Nominations Now Open for the 2021 Christian Indie Awards

“Go after awards. An award sticker on the cover may give you an edge, and sometimes that’s the difference you need to propel your book into best-seller territory.”  ~Scott Lorenz, Book Publicist

Winning an award does give you an edge when selling your book. Research shows that having an award sticker on a book’s cover makes a difference for buyers. When book buyers are presented with two books on the same topic and one is an award winner, book buyers consistently prefer the book that has won an award.

Nominations are now OPEN for the 2021 Christian Indie Awards. Any independently published author or small publisher can nominate a Christian book published in 2019 or 2020 for the award. Nominations can be made on the Awards’ website at https://www.christianaward.com.

Check out these 10 reasons to nominate your book for the Christian Indie Awards!

Related Posts:
The Hidden Benefit of Winning a Book Award
Book Awards Help Promote Books
The Value of Book Awards

Don’t miss out on any of the great information shared in this blog. Subscribe to receive each post in your email box. Just click here.

Announcing: The 2020 Christian Indie Awards Winners!

The votes are in and counted. The winners of the 2020 Christian Indie Awards have been determined!

Christian book lovers and retailers voted on 170 nominated titles in 18 categories. The winners in each of the 18 categories are:

Bible Study

Letters from Jesus: Finding Good News in Christ’s Letters to the Churches, Paul Ellis, KingsPress        

Biography & Memoir

Growing Up Yanomamo Today: By Faith, Not by Sight, Michael Dawson, Grace Acres Press

Business & Finance

Leadership with a Servant’s Heart, Kevin Wayne Johnson, Writing for the Lord

Children’s 4-8

I Am: God’s Affirmations For Little Girls, Belinda N. Mays

Children’s 8-12

Power Up, Jessie Mattis, Elk Lake Publishing, Inc.

Christian Education

Living IN Jesus, Ben Brezina, Mark Fields, Tom Price, Greg Cleland, Christian Families Today

Christian Living

Are You a Kingdom Woman?, Dr. Elewechi Ngozi Okike, Assurance Publications Limited

Devotional

She: Delighting In The Examples Of The Women Of The Bible, Delight Thyself Design Ministries, Delight In Him Publications

General Fiction

After the Benediction, Sherabim Joy

Gift

The Greatest Things in Life, Terry Jackson, Jason Fowler, illustrator, The Peppertree Press

Historical Fiction

In Black and White, MaryAnn Diorio, Topnotch Press

Mystery & Suspense

Spiritual Warriors: The Rise of Night The Rise of Light, Nakia L. Brown, Pearly Gates Publishing, LLC

Personal Growth

Inside Of Me, Wendy Shipman

Poetry

My Little Book of Poetry and Prayer, Virginia Martin, Chad Joseph Thieman

Relationships & Family

No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope, Hal and Melanie Young, Great Waters Press

Romance

A Worthy Love, Mariah Glove

Theology

Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father’s Heart, Karl Forehand, Quoir

Young Adult

Something I Am Not, Cher Gatto, Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas

Congratulations to all the winners! The Christian Indie Awards are sponsored by the Christian Indie Publishing Association (CIPA).

Are you looking for a great book to read? Try one of the winners of the Christian Indie Awards!

Related Posts:
The 2019 Christian Indie Award Winners!
Announcing: The 2018 Christian Indie Award Winners
The 2017 Book of the Year Award Winners

Don’t miss out on any of the great information shared in this blog. Subscribe to receive each post in your email box. Just click here.

Cast Your Vote for the Christian Indie Awards!

If you read Christian books, you are invited to VOTE for the 2020 Christian Indie Awards!

You can vote online right now at www.christianaward.com. Cast your vote for one book in each of the Awards’ 18 categories.

The Christian Indie Awards aims to recognize outstanding Christian books by small publishers and independent authors. Often smaller publishers and authors produce fresh, innovative books that inspire readers and fill niche needs. Yet, these books go without recognition in an industry that recognizes bestsellers and famous personalities.

The winners of the awards are determined solely by the votes of Christian book lovers and retailers alike. The winners of the 2020 Christian Indie Awards will be announced by May 1, 2020.

The Christian Indie Awards are sponsored by Christian Indie Publishing Association (CIPA).

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

The 2019 Christian Indie Award Winners
The 2018 Christian Indie Award Winners
The 2017 Book of the Year Award Winners

Don’t miss out on any of the great information shared in this blog. Subscribe to receive each post in your email box. Just click here.

