Impromptu writing, whatever comes...on writing or whatever the question of the day is. |
In pre-E-Book days, we respected the award-winners because we knew the awards by their titles: Pulitzer, Faulkner, Booker, Newberry, Edgar, award titles attached to major Publishers and magazines, etc. Nowadays, I look at the offering of a book and the award-winner logo confuses me, especially if I have read the book and found it to be so-so or even below that. Funny, but there must be as many awards as e-books. I exaggerate, of course. Curious, I ran a simple search and found out a few facts on why and how the awards are given. Facts: Most E-Book Awards have entry fees. around $70-150. This casts a different light on the process, and although I understand the cost problem, call me a liberal socialist all you want but I’m not comfortable with this. What most of these awards can offer is exposure. Period. If-- with a one in a million chance--you’re lucky, some agent or publisher may come after you, as award sites alert the entrants; however, sometimes, this works, and hope is what writers must work with. Unfortunately, a newly formed e-book publisher may have established an award for the publicity for itself rather than for the authors. If you have a book you want to enter in an award-winning contest, it is a good idea to check the previous award winners, and better yet, read a few of the winning books. If interested, here are the major award titles, most with websites. Writers Digest Self-Published Book Awards https://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/selfpublished Eric Hoffer Award for Independent Books https://www.hofferaward.com/HAbooks.html eLit Awards https://www.elitawards.com Independent Publisher Book Awards https://www.independentpublisher.com/ipland/IPAwards.php EPIC’s eBook Awards https://www.epicorg.com/competitions/epics-ebook-awards.html Next Generation Indie Book Awards https://www.indiebookawards.com Next Generation Indie Book Awards https://www.indiebookawards.com Indies Choice Book Awards http://bookweb.org/btw/awards/ICBA.html The National Indie Excellence Book Awards https://www.indieexcellence.com Readers’ Favorite Annual Book Award Contest https://www.readersfavorite.com Kidwell-e Festival Ebook Awards (UK) https://www.kidwellyefestival.com/ebook-awards.html IndieReader Discovery Awards http://indiereader.com/the-indiereader-discovery-awards-info ForeWord Reviews’ Book of the Year Awards Dan Poynter’s Global E-Book Awards http://globalebookawards.com USA News Best Book Awards http://www.usabooknews.com/2013usabestbookawards/2012usabestbookawards.html In addition to all of the above, e-media magazines and some of the bigger print-book awards organizations (e.g. James Beard) are opening up an e-book category in their awards programs. I wish best of luck to those of you who are brave enough to self-publish or publish in some way. Although you are already winners for tackling the craft of writing, may you all win! |