Four Benefits of Winning a Book Award

“The best piece of advice you gave me was to enter my book into book awards.”

Of all the marketing advice this independent author had received from me, he felt that the encouragement to enter his book into book awards was the most valuable. Holding up his book, the author pointed to the new book award logo on the cover. He shared with me how winning the book award opened doors for promotion and sales opportunities.

Winning a book award provides many benefits. Following are four ways authors benefit from a book award. Winning an award:

1. Gives your book a seal of approval.
Your award sticker signals to the world that your book is excellent, that it is a quality book worth readers’ time and money.

2. Helps your book stand out from the crowd.
An award sticker gives your book’s cover bling, making it eye-catching. Additionally, studies show that when buyers are presented two books on the same topic, they will pick the one with an award sticker over the one without.

3. Brings you prestige.
When you win an award, you get to bill themselves as an award-winning author. Having this type of clout opens doors of opportunity.

4. Provides you and your book publicity opportunities.
The media will pay more attention to a pitch from an award-winning author. Winning a book award gives you additional opportunities to tell your audience about your book and persuade them to buy.

There are numerous book award contests available for authors to enter. One award, the Christian Indie Awards, sponsored by Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA) is open for nominations. This award honors Christian books by small publishers and independent authors.

If you are an independent author or a small publisher, you can nominate your book for the Christian Indie Awards. Nominations are open at www.christianaward.com.

Related Posts:
Announcing Christian Indie Awards
Book Awards Produce Winners
Receiving a Coveted Book Award

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Book Awards Produce Winners!

Nominations are open for the 2018 Christian Indie Awards! The awards are sponsored by Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA).

Christian Books published in 2016 and 2017 are eligible for nomination. For complete nomination guidelines and to nominate a book, visit www.ChristianAward.com.

Not sure if you should enter a book award? Check out these 10 reasons to do so.

Related Posts:
Announcing: Christian Indie Awards
The Value of Book Awards
What’s So Great About Book Awards?

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The 2017 Book of the Year Award Winners

The votes are in and counted. The winners of the 2017 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award have been determined!

Christian book lovers and retailers voted on 120 nominated titles in 13 categories. The winners in each of the 13 categories are:

Fiction
Always With You, Elaine Stock, Elk Lake Publishing

Historical Fiction
Dawn of Liberty: Short Story Collection, Amber Schamel, Vision Writer Publications

Romance
Forgiveness, Marianne Evans, Pelican Book Group

Christian Living
Frankly Speaking, Janet Dash-Harris, CLM Publishing

Bible Study / Theology
Stuff Jesus Never Said, Paul Ellis, KingsPress

Devotional
Getting To Know Jesus: An Invitation to Walk With The Lord Day By Day, Eric Kampmann, Beaufort Books

Biography / Memoir
The Party’s Not Over Until God Says So, V.Lynn Whitfield, Professional Woman Publishing

Relationships / Family
Handing Out Life: The Simple Way to Rewarding Relationships in All of Life, Rev. Dr. Todd A. Biermann, Halo Publishing

Children’s (age 4 to 8)
Fireflies, Ginger Sanders (author), Tracy Applewhite Broom (illustrator)

Children’s (age 8 to 12)
Paul the Apostle: A Graphic Novel, Ben Avery (author), Mark Harmon (illustrator), Beartruth Collective, LLC

Young Adult (age 12+)
Healing Rain, Katy Newton Naas, Clean Reads

Gift Book
Jesus Loves You, Christine Topjian, Lighthouse Publishing

Christian Education
Examine Your Faith! Finding Truth in a World of Lies, Pamela Christian, Protocol, Ltd

Congratulations to the winners! Thank you to everyone who voted!

The Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award is sponsored by Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA).

Looking for a great book to read next? Try one of the winners of the CSP Book of the Year Award listed here.

Related Posts:
The 2016 Book of the Year Award Winners
The 2015 Book of the Year Award Winners
The 2014 Book of the Year Award Winners

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Your Vote Needed!

If you read or sell Christian books, you are invited to VOTE for the 2017 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award.

You can vote online right now at www.BookoftheYear.net. Voting on the Book of the Year Award is open through March 31, 2017.

Although small publishers are often less well known than larger publishing houses, they produce fresh and innovative books to inspire readers or fill niche needs. The Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award honors books produced by small publishers for outstanding contribution to Christian life.

The 2017 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award features 120 books in 13 categories.

The winners of this award are determined solely by the votes of Christian book lovers and retailers alike. The winners of the 2017 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award will be announced by May 1, 2017.

The Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award is sponsored by Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA).

What are you waiting for? Go Vote! And, invite your friends to vote also!

Related Posts:
The Value of Book Awards
10 Reasons to Enter a Book Award
Do You Need an Excuse?

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Photo courtesy of Neven Krcmarek

Award to the Wise

As the Director of Christian Small Publishers Association (CSPA), the author of the award-winning Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace, and the author of this blog on marketing Christian books, I try to follow my own marketing advice.

Now admittedly, I don’t follow my advice as well as I should. (Aren’t we all guilty of this? It is so much easier to give advice then to follow it.) I really should put more effort into marketing than I do. Sadly, it is primarily time constraints that keep me from doing more.

One area that I have taken my own advice seriously is in pursuing book awards. I am pleased to announce that my book, Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace, has won another book award! It is the recipient of the Book Excellence Awards in the writing/publishing category.

Now in its third edition, Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace has now garnered five book awards. This book is truly a useful guide for authors and publishers producing Christian books.

I was surprised to discover that this most recent award program, Book Excellence Awards, charges a license fee of $149.99 to winners who want to use their award seal. This means that if I want to put the award seal on any marketing material or on the cover of my book, I must pay the licensing fee.

Now, licensing fees are not unheard of in book award programs. However, most book award programs geared toward small publishers and independently published authors do not charge a license fee to use their award seal. In fact, none of the other awards my book has won have charged a license fee.

What makes this more surprising to me is that the Book Excellence Award is brand-new. This means that this award is not yet well-known or well-recognized in the industry. Even widely known and prestigious awards like IBPA’s Benjamin Franklin Award or the IPPY Awards (Independent Publisher Awards) do not charge a licensing fee to use their award seal.

Additionally, Christian Small Publisher Association’s book award program, Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award, does not charge winners a fee to use the award seal in their marketing materials or on their book covers. That’s one more reason for you to nominate your Christian book for this award. Nominations are open through November 15, 2016, at www.bookoftheyear.net.

The Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year Award does charge for book stickers, but this is because book stickers are a physical commodity that cost money to produce.

If you have not yet pursued book awards for your book, I suggest that you do. Book awards are a great tool for additional exposure for your book and a boon to your marketing efforts when you win!

Update:  In 2017, the Book Excellence Awards decided to provide their book award seal free to the winners of the award.

Related Posts:
10 Reasons to Enter a Book Award
Do You Need an Excuse?
The Value of Book Awards

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