A Book Award Adds
Value to Your Book
by Sarah Bolme
Its book award application time! Book awards bring exposure
to books. Exposure generates sales. Sales mean more money in your
pocket. Pursuing those book awards that allow publishers or authors to
nominate their own titles can be a worthwhile activity for your book
marketing efforts.
The literary community hosts a myriad of book awards. These awards
differ as to who can nominate a book for an award. For some awards,
publishers or authors can nominate their books and a committee or
select group of people vote on the nominated titles. Other awards
choose to have a nominating committee decide which titles should be
considered for an award. Some awards have a select group of people
(such as retailers, teachers, or students) nominate titles. There are a
few book awards that are based on the number of copies a title has sold
or lifetime achievements of an author.
Small and self-publishers can pursue those awards that allow publishers
and authors to nominate books. Generally, these awards come with an
entry fee. These entry fees can range from $40 to $200.
While entering a book award contest is not a guaranteed win for your
entry fee, it certainly more than pays off if your book is picked for
an award. Some book award programs publish the runners-up as well as
the award winners. If your book falls into either of these categories,
you receive a marketing gem.
Book awards, like book reviews, can be harnessed to promote your title
in endless ways. One benefit of a book award over a book review is that
an award warrants press coverage. Newspapers, magazines, and
newsletters like to highlight authors and books that have won awards.
Another benefit of a book award is that consumers tend to want to read
books that have won an award. An award tells a consumer that a book is
worth the money to purchase and time spent to read it. An award signals
booksellers to purchase the book for their stores as book awards almost
always guarantee sales.
When a book award is bestowed, the award should be used repeatedly in
your marketing campaign. In addition to alerting the press about a book
award, any book award received should be posted on your website,
printed on all your marketing materials, used in advertisements, and
added to your book’s cover on subsequent print runs. Also, make sure
that you let your distributors know about the award and send an
announcement to those publishers associations and discussion groups
where you are a member.
Following is a list of a few book awards that are geared toward small
and self-publishers.
Annual Writer’s Digest International
Self-Published Book Awards. Sponsored by Writer’s Digest, these book
awards are the only awards exclusively for self-published books.
www.writersdigest.com/contests
Ben Franklin Awards™
Publishers must nominate titles.
www.pma-online.org/benfrank.cfm
NABE Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards. Various categories. No entry
fee. Benefit with NABE Membership.
http://www.bookmarketingprofits.com/PinnacleAwardsEntryForm.html
Indie Excellence National Book Awards
Awards are presented in over 50 categories. www.wmaconnect.com
ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award. Print-on-demand titles and
ebooks are accepted for nomination.
www.forewordmagazine.com/awards.asp
The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award™
This award, given by The Hurston/Wright Foundation and sponsored by
Borders Books, is the first national award presented to published
writers of African descent by the national community. Web site:
www.hurstonwright.org/legacy_award.html
Independent Publisher Book Awards
The Independent Publisher Book Awards are sponsored by the Jenkins
Group. Print-on-demand titles are acceptable. The award offers 60 award
categories. www.independentpublisher.com
The Nautilus Book Awards
These awards are sponsored jointly by Marilyn McGuire & Associates
and Independent Publisher Online. Awards are offered in 20
categories including both adult and children’s titles.
http://www.marilynmcguire.com/
nautilus/nautilus.html
Writers Notes Annual Book Awards
These awards are sponsored by Writers Notes Magazine to recognize
extraordinary books by independent publishers. Awards in 11 categories
are offered.
http://hopepubs.home.comcast.net/
awards.html
As mentioned earlier, there are a multitude of book awards given each
year. Some are specialty awards and others are more general. These are
just a sampling of the more popular and well-known book awards for
small and self-publishers. Go ahead and apply for some book awards. If
your latest book wins an award or even if it is named a runner-up, you
will have cause for celebration!
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Sarah Bolme is the director of Christian Small Publishers
Association and the owner of Crest Publications. You can contact
Sarah anytime by e-mail at cspa@christianpublishers.net. Sarah’s
newest book, Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian
Marketplace, can be found at her interesting web site: http://www.marketingchristianbooks.com