Book competitions and book awards can be worth it…
Well I got some great news earlier this week and it was on a Monday so that helped deal with the shock of the weekend being over… The finalists for The Wishing Shelf Book Awards were announced and my book Golbo the Spider’s Amazing Vacuum Cleaner Adventure has been shortlisted in the category for 6 – 8 year olds.
Real people as book judges
The children’s books were read and judged by children in 8 UK primary and secondary schools (and adult’s books by 2 Reading Groups, 1 in London and 1 in Stockholm). The books were marked according to editing, theme, style, cover and, in the case of many of the children’s books, illustrations. The winners will be announced on April 1st, 2015. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for that, but I’m already pretty happy to have reached this far.
Many independent authors are wary of book competitions and whether they are a good investment or not (as you have to pay an entry fee). I don’t blame them for thinking that way. Some of them seem to be designed as a money-making operation rather than anything else. That’s why it’s always worth taking a good look at what you will receive in return. I’ve been pretty disappointed with a lot of them. But that doesn’t mean all are bad and if you do well it’s an immense help in promoting your books. At the very least it’s independent verification that your stuff has some merit!
Check out the Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Personally, I wholeheartedly recommend The Wishing Shelf Book Awards – and I’m not saying that just because I’ve done well! First of all the books are judged by real people – not faceless entities with no real love of books (who are grinning as they pocket your cash). In my case, I really like the fact that school children are involved in the judging process. They are the audience my books are aimed at – whenever I meet them they often seem to “get” my ideas whereas a lot of adults don’t. The other thing is that unlike other competitions, with the Wishing Shelf Book Awards , every entrant, finalist or not, gets the feedback from the judging, a catchy quote for the back of their next book or reprint and a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Another good thing is that a proportion of the Awards supports Blind Children UK and is a Patron of Reading.
Billy Bob Buttons who set up the Awards is a very successful author himself and is really helpful. There aren’t many other competitions out there where the organiser actually engages with people and listens to feedback. Considering he’s so busy with his own books I’m not really sure how he finds the time to do all this, especially since some independent authors can be quite demanding!
