The big firms have little or no interest in anyone who isn’t equally as big a celebrity name, and the others only have so much time in a day to choose and promote a handful of books each year. Saying that if someone’s work can’t make it into these small circles means it isn’t worthy, is an unfair, uneducated statement guru or not.

As to the question of are the “unknown” contests worth entering for recognition, I agree with what was said above. It depends on who feels those awards mean something. If your target audience respects books that are on a certain winning list, it’s worth it. Like with anything else, it pays to do some homework and to have a good reason for whatever you do for publicity.

Amen, Inanna!!

On Ben Franklin sponsored by PMA, I had a very positive result even though my mystery did not win or place in the highly competitive mystery category. One judge loved it and as a reviewer for a newspaper, she wrote a very positive review in her paper. SO-OO, one may not win the gold but still come out on top.

And, yes, only the readers matter! I am fortunate to have a large local and tourist following for my DAFFODILS series, to the point blind and physically impaired readers (who cannot hold a book) demanded that my books be added to the FL Talking Book & Braille Library (2nd largest in the WORLD, second only to Russia. The local facility is apparently a hub for similar libraries nationwide.)

Well, not only are they adding my books to their collection but the Director convinced me to read them myself and be the keynote speaker for their annual meeting. (It didn’t take much convincing, I was flattered beyond belief and stunned speechless by the invitation!)

BTW, and this may seem catty but true, books on tape are not included in this library. Because of copyright laws, anything the Talking Book/Braille Library produce must be impossible to copy. So, their cassettes have 4 tracks per cassette, not two, and require special machines. Their catalog approaches 2 million, but does not include all the bestseller books on tape.

For example, almost all of Mary Higgins Clark’s books are in the library, only one of her daughter Carol’s. And, not calling names, virtually NONE of the books written by the Board of SinC or MWA are in their collection. Apparently, there wasn’t sufficient demand.

Oh, that was catty! But Oh, SinC and MWA deserve it, IMO! You will notice that that all of the people establishing/supporting the exclusionary rules are mid-/lower list authors. MWA’s President is a figurehead. I personally have not read a single book by any of the Boards’ members, except Donna Andrews, whose books I liked. But, she’s not in the catalog either.

But here is where we run into a couple of the complications. The first one arises when the judging of the award is called into question. For example, you say: “For me the IPPY was an acknowledgment that a reader or readers selected to judge a book contest decided my book was of a high enough level of quality to win an award.” However, I have heard numerous complaints and claims–and not just on “that list” but in writers’ forums and so forth–that many of these awards aren’t “judged” at all. People talk of seeing the books in piles unopened, of no one having enough time to read them all, of the “judging” basically being a coin-toss. True or not, if readers have an impression that an award is that cynical a scam, they certainly won’t be impressed by books that “win” it. The awards I know of that have the highest respect–the Hugos, the Nebulas, and the World Fantasy Awards, for example–have a very transparent judging process, at least to the extent that everyone is confident that the entries are actually being read and assessed.

The second complication arises when an author is looking for other value than the trust of readers (the “end-users” as computer people say). For example, Lyn, you say that your IPPY “didn’t help me get media attention, despite the efforts of a local publicist, nor did it get me new reviews.” You also report that your IPPY did not help you attain author status at the Left Coast Crime Convention. Since these were important goals for you, it seems that the value of the IPPY is at least somewhat compromised for you. What did you get from it? You state that you felt it gave you credibility with bookstores, friends, and colleagues. Do you think that monetarily, it paid for its entry fee? (Aside: I am not dissing the IPPY. I entered Mortal Touch for it.)

This is one issue with awards that require entry fees. There is nothing unusual or inherently suspicious about entry fees for competitions and awards–that is a universal practice. If winning the award has financial benefits for the author far in excess of the entry fee, then it’s a reasonable investment. Whether the award is a “cash cow” for the organization sponsoring it is really not an issue–most such organizations are non-profits, and the award may be a big fund-raiser for them. So what? The question arises if the award charges beyond its possible benefits. If an award is seen as shady or meaningless, or is so obscure that it won’t help an author with sales (directly or indirectly), than the entry fee is a waste of money no matter how much it is.

The only value that intermediaries like conventions, mass media, reviewers, authors’ groups and so on have for any author is the advantage they lend in getting books into the hands of readers. Period. That is their only value. All the “recognition” in the world by big-wigs is meaningless if it doesn’t translate to book sales. Why would you care what MWA thought if you had six million fans waiting for every book you put out? If you didn’t need (or think you needed) the MWA, mystery conventions, reviewers, and so on to attract and hold your fans, they could all pucker up and kiss your behind, couldn’t they? Because ultimately, your public is all that matters. They’re the only ones giving you money. All those awards are just a[nother] way of saying to your potential fans, “See? You can’t go wrong here. Go ahead–everyone else has!”

So, my sole criteria for valuing an award is by the effect I think it will have on my potential readers. I couldn’t care less what a “guru” thinks if that guru wouldn’t pick up one of my books to read if I was giving them away with ten dollar bills for bookmarks. Nothing matters but your readers–nothing. All the rest of this glitz and blather is simply a way to reach them.

http://blog.logicalexpressions.com/archive/2008/03/27/bring-on-the-independent-publisher-awards.aspx

I linked back to your posting, but if you don’t want me to post linked comments like this in the future, just let me know and I’ll understand.

Thanks for the thought provoking postings! I enjoy your blog.