BellaOnline Forums Career Fiction Writing Submitting Books for Awards

I just finished the submission of four of my books for IPPY (independent publishing) awards. I will keep my fingers crossed! The awards are a way to celebrate self-published books. I submitted my murder mystery, Aspen Allegations, plus three of my medieval romance novels.

Do you guys submit your books for awards? Which awards do you apply for? Have you ever won one and attended the ceremony?

I have never submitted a bood for awards. I would like to. How does it work? Tell us about the process and the ceremony. Thanks

Some sites offering awards are scams. I read about the IPPY award here:

http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/contests/

"- Is there an entry fee? Contrary to popular belief, an entry fee is not an indication of a questionable contest or awards program. Many legitimate contests and awards charge a fee to cover processing expenses (which sometimes include an honorarium to readers) and to fund the prize.

However, entry fees should be appropriate. Excessive entry fees can be a sign of a profit-making scheme. For book manuscripts, stories, or poems, between $5 and $25 is typical. Larger contests may charge more–the IPPY Awards, for instance, charges $75–but anything over $40 should prompt you to do some careful checking, especially if you aren’t familiar with the contest organizer."

Susan -

You bring up a great point. There are definitely some awards which have value in the industry. Then there are others like the classic "have your poem in our anthology" ones which pretty much accept every poem and then charge all the poets to buy a copy of their book with their poem in it . I admit I did that once when I was young. It was a learning experience.

So the key is to do research and see how the award is viewed by the industry. Is it considered a mark of honor? Or is it considered a worthless shiny sticker?

I know several people who have been awarded IPPYs for their books and they are thrilled with the process and the attention they've gotten after earning their award. It was their happy results that then encouraged me to try for it.

I think it's quite fair to have a cost associated with entering a book. After all, it takes quite a lot of time to attentively read through thousands of books. To have people do that for free seems extreme.

I'm an Amazon reviewer and I get deluged with hundreds of requests a week from people who want me to read those books. I don't just "skim" books - I give them my full attention. Imagine if I had to read every one! I would need five of me reading 24 hours a day. Even submissions to literary magazines often require a reading fee. Otherwise the deluge would be unmanageable.

So yes absolutely the summary is to do thorough research before entering competition for any award.