Indie Book Awards – to enter, or not to?

Sometimes I’m just going… ‘Whaaaaat? Me on Always Austen again? Regina’s messed up. It can’t be me, already!’

(Note to self: Regina never messes up. She is enviably organized!!! And so… it is me. Tough luck, people!)

Anyway, we came back, yesterday, to a freezing London, from a freezing northern Virginia, where we visited my aged mum and our non-aged daughter. Even though we can ask the heating to come on the day before we’re returning – and we did – we hadn’t figured on London’s having been sooooooo cold both weeks we were away. Even our long-haired dachshunds, once picked up from Ellen’s, kept shivering. (Please note: long-haired. Our previous pair of short-haired ones would’ve been twice as shivery!) 

So, what am I thinking about, aside from whether or not to put on yet another layer?

Well, I’m still polishing my book of Austenesque novellas and short stories, to be published in February, one of which won a silver medal in last week’s Historical Fiction Company ‘Book of the Year’ awards. (Harriet: A Jane Austen Variation, my reimagining of Austen’s Emma from the points of view of Jane Fairfax and Harriet Smith, won gold.) 

So, what you’re thinking is – aside from (I hope!) ‘Good work, Alice!’ and even, ‘Wow, you win a lot of prizes’ … might be ‘Hmm. Should I be entering competitions?’ And: ‘Does winning book awards really help books sales?’

 Here’s my ‘take’, for what it’s worth… 

1. I believe that winning prizes helps sales long-term. 

In other words, if you can prove to Amazon – which I can, I can – that Susan: A Jane Austen Variation (my prequel to Lady Susan) either won or made the finals of almost every award I entered it for, you can convince some sceptics who think that self-published books = rubbish that it’s worthwhile buying yours. 

However… in the short term…

1. The Historical Fiction Company are great at publicising the finalists (in biography and every other category) but… I haven’t seen a massive amount of extra sales. This is not the HFC’s fault: This is what mostly happens.

I noticed this first in 2021, when Susan was a quarterfinalist in BookLife’s international awards – run by Publishers Weekly and maybe the most prestigious indie novel award – and when Harriet was Hon. Mention (in General Fiction) for Forward Indie’s “Book of the Year” (another mega indie award), in 2022. 

What I’m trying to write – and, being jetlagged, probably writing it rather badly – is that writers don’t get much immediate reward from doing well, even for a major writing award. So, why do I still enter them? 

First, I just feel that, given the unfair prejudice we encounter as Indies (which I might be even more conscious of than most, having been ‘big-five-published’ twice) some readers on Amazon feel reassured to see that the book has won something. (Unless you’re a household name, which also apparently reassures them, God knows why!)

Secondly, there’s a load of badly-written, unedited rubbish published by the major publishers – especially by people famous for non-literary reasons – some of which, as a full-time ghostwriter, I used to professionally improve. (I could tell you some stories that would curl your hair – if only I hadn’t sworn in blood not to! ☹!!) 

And there are also loads of excellent self-published novels. There are even some self-published authors rejecting mega-publishers because they’re already earning far more by publishing on their own – and writers traditionally published for decades electing to sell for themselves.

But there’s still a problem persuading some readers that self-published books can be really, really good. This is why I forked out for a business accommodation address and a trademarked logo for Warleigh Hall Press. Some readers are very reassured to learn that the press (ha!) is in a commercial area of central London (Holborn Viaduct, London EC!A 2BN. Except… it isn’t!) Or maybe they’re just reassured that I bothered to buy a business address at all?

In other words, I suspect that my books convert more sales because I’m able to prove to the sceptical – that some unbiased source – or, in my case, well over 50 unbiased sources – has rated one of my six novels as exceptional. But it’s hard to prove it.

I like to think that the wins makes the aggro (sometimes of posting paperbacks to the USA at £16/$24 per book – eek!) worthwhile. Whether this will always feel worthwhile… well, the jury’s out! I’d love to win the Benjamin Franklin, the Chanticleer, the BookLife or the Forword Indies’ “Book of the Year”. But I’d also  love to think I’ve done enough to prove my talent and can forget about book awards and just write.

Although – have to admit – I still get that little buzz every time I get that email, ‘Your book (X) has won the gold medal!’  (As I was writing this, Women On Writing informed me that a short story I tossed off a few months ago, not in the least Austenesque, is a finalist…) So maybe I’m just a rather sad thrill-seeker, lol, because there still is a hierarchy, and my indie books – unless I sell out and go with a publisher again – are quite simply ineligible for the really life-changing book awards (such as the Pulizer or the Booker).  While the UK Selfies – new but mega-prestigious – consider only “top-selling” British Indies, meaning indie authors making over £50,000 per annum, or even much more. (Dream on, McVeigh!)

Anyway, assuming you’re a reader, I’d love to know if prizes contribute to your decision to buy.

And if you’re also a writer, and thinking of competitions, Alli – the Alliance of Independent Authors – is your friend. They rate most of the competitions – and harshly, too! And by harshly I mean that most competitions refuse to disclose the names of their judges, for fear of disgruntled non-winning authors getting in touch with the judges – sometimes with guns. But Alli downgrades any literary competitions without full judge disclosure, which is frankly a bit mad. 

Anyway, you can make your own judgements which ones might be worth it. Poets and Writers – and even Reedsy – is also hugely useful. You don’t want to waste your time, and spare cash, entering scam competitions! 

Here are the links: 

Alliance of Independent Authors

Poets and Writers

Good luck, happy Austening, and happy New Year!!!

XXAlice

Interested in finding out why Alice wins so many book awards? 

Susan, Harriet and Darcy are in KU, as is Last Star Standing, by Spaulding Taylor. While the Music Lasts and Ghost Music are currently only available from www.alicemcveigh.com.