Awards Make a Difference

Before the FDA, the Good Housekeeping Institute existed. Since 1990, this team of engineers, scientists, analysts, and products experts have rigorously tested products so that Americans can rest assured they are not wasting their money.

Appearing on everything from cookware to computers to clearing supplies, the Good Housekeeping Seal of approval says that consumers can trust the product to deliver what it promises. The Good Housekeeping Seal has been around for over 100 years because it works. People trust it.

Studies show that seals of approval, awards emblems, and best-seller stickers all make a difference for consumers. Maybe you are wondering just how much of a difference they make when it comes to selling books.

Interestingly, a study done by BookNet Canada in 2018 looked at what influences book buyers’ decisions to make a purchase. This study found that award emblems were just about as influential in influencing a purchasing decision as a book’s cover design.

Numerous studies have indicated that cover design is important when choosing a book to buy. But, just how important?

The BookNet study found that 6.9% of book buyers ranked a book’s cover design as the number one influencer in their book purchasing decision. Awards and bestseller stickers or badges were reported as the number one influencer in book purchasing decisions by 6.5% of book buyers in the study.

This means that six or seven out of every hundred people will buy a book because it sports an award or bestseller sticker.

If you have been skeptical about whether a book award really makes a difference in selling a book, you can now put that question to rest. The study by BookNet Canada showed that book awards do make an impact on readers book choices.

If you have a quality book, money spent on book award entry fees is not wasted. I believe it is smart use of your money to designate a portion of your marketing dollars to entering book award contests.

There are numerous contests to enter. You can find a list of Christian book award contests at www.christianbookaward.com. A longer list of book award contests with religious categories can be found in my book Your Guide to Marketing Christian Books.

In addition, nominations are still open for the 2020 Christian Indie Awards. You can nominate your Christian book published in 2018 or 2019 at www.christianaward.com.

Related Posts:
What Influences Book Purchasing Decisions?
Are Awards Worth It?
Book Awards Help Promote Books

Don’t miss out on any of the great information shared in this blog. Subscribe to receive each post in your email box. Just click here.

Photo courtesy of Sophieja.

New Award for Christian Authors

The Christian Authors Network (CAN) is sponsoring a new award for Christian authors. The CAN Crown Awards celebrate excellence in Christian Media and Marketing by authors.

Crown Awards

The Crown Awards were first implemented in 1973 by ICVM (International Christian Visual Media) to honor the work of Christian film producers. The awards now recognize the best and highest achievement in video and film productions that are created to reflect Christian values. CAN is expanding these awards to media and marketing developed by Christian authors.

Open to both traditional and independent authors, the CAN Crown Awards purpose is to recognize, educate, and encourage excellence in marketing and promotion skills of all Christian authors.

This new award focuses on three categories of marketing excellence:

1. Visual Campaign—includes memes, social media, and physical media (print materials: postcards, posters, flyers, etc.).
2. Broadcasting —includes television, radio, podcast, or interview specific to the author or their book, series, or brand.
3. Web Presence—includes website, blog, and newsletter.

Any campaign, broadcast, or web presence entered for the CAN Crown Awards must focus on a book, book series, or brand. The marketing campaign (visual, broadcasting, web presence) must have started between February 1, 2018 and August 27, 2019. The campaign does not need to encompass the entire 18-month span, only begin within those dates to be eligible.

Nominations for this award are open from August 28 through September 28, 2019. Finalists will be announced in advance of the Crown Award Banquet. The final Crown Awards will be presented November 16, 2019 during the awards banquet at the Marriott Cool Springs in Franklin TN.

For complete guidelines and elibigility or to nominate your marketing campaign, visit https://christianauthorsnetwork.com/can-crown-awards.

Christian Indie Awards

The Christian Indie Awards is open and accepting nominations through November 15, 2019. These awards honor Christian books by small presses and independent authors.

Nominations are accepted in 18 categories for books published in 2018 or 2019. Books must be in English and available for sale in the United States.

For complete guidelines and eligibility or to nominate your book, visit https://www.christianaward.com.

Related Posts:
Is It Worth It?
The Hidden Benefit of Winning a Book Award
Book Awards Help Promote Books

Don’t miss out on any of the great information shared in this blog. Subscribe to receive each post in your email box. Just click here.