Books by LR recently congratulated one of our clients on been listed as a finalist in the Book Excellence Awards!
While we took the opportunity to praise him for his success and he now has a new accolade to add to his book…the question was asked is book awards really important to authors?
We took a while to ponder a bit on the thought and here is our take on the issue:
What is a book award?
Generally, book awards are a way to publicly recognize and validate a book’s contribution to the literary world. They are hosted by various entities, and they aim at deeming a book well done or provides some celebration of a book’s excellence. There are some common and well-known book awards such as the Nobel Prize in Literature, Pulitzer Prize, such as but there are others that are more unknown as surface from time to time. However, for many authors they that discover then they have attested to the benefits from being a part of it.
How do you know if that’s the right route for you to market your book?
Book awards present a great opportunity for any kind of book because they have nearly every category available for you to choose from- whether you are fiction or non-fiction writer, self-published or traditionally published, a recently published book or on the market a few years to even unpublished manuscripts or stories. So yes, because of the variety of options available, you can find one within your niche and in-line with your goals or your chances of winning.
How to you find legitimate ones to enter?
There is no one way to determine which Book awards are best. There are the crème de la crème ones that are very rigorous to enter and appeal to a lot of scholarly and well-seasoned literates. Then there are others that are relatively easy to enter and maybe more useful to the average author. Here are a few recommendations:
- Check the criteria and ensure your book is eligible
- Compare prices to see what’s affordable- whether it’s free to enter, mid-range or very expensive
- Check the reviews – get feedback from authors
- Check history and sustainability of the awards- the longer it’s been around, most likely the more legitimate it is.
- Check for ones that has a thematic area suitable to your niche and writing whether it appeals to Indie Authors, Black authors, women authors, etc.
My last advice is to consider how you would use these accolades when won. Does your target audience see book awards winnings or finalists as important to the value of your book? Would more sales be derived if you had a book award or not?
Tune into the next article on how to use your book awards winning to market your book.
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Books by Latoyaa Roberts 