Well, firstly, who am I. I am a children’s author. My name is Edward Trayer, and I have written 17 books for toddlers, children and young adults including Felicity Brady and the Wizard’s Bookshop, I Think I Murdered Miss, Tor Assassin Hunter, even The Boy Who Piddled in His Grandad’s Slippers. And, I’m happy to say, they sell very well. Hundreds of thousands in fact, mostly direct to UK primary and secondary schools. But I’m not here today to discuss my books. I’m here to discuss book awards. For, as well as being a children’s author, I also started and now run the UK-based Wishing Self Book Awards. And, over the next page or so, I’m hoping to show you how winning a book award can help you to market your books. Not only that, I’m going to offer a little advice on how to go about picking a reputable book award to enter. And, finally, I’m also going to offer you a few tips - and highlight a few pitfalls - to help you to win. So, will winning a book award help you to sell your books? Firstly, you don’t need to win: You can be long listed, shortlisted, a finalist, a Red Ribbon winner, Gold, Silver, Bronze medalists. And, yes, any of them can help you to market your book. But only if you see it as a tool in your marketing tool box. For example, when I won the UK People’s Book Prize in 2014, I put it on my author page and I put it on the front cover of all my books. This helped a little. But it helped BIG TIME when I was trying to twist the arms of schools to allow me to visit them and present my literacy workshops to the students there. In the past, when I sent a message to schools offering to do my workshops, I’d get a response of approx. 1%. But, when I put ‘Winner of The UK People’s Book Prize’ in the box at the top of the message, I got a response of approx. 12%. You see, 99% of readers have no clue how good or bad a literary award is (although The Wishing Shelf Book Awards happens to be very, very good). They simply see ‘Award-Winning Book’ and they think, ‘Oh, it must be good’. In my case, the teachers in the schools see ‘Book Prize Winner’ and think, ‘Oh, he must be good’ and they book me up for a visit. So, yes, being a finalist or winning a medal in a book award can help you to sell your books, but only if you have a marketing strategy whereby you utilize the win to further that marketing strategy. Let me put it this way, after winning the award I now sell an average of 75 books at every school I visit. Before I won the award, I sold an average 45 books. The difference: I had a marketing strategy and every poster I now send the schools says ‘Winner of the UK People’s Book Prize’ in bold, red letters at the top. And the letter the schools send to parents to tell them a children’s author is visiting, and they can buy a signed book – well, I bet you can guess what it says in big, bold letters at the top. See winning an award as a tool in your tool box. But it you don’t take the tool out, it’s not going to do you any good. That’s how winning a book award helped me. But can it help you? For example, what if you write novels for adults and not children? A thriller. A cosy mystery. A cookery book or a book on woodworking. Well, there are lots of ways winning a book award can still help you to market your book. Firstly, of course, you can add ‘Award-Winning Author’ to the front and back cover of your winning book and, of course, to any future books you might write. There are so many amazing books for readers to pick from. Having ‘Award Winning Author’ on the front cover might just help them to pick yours. If you happen to be doing a booksigning, then have a roller banner produced – they only cost $40 or so – to tell shoppers that you are an ‘Award Winning Author’. It will help. Don’t forget, winning an award is news. Even a small award. So, tell local newspapers. Local newspapers are often desperate for anything to write. Anything! The other day, the front cover of my local rag was dedicated to a lost swan! Your win might just make the front page too. And, if your book happens to have a local angle to it, all the better. And, of course, don’t forget your Facebook page, your blog and, of course, Amazon. As you probably know, you can access your Author Page through Author Central. There, you can do all sort of things: add a biography, a photo and, of course, tell the prospective readers you won a book award. Okay, so you have now possibly decided that winning a book award might help you to market your book. Now for the next hurdle. Which book award to enter? There are a lot out there. Just Google ‘Book Awards’, sit back and be amazed. The problem is many of them are, how can I put it – a little bit suspect! Anybody can set up a book awards, so many do. So how do you pick? Firstly, I would suggest you check out the list of awards recommended by ALLi. You will find them on the ALLi website. And, I’m glad to say, if you scroll down to ‘W’, you will find the Wishing Shelf Book Awards listed there: RECOMMENDED! Another important thing to do is to check out the award’s website. Have a look and see who is organizing it. Try to work out why the