Book Awards Roundup: Part II

...and some exciting awards news!!!

In Part II of this multi-part book award series, I will begin sharing specifics on some book awards and what I liked about them. In Part I of this series, I talked about identifying and vetting book awards. As a reminder, I’m not going to review awards where I had a less favorable experience. If you have a question about an award that I don’t discuss, feel free to reach out to me directly! Also, in searching for awards, I was specifically targeting awards with science fiction and/or audio awards. There are other genre specific awards out there that I did not apply for which might be great.

Regarding audiobook awards, I’m going to have a separate part just on those. I found that the toughest nut to crack, so it’s getting its own substack in the next few weeks.

In this article, I will talk about The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, The Chanticleer International Book Awards and the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Award.

The Three Awards I'm Reviewing Today

With that said, let’s get started, but first, some exciting awards news!!!

ReInception is a finalist for two more awards!

Yes, awards decisions are still rolling for ReInception, which released October of 2022, and I’m proud to announce that ReInception is a finalist for two of my favorite awards. The first is the Chanticleer International Book Awards (“CIBA”) CYGNUS Book Awards, a Division for Science Fiction. Winners will be announced at 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference, April 18th – 21st, in Bellingham, Washington.

ReInception is also finalist for the Wishing Shelf Book Awards in two categories! Books for Teenagers and Audiobook-Young Adult. Winners will be announced April 1.

My Judging Criteria

There are so many book awards out there—I discussed how to vet them last week. My judging criteria is based on some of the same elements as the pros at The Alliance of Independent Authors: Transparent judging criteria, they are not about profiteering, and winning is an achievement—i.e. not everyone wins. Other things I considered are quality of communication, how the organization helps to boost and promote its winners, whether indie authors and small presses have a fair (or any) shot, whether feedback is offered/provided, and bonus points for awards events. There are also a couple of honorable mentions here for charitable contributions. I’ll be including awards that I won and ones that I didn’t. ReInception won a lot of awards, but not all of them, and that’s a good thing—it means that award checked off the “winning is an achievement” box. And remember, just because you don’t win an award doesn’t mean you didn’t write a great book. I’ve also been a judge and judging is not an objective process. Not everyone will love your book—or maybe they loved it, but they loved something else more. Or maybe they didn’t think it was the right fit for that category. If you got something out of the process and the process was fair, entering can still teach you something. If you don’t win, don’t win with grace. Boost the authors who did win, and when you try again next time, you’ll have good karma and hopefully a few cheerleaders!

Also, Independent Author Alliance’s Book Awards and Contest Ratings takes off points for “profiteering upsell,” i.e. manuscript critiques, marketability analyses, tickets for prize giving, trophies. How I approached this depended on what the “upsell” is. If it’s a reasonable fee for award stickers, I didn’t view that as a negative. Most of us want those and it’s ok to charge for them, as long as the digital file was free and the cost was reasonable. Also, many people want things like feedback. If it was a reasonable add-on and not a “pay to play” scheme, I also viewed that favorably.

A Quick Word About Categories

Depending on the award, there can be anywhere from a few (Wishing shelf only has 11) to dozens of categories. Being mindful that each entry usually has its own fee, as long as the fees were reasonable and the other criteria were met, I viewed that neutrally. ReInception is a “new adult” novel—a “controversial” category that sits between adult and young adult and does not have its own awards category in any of the awards I’ve seen. I could enter adult, young adult, sci fi, fiction, debut, audiobook…and probably a few other categories I’ve forgotten. This can get expensive! Budget for awards as part of your promotions plan. Hopefully, all of this info will help you choose wisely.

A Word About Publishing Dates and Award Deadlines

If there is an award you have your heart set on, pay attention to the entry deadlines, entry criteria, your publication date, and consider how that might affect your application. I published ReInception on October 25, 2022. I was not thinking about awards or awards deadlines at all. As a result, I missed my chance to enter some awards or was dropping in my submission at the last minute. If awards are important to you, strongly consider a pub date earlier in the year as many awards competitions cut off entry in Q4. While a last minute entry should not affect your odds of success, I have to wonder if late-entry books fall victim to rushed reviews or judging fatigue.

And now, let’s talk about some awards!

Wishing Shelf Book Awards

Entering The Wishing Shelf Book Awards has been a phenomenal experience. Wishing Shelf (“WS”) is unique amongst book awards for many reasons that make it my top choice. This is also a UK based award, making it one of only two awards I entered outside the US.

