One great way to advance your career as an independent author and sell more books is to win awards. It’s a long shot (since there are few winners among many candidates), but can really give you a boost if you win an award. I recommend giving it a try. Here is a list of some of the more notable award programs for self-published authors:
Eric Hoffer Book Award
eLit Book Awards
INDIES Book of the Year Awards
Next Generation Indie Book Awards
The Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs)
The IndieReader Discover Awards
The National Indie Excellence Awards
The Writers Digest Self-Published Book Award
The Best Indie Book Award
January Deadlines:
2020 Eric Hoffer Book Award
Who can enter: Small Presses, Academic Presses, Micro Presses, Self-Publishers
Entry Fee: $60.00
Awards:
* Montaigne Medal (for most thought-provoking book)
* da Vinci Eye (for superior cover art)
* First Horizon Award for debut authors
* Hoffer Grand Prize ($2,500)
* First runner up awarded for every category
* Honorable Mentions for every category
* Individual awards for micro, small, and academic presses, as well as self-published books.
* Gold Seal Certificates
* World Exposure
Categories: Art, Poetry, Chapbook, General Fiction, Commercial Fiction, Children, Middle Reader, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Mystery/Crime, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Short Story/Anthology, Romance, Culture, Memoir, Business, Reference, Home, Health, Self-Help/Spiritual, Legacy Fiction, Legacy Nonfiction, E-book Fiction, and E-book Nonfiction.
Deadline: January 21st
email: info@hofferaward.com
website: www.HofferAward.com
2020 eLit Book Awards
Who can enter: Publishers and authors worldwide creating electronic books written in English and created for the global marketplace are eligible for entry in 65 different e-Lit categories listed below. Titles published with a 2018 or 2019 copyright or that were released between January 1, 2018 and January 31, 2020.
Entry Fee: $90.00
Awards: Gold, silver, and bronze medals will be awarded in each category.
Categories: Too many to list here
Deadline: January 31st
email: aparvel@bookpublishing.com
website: http://www.elitawards.com/
INDIES Book of the Year Awards
Who can enter: The Foreword INDIES seeks to recognize independent, self-published and university authors.
Entry Fee: for each book submission are $99 for the first category and $79 for any subsequent category entrances.
Awards:
* $1,500
* A Foreword INDIES marketing toolkit
* Press releases, and announcements sent to over 10,000 media and industry professionals
* Opportunities to participate in specially branded advertising
* 500 foil seals
Announcements: Finalists announced in March, Winners June 15th.
Categories: Fantasy, General, Historical, Horror, Erotica, Literary, Humor, LGBT, Multicultural, Mystery, Religion, Science Fiction, And much more
Deadline: Website says January 15th and January 31st. I’d go by the first date.
website: https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/
February Deadlines:
Next Generation Indie Book Awards
The Next Generation Indie Book Awards claims the honor of largest not-for-profit awards program for independent publishers.
Who can enter: They accept entries from independent publishers and authors worldwide, with the stipulation that the book is published in the English language.
Entry Fee: $75 per book for the first category, and $60 per category to enter the book in any subsequent category.
Awards:
* A variety of cash awards from $100 up to $1500
* Trophies to the top winner of each of the 70 categories
* Medals to the top five finalists in each of the 70 categories
* As well as other benefits
Announcements: Finalists on website by the end of June, Winners end of May.
Categories: Fantasy, First Novel, Spirituality, Thriller, Health/Wellness, Travel/Travel Guide, Several Children’s and Juvenile book categories, Among many more
Deadline: February 14, 2020
website: http://www.indiebookawards.com/
The Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs)
Who can enter: Independent, university and self-published titles worldwide.
Entry Fee: $95 per category, with an additional fee of $55 for adding your book to a regional or e-category competition.
Awards: The IPPYs are advertised as the largest book awards competition, and prizes include gold, silver and bronze medals.
Announcements: Award ceremony held end of May.
Categories: Over 80 categories, including Best Regional Fiction, Best Regional Non-Fiction, Best First Book, Fine Art, Photography and many more.
Judging: First Impression, Design, Originality, Use of Language, Message Delivery, Relevance. Judges include experts in the fields of design, editing, reviewing, library and bookselling.
Deadline: Early bird until Nov 30, 2019 ($85) February 22, 2020.
website: http://www.ippyawards.com/
The IndieReader Discover Awards
Who can enter: The “IndieReader Discovery Awards” are open to books that have been either self published or pubbed by an independent publisher. Books have to have a valid ISBN or ASIN number. There are no restrictions on pub dates. Both eBooks and paper books can be submitted.
Entry Fee: The entry fee for the IRDAs is $149 for the first category and $50 for each additional category.
Awards: In addition to announcement coverage in top consumer (Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal) and trade publications (Publisher’s Weekly, GoodeReader), top winners of the Discovery Awards receive: Kindle Paperwhites, IndieReader and Kirkus pro reviews, A custom author website, And most importantly, first look consideration from New York City-based literature agents, Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret
Every author who enters receives a verdict, written by one of InieReaders’ professional reviewers. The verdict can be used as a promotional blurb and is a great way to add credibility to your book on your website as well as at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and GoodReads book pages.
Announcements: Winners for the 2020 IRDAs will be notified mid-May. Awards will be given at BookCon in New York City on Saturday, May 30th, 2020.
Deadline: February 28th
website: https://indiereader.com/the-discovery-awards/
March Deadlines:
The National Indie Excellence Awards
Who can enter: open to small to mid-size independent publishers, universities and self-published authors.
Entry Fee: $75 per book, per category.
Categories: True Crime, Western, Steam Punk, Fantasy, Fitness, Green Living, Home and Garden, Religion, Relationships, Leadership, And many others.
Deadline: March 31st, 2020
website: https://www.indieexcellence.com/
April Deadlines:
The Writers Digest Self-Published Book Award
Who can enter: open to any self-published author.
Entry Fee: vary between $20 and $35 per submission.
Awards: The Grand Prize Winner receives, among other prizes, $8,000 in cash. The First Prize Winner Receives $1,000 in cash.
Announcements: Top Award Winners will be notified before October 18, 2020. The top winners will be listed in the March/April 2020 issue of Writer’s Digest. All winners’ names will be listed on www.writersdigest.com after the March/April issue is published. Commentaries will be sent to entrants by December 11, 2020.
Categories: Mainstream Literary Fiction, Genre Fiction, Non-Fiction Reference, Inspirational, Life Stories (including biographies, autobiographies, family histories, and memoirs), Early Reader/Children’s Books, Middle Grade/Young Adult and Poetry.
Judging criteria: Content, Writing quality and the overall appearance, Quality of the publication.
Deadline: April 1, May 1, depending where you read it on their site. Entries must be submitted online (11:59 pm EST) or postmarked by May 1, 2020; all books must deliver within 5 days of the final deadline.
website: https://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/self-published-book-awards
October Deadlines:
The Best Indie Book Award
Who can enter: only accepts books in which the author has full right of title. If a book is not independently or self-published, it cannot be entered.
Entry Fee: $50 per category per book.
Awards: Prestige and a nice trophy.
Announcements: Winners announced December 30th
Categories: Action/Adventure, Fantasy/Paranormal, Literary/Mainstream, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Non-Fiction, Novella/Short Story Collection, Romance, Science Fiction/Dystopian, Young Adult, Children.
Judging criteria: Storytelling ability, Engagement, Transitions, Pace, Dialogue, Grammar, Among others.
Deadline: October 31st.
website: https://bestindiebookaward.com/live/enter-the-best-indie-book-award/
#JeffreyDMontanye #SelfPublishing
Jeffrey David Montanye
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