award is there. It might be that it’s a front for a vanity press. Or simply a money grab. And also heck out who is doing the judging. See what the prize list is. If it’s cash – wonderful! If it’s a publishing contract, investigate who the publisher is. You might find it is just a vanity press trying it on. Finally, see what they offer to authors who enter but do not win. Remember, most authors don’t. Like our awards, a few will offer feedback from the judging, which is better than a kick in the teeth. And, of course, don’t forget to GOOGLE them. You never know what will pop up! Now, as well as discussing whether it’s worth entering a book award and how to pick the best award to enter, I thought I’d give you a few insights into how we judge a book at the Wishing Shelf. The children’s books are judged by eight UK-based schools, the adult books by two reading groups, one in London and one in Stockholm, Sweden, Of course, our readers look at writing style, plot, pacing, character development etc. etc. as you would expect. But let me tell you want turns our readers off; the pitfalls you don’t want to fall into. For a start, our readers have discovered that more and more authors and small publishers are experimenting with fonts for the story. Now that’s okay – sort of fun I think, particularly for a picture book – but every so often a font is picked which is very difficult to decipher. And this, of course, kills the books for our frustrated readers. Also, a small number of independently published novels feel ‘rushed’, particularly over the last few chapters. Our readers feel a story, particularly an adventure story, should end ‘BIG and EXCITING’; if it is rushed and ‘all over in a page or two’ the readers tend to feel let down. Many of our adult readers are often disappointed by the length of a few of the books. They feel that a few independent authors, in a hurry to get the book on Kindle, will attempt to finish the story in 25,000 words or so. Consequently, the books feel rushed. Our readers always advise ‘Don’t rush it. Develop the characters; allow the reader the opportunity to care about what happens to them.’ Regarding ‘non-fiction adult’, although the books entered are generally excellent, several them have such small type that they are almost impossible to read. I know it is tempting with a very long book to pick a tiny font size – it keeps the cost of printing it down – but not so small the reader needs a magnifying glass. Now to children’s books. Our readers find a number of the rhyming picture books have problems. Basically, although the text rhyming, the authors have problems with rhythm. Also, be careful not to ‘force’ the rhyme by altering a sentence structure so it will rhyme. Finally, try not to let the rhyme control the plot of the story. i.e. I want this to happen next but I can’t get it to rhyme so I’ll change the story, so it WILL rhyme. Our younger readers also noticed a large number of the adventure/mystery/fantasy books start with description of setting. They often feel this is not very ‘grabbing’ and does not ‘hook them into the story’. They suggest ‘speech’ would be better. So, to sum up then, yes, entering a book award can help you to market your book, but only if you see it as part of your marketing plan. Remember, pick wisely the award you intend to enter. Do your research first. And also, and this is a bit of tough love for you here, if you have not had your book properly edited, if you feel you rushed it in any way, the chance is you will not do well in any reputable competition. When an author wants to enter The Wishing Shelf Award, before we allow them to enter, we always read the first chapter on ‘Look Inside’ on Amazon. And, if it’s full of errors whether they be grammatical or simply poor spelling, we tell them not to bother. Why? Well, firstly, they won’t win and secondly, to be honest I’d rather they put the small entry fee towards a comprehensive edit. I remember, a few years ago, a small publisher wished to enter a book in the award, but we discovered 17 spelling errors in the first chapter. The publisher’s response: ‘We ran out of money, but we thought we’d try selling it anyway.’ Now, you must remember, a book is a product. A wonderful product. But, still, a product. And a customer expects it to work. Let’s say you bought a car but the handbrake didn’t work. You ask the manufacturer why. Would you be happy with the response, ‘We ran out of money, but we thought we’d try selling it anyway.’ To be honest, I think this is pretty good advice whether you intend to enter a book award or not. I personally think one of the many jobs of an independent author is to offer a reader a well-edited story. Simple. To finish off then, I very much hope this talk was – not just interesting, but also helpful. And, of course, if you do feel a book award will help you in marketing your book, you are most welcome to contact us at The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. You will find us at www.thewsa.co.uk. Or, simply GOOGLE the Wishing Shelf Book Awards and you’ll find us. Good luck with your writing.