Author Run

The first thing I love about WS is that they are author run. This is not a company that is trying to profiteer—Edward Trayer (aka Billy Bob Buttons) is a writer who is helping other writers by delivering the awards experience that he craved. He has a unique approach, giving lots of opportunities for promotion, feedback and judging by people who are target readers. The fees, whether they be for advertising or awards, are wildly reasonable. This is someone who is giving back so much more than he’s getting.

You do get a LOT of emails from Wishing Shelf, but they are clear and to the point, offering opportunities or updates.

Target Reader Judged

WS awards are reader-judged. My favorite thing about this award is that they work with schools to have children’s, young adult and teen books judged by the target audience. To be a finalist in the Teen category for Wishing Shelf means so much to me because teenagers deemed my book worthy, not adults who think teens will enjoy it.

Wishing Shelf shares the following information about their judging:

The children’s books were read and judged by children from 10 UK primary and secondary schools, the adult books by 2 Reading Groups, 1 in London and 1 in Stockholm. Over 200 readers! The books were marked according to EDITING, THEME, STYLE, COVER and, in the case of many of the children’s books, ILLUSTRATIONS. The audio books in Category 7 and 8 were also marked according to NARRATOR PERFORMANCE, SOUND QUALITY, MUSIC and SOUND EFFECTS. Every book in Category 1 - 6 which was awarded over 25/35 is a finalist. Every book in Category 7 and 8 which was awarded over 30/40 is a finalist.

They noted that this year, 30% of books entered were picked as finalists. The whole process is incredibly transparent, including disclosures about the number of entrants for each category.

Feedback

Wishing Shelf offers feedback! Few other awards do this. Knowing what worked and what didn’t is a huge opportunity for authors. Positive feedback can also make for a great book blurb. I don’t have my feedback from WS yet, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing what it looks like and to sharing my thoughts. According to WS, “Most of the books are read by a minimum of 15 readers and the feedback is usually between 300 and 1,000 words.” At 79 Euros for entry with feedback, WS offers this service for less money than most charge for entry alone.

Promotion/Advertising

In addition to offering a ton of low cost opportunities to promote your book with WS, Wishing Shelf allocates a budget to promoting its finalists:

We will also be organising a Facebook advert to market the finalists' books. We will be targeting the advert at 'readers (interest/hobby) in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand'. The budget will be $2000, so we expect to get a lot of hits for your books! 

Over the next few weeks we will be sending out a Press Release promoting the finalists to over 100 bloggers. Plus we will be promoting them within Facebook and Goodreads reader groups.

Last year, they promoted finalists and winners at the London Book Fair.

This is a lot more investment and feet on the ground than I’ve seen from almost any other book award. They offer a free digital certificate to finalists. Winners (Gold, Silver and Bronze) get gold plated medals at no additional cost. They now also offer finalist medals at cost (29 euros).

Separately, Wishing Shelf offers editorial reviews for a much lower cost than a lot of other sites, like Kirkus. This service is half off for awards entrants.

In their emails and newsletters, they offer tons of advice about how to use your awards and reviews to promote your book. They include feedback from other finalists and winners about how they successfully used the award to advance their books.

Cost

At 39 euros just to enter, this is one of the lowest cost rewards out there (and with the highest ROI). It’s 79EU for entry + quote + feedback.

Barrier to Entry

Before you can enter WS, you have to send your book title and a blurb so they can make sure yours is the sort of book WS readers might enjoy. I appreciate that they don’t waste a writer’s time or money or the judges on a book that isn’t the right fit for the award.

Charitable Opportunity

WS does a Best Book Cover award for only 5 euros and 100 percent of it goes to Blind Children UK. ReInception was a finalist for this award, and I loved that they have this option and that they make the cost to enter so low. Last year, I believe they raised over 1,000 Euros for Blind Children UK. They also did a book drive for Ukraine and donate to CustomEyes to produce Large Print Books for children with sight problems. Physical books sent to WS are donated to schools and libraries after judging.

Did I mention how much I love this award?

So, please wish me and the other Wishing Shelf finalist good luck on April 1 when the awards announcements come out. Win or lose, Wishing Shelf is a phenomenal awards experience and worth every penny!

Chanticleer International Book Awards

Since this was my other finalist announcement this week and one of my favorite awards experiences, next, I’ll talk about the Chanticleer International Book Awards, or CIBAs.

[Chanticleer offers] editorial book reviews, manuscript overviews, editorial services, writing contests, book awards, an author conference, workshops, and book marketing opportunities to help authors achieve their publishing goals. 

CIBA has awards in 16 Fiction and 7 Non-Fiction categories.

