Yes, we’ve got one, lots of folks have one. Some are consumer oriented, like the Caldecott and the Hugo. Others, like ours, are focused on the trade. What that means is that as a finalist, your book will get the attention of wholesale and bookstore buyers, trade media, agents, librarians, and translation agencies.
There are a few trade award programs out there, like the Ben Franklin, Choice, and Booklist. What makes our award process special is that the books are judged by industry professionals. Each finalist book goes into the hands of a bookseller and a librarian. Because of these high judging standards, many librarians choose to order our entire “Gold” and “Silver” list for their collections.
Editor Raymond W. Barber, Core Collections, H. W. Wilson Co., which provides databases and reference materials to libraries said this to our managing editor Whitney Hallberg last year: “When I was at the American Library Association meeting last Summer someone in your booth promised me a copy of the issue which had your books of the year. I conduct research on best books lists and yours is an important list.”
Another reason to send your books in is the exposure. Unlike some awards that only publish online, we not only put the winning titles in print, but we celebrate them in person at BookExpo America. For this year’s contest, we’ll be in New York City. Just imagine if you’re a finalist from a tiny house, or even self-published, you could be sitting next to representatives from Sourcebooks, Abbeville, Other Press, or Conari.
Cynthia Frank, writing for the
Independent Book Publishers Association makes several other points:
If you’re a publisher, submitting your authors’ books for awards can light up your editorial and promotional passions, inspire your designer and typographer, and even open your eyes to new markets. Be sure to tell your authors that awards submissions are part of your marketing and promotion plans. Knowing you believe in their book enough to submit it for awards gives an author a nice morale boost months after the publication date, too. Because awards are often given well after a book’s release, they’re a great way to renew a title’s cachet.
Knowing that you’re going to submit a book for awards can also inspire your handling of editorial and design components and your attention to detail, to quality control, and to honing your craft.
So, if I’ve encouraged you to go for it this year – the deadline is January 15 – then here are a few tips.
Packaging: Slip your book and the entry form into a padded envelope, remove adhesive protector, and seal. That’s it.
Don’t swaddle your book in bubblewrap, don’t wrap it up like a Christmas present, and please don’t seal the envelope in tape. A book may be your baby, but to us it’s reading material, and the more difficult you make it to extract that reading material, the crankier we get.
Two Copies: Read all the submission guidelines. One of them says to include two copies; that’s so if you’re a finalist, we can send one to a librarian and one to a bookseller. If you don’t send two copies then we have to make phone calls and send emails and we get cranky.
Category: Whitney, our tireless (I won’t say cranky) managing editor and Master of the Book Awards says that she gets a lot of calls from people asking what category they should place their book in. She suggests that publishers should take a look at last year’s winners and finalists, find a book that sounds like theirs, and enter in that category. See the list at
Book of the Year 2007.
Three Cheers: Here’s to stepping up to the line; here’s to best books of 2008; and, as Cap’n Billy said, a finalist in the humor category with his book Guide to Pirate Parenting: “I like to take gold…and silver…and rum…and anything else that isn't nailed down.”