Well, firstly, who am I. I am a children’s author. My name is Edward Trayer, and I have written 17 books for toddlers, children and young adults including Felicity Brady and the Wizard’s Bookshop, I Think I Murdered Miss, Tor Assassin Hunter, even The Boy Who Piddled in His Grandad’s Slippers. And, I’m happy to say, they sell very well. Hundreds of thousands in fact, mostly direct to UK primary and secondary schools.
But I’m not here today to discuss my books. I’m here to discuss book awards. For, as well as being a children’s author, I also started and now run the UK-based Wishing Self Book Awards. And, over the next page or so, I’m hoping to show you how winning a book award can help you to market your books. Not only that, I’m going to offer a little advice on how to go about picking a reputable book award to enter. And, finally, I’m also going to offer you a few tips - and highlight a few pitfalls - to help you to win.
So, will winning a book award help you to sell your books?
Firstly, you don’t need to win: You can be long listed, shortlisted, a finalist, a Red Ribbon winner, Gold, Silver, Bronze medalists. And, yes, any of them can help you to market your book. But only if you see it as a tool in your marketing tool box.
For example, when I won the UK People’s Book Prize in 2014, I put it on my author page and I put it on the front cover of all my books. This helped a little. But it helped BIG TIME when I was trying to twist the arms of schools to allow me to visit them and present my literacy workshops to the students there. In the past, when I sent a message to schools offering to do my workshops, I’d get a response of approx. 1%. But, when I put ‘Winner of The UK People’s Book Prize’ in the box at the top of the message, I got a response of approx. 12%.
You see, 99% of readers have no clue how good or bad a literary award is (although The Wishing Shelf Book Awards happens to be very, very good). They simply see ‘Award-Winning Book’ and they think, ‘Oh, it must be good’. In my case, the teachers in the schools see ‘Book Prize Winner’ and think, ‘Oh, he must be good’ and they book me up for a visit.
So, yes, being a finalist or winning a medal in a book award can help you to sell your books, but only if you have a marketing strategy whereby you utilize the win to further that marketing strategy. Let me put it this way, after winning the award I now sell an average of 75 books at every school I visit. Before I won the award, I sold an average 45 books. The difference: I had a marketing strategy and every poster I now send the schools says ‘Winner of the UK People’s Book Prize’ in bold, red letters at the top. And the letter the schools send to parents to tell them a children’s author is visiting, and they can buy a signed book – well, I bet you can guess what it says in big, bold letters at the top.
See winning an award as a tool in your tool box. But it you don’t take the tool out, it’s not going to do you any good.
That’s how winning a book award helped me. But can it help you? For example, what if you write novels for adults and not children? A thriller. A cosy mystery. A cookery book or a book on woodworking.
Well, there are lots of ways winning a book award can still help you to market your book. Firstly, of course, you can add ‘Award-Winning Author’ to the front and back cover of your winning book and, of course, to any future books you might write. There are so many amazing books for readers to pick from. Having ‘Award Winning Author’ on the front cover might just help them to pick yours. If you happen to be doing a booksigning, then have a roller banner produced – they only cost $40 or so – to tell shoppers that you are an ‘Award Winning Author’. It will help.
Don’t forget, winning an award is news. Even a small award. So, tell local newspapers. Local newspapers are often desperate for anything to write. Anything! The other day, the front cover of my local rag was dedicated to a lost swan! Your win might just make the front page too. And, if your book happens to have a local angle to it, all the better. And, of course, don’t forget your Facebook page, your blog and, of course, Amazon. As you probably know, you can access your Author Page through Author Central. There, you can do all sort of things: add a biography, a photo and, of course, tell the prospective readers you won a book award.
Okay, so you have now possibly decided that winning a book award might help you to market your book. Now for the next hurdle. Which book award to enter? There are a lot out there. Just Google ‘Book Awards’, sit back and be amazed. The problem is many of them are, how can I put it – a little bit suspect! Anybody can set up a book awards, so many do. So how do you pick? Firstly, I would suggest you check out the list of awards recommended by ALLi. You will find them on the ALLi website. And, I’m glad to say, if you scroll down to ‘W’, you will find the Wishing Shelf Book Awards listed there: RECOMMENDED!