Judging

I was not able to find information about who the Chanticleer judges are, but a description of the judging process is below. They do not have any barriers to entry for authors, regardless of whether they are self or traditionally published. CIBA has clear criteria and some unique categories to compete in. Writers of Historical Fiction seem to particularly like the CIBAs as it has several categories within the genre such as within different timeframe bands (e.g. pre-1750s), Americana and Wartime Fiction.

Cost

Cost is a flat $99 per submission per category

Promotion & Advertising

CIBA has cash prizes for winners ($1,000 for grand prize and other awards for category winners) as well as promotional opportunities. They offer prize ribbons, digital badges and book stickers for winners. They promote their winners on their website, on social media and in newsletters. Winning titles are published and reviewed in the Chanticleer Reviews Magazine. Winning books also get conference exposure.

Conference & Awards Ceremony

CIBA has an awards gala that they’ve tied to a fantastic looking author’s conference. While having an awards ceremony isn’t a must have, I view it as a big positive and also an indicator that the awards are not only about profiteering. Last year, I attended the IBPA Eric Hoffer Awards gala and conference (I’ll talk about this one in a later post). It was a fantastic opportunity to learn, network and promote—I highly value this option as a part of the awards process. Sadly, I’m in New York and SO many of these seem to be in Washington! I’m very sad that I can’t make it to the CIBA gala and author’s conference this April in Washington—it’s looks like a highly informative conference with a great lineup and lots of information about the business side of being an author. I’d love to be at the gala cheering for my fellow finalists and crossing my fingers for a blue ribbon for ReInception. You need not be present to win, but I wish I could be there for the chance!

Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Award

My final review for this segment is of the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Award. First, let’s spell this right, because I keep messing up: F-O-R-E-W-O-R-D.

ReInception did not win a Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Award, but entering was a great experience. This is a very competitive and reputable award and I love that it’s specific to Indie Authors!

My biggest tip with the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Award is to keep a close eye on submission deadlines. They have a lot of wonderful opportunities for authors, and I kept missing submission deadlines! I got my book submission in at the last minute and I’m not sure how that affected my chances, but it definitely affected my pocket—earlier bird submissions are discounted!

Judging and Competition

Finalists for the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Awards are selected by Foreword’s editorial team. In 2023, they report over 2,400 entries spanning 55 genres. Final judgement is from a team of librarians and booksellers, which is incredibly cool and such great exposure for the finalists. Judges are looking for “editorial excellence, professional production, originality of the narrative, and the value the book adds to its genre.”

Promotion & Advertising

In addition to a $1,500 prize for the winning fiction and non-fiction books:

…finalists and winners can count on being seen by the librarians, booksellers, industry professionals, and book lovers that read Foreword Reviews in print and our weekly e-mail, Foreword This Week. They will also be promoted on our social media channels and have the chance to be placed on the award winners shelves at the many international events attended by the Foreword Independent Press Collective. Press releases linking finalists and winners will be sent to Foreword Reviews’s 35,000+ list of media and industry professionals.

After the announcements, we’ll provide finalists and winners with a Foreword INDIES marketing toolkit with everything you need to personalize your publicity blitz. There will be discounted fees for specifically branded ads in Foreword Reviews, as well as suggestions on how to publicize your recognition locally and nationally. Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Honorable Mention winners will also receive 500 foil seals to embellish the cover of your books.

Part of why the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Award rises to the top of my recommended list of awards is how valuable all of this exposure to librarians and book sellers is, especially to an indie author. This is a tough and important area of book marketing to crack, and the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Award seem to be doing it the most successfully.

Communication

Immediately upon entering the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Awards, I received a communication from my “liaison” with marketing tools and information about other Foreword Indie offerings. Foreword Indie reviews focuses on different genres in different issues, so my first email included information about how to submit for the Spring Issue which, among other genres, had a focus on Science Fiction. I proceeded to miss that deadline and opportunity so, unlike me, pay attention to those deadlines!

Magazine submission guidelines can be found here, and Foreword Indies also offers a professional review service called Clarion Reviews, although this is quite pricey.

And hey, you people who’ve won the Foreword Reviews INDIES Book Awards - I need to see more of you out there! A search on Insta revealed very few hits announcing winners of this award. It won’t do much for you if you don’t get the word out!

That’s All for This Week!

This is definitely going to be more spread out than I anticipated, but I hope it’s specific and helpful! If you have anything you want me to cover that I’ve missed, please drop a note in the comments or contact me:

Next week, I’ll cover at least three more awards and, for my paid subscribers, will also be releasing the next chapter of my serialized crime novel, The Collector.

At the end of this series on Book Awards, I will also discuss using the awards to promote your book!

Happy Writing!