers’ Choice Awards (TCK Publishing). Open now until November 6. No entry fee. No restrictions on publication date. This is a good one for older books that have not been sent to competitions before. 
  • Run by the IPPY group, Illumination Book Awards are for Christian books published January 2019 and later.  Fee is $95. Deadline is January 12. 
  • Rubery Book Awards runs out of England but is open world-wide and has a solid reputation. The fee is $60. Deadline is March 31. 
  • The Independent Press Book Award, at $125, is a bit pricier than others but still represents the costs encountered by the organization, seemingly. December 31 is the deadline. 
  • Book festivals. These are run by JM Northern out of Hollywood. They have very similar requirements and have low entry fees. You could go broke entering them all, but they do offer discounts for entering multiple competitions. I suggest sending in those in areas that in some way apply to you (where you live, where you are promoting or have promoted your books).
    • Beach Book Festival
    • Hollywood Book Festival
    • London Book Festival
    • Los Angeles Book Festival
    • New England Book Festival
    • New York Book Festival
    • Paris Book Festival
    • San Francisco Book Festival
    • Southern California Book Festival. 
The bottom line is that the contests listed above are not the super prestigious like the Pulitzer Prize. Authors cannot "enter" a book into the elite competitions. Boards of specialists nominate and select winners. However, the contests where authors can self-nominate a book do have some value and can positively affect the number of ultimate book sales.

Lesson for today's Tuesday talk: One can go broke entering every book contest; careful selection, including the decision not to enter any, is in order. Select those you can afford and the ones that are most noteworthy for your book topic. Let you pocketbook and commonsense dictate how many you enter. 



 Read more posts about publishing HERE.

 (Book available from MSI Press LLC; discount of 25% with coupon code FF25;   currently on sale for $5, but that offer will not last long).





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