Another important thing to do is to check out the award’s website. Have a look and see who is organizing it. Try to work out why the award is there. It might be that it’s a front for a vanity press. Or simply a money grab. And also heck out who is doing the judging. See what the prize list is. If it’s cash – wonderful! If it’s a publishing contract, investigate who the publisher is. You might find it is just a vanity press trying it on. Finally, see what they offer to authors who enter but do not win. Remember, most authors don’t. Like our awards, a few will offer feedback from the judging, which is better than a kick in the teeth. And, of course, don’t forget to GOOGLE them. You never know what will pop up!
Now, as well as discussing whether it’s worth entering a book award and how to pick the best award to enter, I thought I’d give you a few insights into how we judge a book at the Wishing Shelf. The children’s books are judged by eight UK-based schools, the adult books by two reading groups, one in London and one in Stockholm, Sweden, Of course, our readers look at writing style, plot, pacing, character development etc. etc. as you would expect. But let me tell you want turns our readers off; the pitfalls you don’t want to fall into.
For a start, our readers have discovered that more and more authors and small publishers are experimenting with fonts for the story. Now that’s okay – sort of fun I think, particularly for a picture book – but every so often a font is picked which is very difficult to decipher. And this, of course, kills the books for our frustrated readers.
Also, a small number of independently published novels feel ‘rushed’, particularly over the last few chapters. Our readers feel a story, particularly an adventure story, should end ‘BIG and EXCITING’; if it is rushed and ‘all over in a page or two’ the readers tend to feel let down.
Many of our adult readers are often disappointed by the length of a few of the books. They feel that a few independent authors, in a hurry to get the book on Kindle, will attempt to finish the story in 25,000 words or so. Consequently, the books feel rushed. Our readers always advise ‘Don’t rush it. Develop the characters; allow the reader the opportunity to care about what happens to them.’
Regarding ‘non-fiction adult’, although the books entered are generally excellent, several them have such small type that they are almost impossible to read. I know it is tempting with a very long book to pick a tiny font size – it keeps the cost of printing it down – but not so small the reader needs a magnifying glass.
Now to children’s books. Our readers find a number of the rhyming picture books have problems. Basically, although the text rhyming, the authors have problems with rhythm. Also, be careful not to ‘force’ the rhyme by altering a sentence structure so it will rhyme. Finally, try not to let the rhyme control the plot of the story. i.e. I want this to happen next but I can’t get it to rhyme so I’ll change the story, so it WILL rhyme.
Our younger readers also noticed a large number of the adventure/mystery/fantasy books start with description of setting. They often feel this is not very ‘grabbing’ and does not ‘hook them into the story’. They suggest ‘speech’ would be better.
So, to sum up then, yes, entering a book award can help you to market your book, but only if you see it as part of your marketing plan. Remember, pick wisely the award you intend to enter. Do your research first. And also, and this is a bit of tough love for you here, if you have not had your book properly edited, if you feel you rushed it in any way, the chance is you will not do well in any reputable competition. When an author wants to enter The Wishing Shelf Award, before we allow them to enter, we always read the first chapter on ‘Look Inside’ on Amazon. And, if it’s full of errors whether they be grammatical or simply poor spelling, we tell them not to bother. Why? Well, firstly, they won’t win and secondly, to be honest I’d rather they put the small entry fee towards a comprehensive edit.
I remember, a few years ago, a small publisher wished to enter a book in the award, but we discovered 17 spelling errors in the first chapter. The publisher’s response: ‘We ran out of money, but we thought we’d try selling it anyway.’ Now, you must remember, a book is a product. A wonderful product. But, still, a product. And a customer expects it to work. Let’s say you bought a car but the handbrake didn’t work. You ask the manufacturer why. Would you be happy with the response, ‘We ran out of money, but we thought we’d try selling it anyway.’
To be honest, I think this is pretty good advice whether you intend to enter a book award or not. I personally think one of the many jobs of an independent author is to offer a reader a well-edited story. Simple.
To finish off then, I very much hope this talk was – not just interesting, but also helpful. And, of course, if you do feel a book award will help you in marketing your book, you are most welcome to contact us at The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. You will find us at www.thewsa.co.uk. Or, simply GOOGLE the Wishing Shelf Book Awards and you’ll find us.
Good luck with your writing.
Edward