An often-overlooked tool of book marketing are book awards. Book awards not only are a way to make your book more appealing, but they will also allow more people to see it. Even just nominations for book awards can help your book and your name gain more traction.
How Book Awards Work:
Most book awards have a submission process that includes creating a profile for the author and book and usually an entry fee. You’ll find a wide range of entry fees, anywhere from free to hundreds of dollars for a single submission. Some awards might have several deadlines depending on when the book was published. These dates are extremely important as missing the upcoming one often eliminates a book from being able to apply, or at the very least seriously hurts its chances of being nominated or winning. After a submission is made, it will be reviewed by a panel of judges who will then create a nomination shortlist and from there decide a winner. After the winners and nominees have been announced, publishers can put a laurel or seal on the nominees, which help add credibility.
How You Should Apply for Book Awards:
A key part to getting nominated for or winning a book award is researching the contest beforehand. There are many book awards and book contests around the country. Each of these have their own criteria, usually relating to how the book was released or the genre of the book. Genre-specific contests are an excellent way for genres such as science fiction, fantasy, and horror books to have a better chance of winning. During your research you can also find out about past winners and the members of the judging panel.
Once you’ve found an award that is right for your book, make sure the profile you’ve created for your book is both appealing to the judges but still stands out and is wholly you. There is a fine line between conforming to what the judges want to see while still being memorable. Think of this profile as a resume of sorts, or an application. You want to show you have all the qualifications while explaining why they should choose you over someone else.
Submitting closer to the deadline, rather than the opening, can also help your book stand apart. Many judges will begin reviewing as soon as applications come in, but they do not make a decision until the end, meaning it is easy for a book submitted early to be forgotten about or lost in the crowd. However, submitting on the deadline is also dangerous as the judges might’ve reached fatigue at that point. Submitting about two weeks before the deadline is a nice middle ground that will help reviewers keep your book in mind while choosing nominees and eventually winners.
How Book Awards Help Grow Your Audience:
Having a laurel or a seal on a book announcing it to be an award winner or nominee can make a reader choose it over another book without any awards. Credibility is instantly given to books with awards on the cover, making them more appealing to readers. Aside from this, winning or being nominated for awards also makes the author more appealing by similarly lending credibility to their name. This allows for more name recognition which can lead to more publicity or a higher chance of being nominated or winning an award with the next book. Winning awards is all about building rapport with both the reviewers and the general audience, meaning your next venture into the literary world might be even more successful.
How to Put Your Book Awards on Autopilot:
If you don’t have time to manage the awards process, there is a way you can put your book awards on autopilot.
Book Award Pro is a technology service that automates it all for you: researching thousands of awards, continuously targeting your perfect matches, and professionally submitting your book for awards. This service creates a windfall of fresh promotional opportunities for your book every single month.
To learn more and get started on your award-winning journey, visit the Book Award Pro website.
