One of Fiction Feedback’s authors, DJ Harrison, has his crime
novel Limited Liability currently
shortlisted for two awards with a book promoting company, Books Go Social. If
you’re tempted to go all sniffy, remember that prizes wherever they’re found
mean brownie points – prizes, however small or seemingly insignificant, boost
the confidence and self-esteem of the author and provide massive opportunities
for publicity that can’t be ignored. Subsequently, they garner attention, and whether that’s of readers
and would-be buyers of your book or of literary agents and publishers, that’s
surely the name of the game today. (If you’d like to look at the award shortlist and
maybe vote for Dave’s book, the link is: http://thebookpromoter.com/books-go-social-awards-2015-final-vote/
Voting closes on 25 June.)
Another of Fiction Feedback’s authors, who has had several of
his works critiqued by us, has written a Guest Post for us about prizes. David
James, author of The Confessions of Becky
Sharp (a raunchy and delightfully readable prequel and sequel to Thackeray’s
Vanity Fair), is a respected academic
and author of six novels. He is also the promoter of the Quagga Prize for
Self-Published Literary Fiction, which he himself set up in 2014 to reward the
self-published non-genre author. This year’s deadline for the annual reward is
at the end of this month, 30 June. The nice thing is, if you’ve missed that but
think oh well, my book was published this year, it won’t be eligible for next year’s
prize, then you can smile and think again: the Quagga is open no matter when
the book was published.
Confessions is
itself in the reckoning for a prize with the Historical Novelists Association –
good luck, David, and thanks for this fascinating post.
Guest Blog by David James
Small Prizes: The Way Ahead
Why go in for Prizes?
I write to please myself, not
for others. We’ve all heard that mantra, and many of us believe it. But there
are prizes out there, some very large, many quite small. And in your heart of
hearts you know you covet recognition: a good review, a warm response, a pat on
the back. Above all you want readers – apart that is from friends and family.
However, I do get a little
tired of reading about ‘award-winning’ authors and wonder about the nature of
the award, not to mention whether the award is for this book or one of the
writer’s earlier efforts. Once an award winner, always an award winner! Nevertheless,
I must be at least marginally impressed. For the small-time author, such an
accolade is a great comfort. For the apprentice writer it’s the first step on
the road to what we think of as success. Even to be short-listed is a treasure
in itself.
Yes, there are hundreds of
prizes and awards of all kinds advertised on the net, but there are also
thousands of writers, both seasoned and neophyte, and the number grows by the
minute. Unless you are already attached to a publisher or are backed by a
reputable agent or a well-known sponsor, the Booker is out; in any case Rule
3(d) clearly states ‘self-published books are not eligible where the author is
the publisher’.
But to come down to earth:
James Minter gives a useful list of Fifty Book Awards Open to Self-Publishers.
This could be a good place to start your search. All genres and types of
writing are open to budding writers here, from the prestigious ForeWord, the
Ippy and the Rubery awards to flash fiction, cookbook, first novel, first
chapter and even prizes for the first page. So don’t be shy about entering. We
all have to begin somewhere.
Unless you are submitting to
your local writing group’s monthly or yearly prize you should expect to pay an
entry fee. After all it takes time to read and assess the value of a book or
even a flimsy manuscript. Fees naturally vary enormously, from gratis to $80
per title; and so do the prizes, from an offer of journal publication to the
Writers’ Digest 23rd Annual Writing Competition for Self-Published Book Awards
topping the list at $8,000.
Of course it’s a rule of thumb
that the higher the fee, the higher the sought-after prize. Winners of high
profile Gold or even Silver medals are frequently garlanded with offers of book
deals, free air passages to attend humungous ceremonies, with much bolstering
of ego and promises of gold in store. But the most your also-ran can expect is
a book report – of vastly varying quality in my experience. Thus a judge of my
road novel Paris Bound had clearly not read much of the book, spending
all his time savaging the cover. By contrast, five years later the same company
awarded me 100% in 4 out of 5 categories for my novel about a girl boxer, Punching
Judy. Prize-hunting is a bit of a lottery. One man’s meat and all that.
Rejection is par for the
course, so you have to get used to it. There may be many reasons why your work
doesn’t quite hit the mark, including the obvious one of your not complying
with the guidelines. First, check past winners to ensure you have not
submitted, for instance, literary fiction where crime or romance is the
speciality. No point either in sending in manuscripts or galleys to Mom’s
Choice Awards. Next, you should examine the credentials of the judges. Are they
likely to be sympathetic to your subject or approach? Having checked that you
have done all that the gatekeepers have demanded, take a close look at the
judge’s report. The tastes and values of the judging panel may not be yours. If
not, go elsewhere. Next time widen or even narrow your field. Or cut and come again.
The most obvious reason for
rejection is often overlooked by the enthusiastic writer. It’s simply that your
work is not good enough. That’s a tough thing to tell yourself, but it may well
be true. Having accepted that fact, do you give up or try again, getting a
little closer to the required standard? If you’re a writer of course you write;
you revise, reshape or scrap. If you really believe in your manuscript or book
you perhaps need to take advice from a fellow professional. There are plenty of
literary consultants to be found on the net. They may well be able to set you
straight. In this regard I found Fiction Feedback very helpful.
Book festivals are another
avenue the serious writer might explore. There are hundreds of these spreading
across the globe. Almost every major city seems eager to promote new writing,
from Beverly Hills to San Francisco, from the Beach Book Festival to London,
Paris and New York. Once again large prizes await the lucky winners and some of
these festivals have as many as 40 different categories. More and more of these
jamborees are now open to digital as well as paper books. Watch the dates and
submit to as many as you can afford!
Far less prestigious awards, or
simply publication on websites such as Authonomy, Youwriteon, The Book Shed or
Year Zero Writers are ways of keeping in contact with other writers and
readers. Random House and Orion review their Top Ten Budding Authors on
Youwriteon monthly throughout the year. Listed authors can sell their books
direct from the website. There’s always somebody looking for your book and as a
writer these days there’s really no excuse for not having a go. This way you
circumvent the traditional publishing process with its agonising delays in
response time. You are in charge, you are respected and with a bit of luck you
are even earning money.
So, although we may look up to
the stars and envy those who have landed a six-figure contract for their book,
the majority of us are struggling on the lower slopes of Mount Parnassus. We
are for the most part the humble toilers in the field and need to accept that
fact. That doesn’t mean that we don’t strive to make our work as good as
possible, nor does it mean that we don’t shoot for the top prizes on occasion.
But we accept the fact that sometimes small can also be beautiful.
David James is the Promoter of
the Quagga Prize for Literary Fiction.
Many prizes insist on recent publication, often within the past year or
two. Quagga does not. I believe that a book stands
on its merits, and the common impulse to discover the new and latest
is misplaced. Unlike fruit, books do not rot; the best may go out of
print but never out of style.
The Quagga Prize for Literary Fiction (£300) is given annually to the
best novel submitted. If in doubt whether your novel qualifies as
'literary' (see Terms below) submit it anyway. It could well
be awarded a silver medal (£100) or
receive an honourable mention (£50).
Entries are accepted from January 1 to June 30, 2015. All entrants
will receive an email acknowledgement on receipt and a Judge's Report in
November 2015. Shortlisted entries will be published here.
