Re: Re: Ebook awards in general

>
>
> > To be blunt, the main reasons for entering an award are: (1) the
> > line on the resume...and this DOES work; I've seen it in action
>
> Resume? What resume? You mean for having some status when socializing among
> other authors?
> When I socialize, I do it to get AWAY from writing for a while. The last
> thing I'd do is hang out with a bunch of authors. :)
> The last party I went to was for a cop friend who made sergeant.
>


You are hopeless. In a nice way, but hopeless. You never write an "about me"
section on a query letter? You're never asked to talk about yourself when
you pitch to an agent? You don't have a bio on your site? An awards page on
your site? And so forth? I have, and I've had agents and editors check out
my site as well. That's variations of your resume, friend. Not as fleshed
out and bulleted as a real resume but close enough for jazz.

You have to show not only that you know how to market you, because you sell
you first and then the books, but that people other than your mother thinks
you write well. Award wins will do that, if it's a respected award. Peer
judged awards often are respected, even if they are small ebook only awards,
and yes...some of the larger print awards do take ebooks, as well. I have
entered a few.

I've had one NY editor tell me she took notice because of the wins I list.
I've had several EPPIE winners tell me that the finalist or winner pins worn
at conventions or the trophy on the table got them attention.

Don't knock it. Just because it's not important to you doesn't mean it's
useless. Unless you plan to self-publish for the rest of your life or spend
all your time with one publisher, you have to have things to put there. Yes,
sales numbers help, but so do positive reviews, award wins, etc.

This has nothing to do with socializing and everything to do with
NETWORKING. With selling yourself, making yourself/your work look even more
appealing to people possibly signing your work...in indie press/epublishing
or in NY conglomerate.

BTW, some authors are fun people, and I enjoy hanging out with them socially
a few times a year.


>
> Uh-huh. How many titles have been picked up for paper pubbing or movie
> deals due to an editor, agent, or other industry pro seeing some kind of
> ebook award? Do I have enough fingers, or will I have to take my shoes off
> to count that high?
>


You're cynical. That's fine. Some contests, like ABNA and one that one of
the smaller review sites buddied with NAL to present, give publication AS
the prize. Not all contests are for published works, and ABNA currently
allows entry of self-published books (ebook or print) in the contest as well
as unpublished. Both of the contests I named, BTW, have no entry fee.

Some contests only get you there and let you try to get signed. I don't
typically enter these, but they do work for some authors. Ironically, the
joke about Golden Heart (RWA's unpublished contest) is that the breakout
books win, no NY conglomerate wants to take a chance on them, but they do
famously in indie, given the chance to.

But, considering the number of published authors that have gone to NY
conglomerate from indie, with or without taking their backlists with them...
Yes, you'd need your toes, and there's no saying which factors made the
ultimate decision to pursue those authors or accept those authors happen. I
can't say contest wins contributed, and you can't refute it. We simply don't
know.


>
> > (3) getting feedback on the project...
>
> I get that from my 49-member Edits group.
>


So did I, when I was a member of one, and that's always the first thing I
suggest to people. I don't use them, but I don't knock them for writers that
want to use a contest this way. It's THEIR CHOICE for THEIR CAREERS. It
doesn't do any good to be rudely dismissive of someone else's needs and
wants for a career that is not yours.


>
>
> > (4) the pat on the back winning gives the author
>
> My sales figures handle that.
>

For an unpublished author, that doesn't exist yet.


>
>
> > All told, few authors enter contests to sell books. For me? I do it to
> get
> > the line on the resume...and also because I love competing.
>
> Competing for a non-spendable prize doesn't interest me.
>

And that's fine. But I've found other uses for the non-spendable prize that
do increase my money in the end.


>
>
> > Your average reader doesn't care. Only a few awards actually sell books
> in
> > impressive numbers...among them Newbury, Caldecott, Hugo, and Spectrum.
>
> Um... do they award to ebooks? If not, they don't matter to the ebook
> community.
>


Like no one on this list talks about POD printing, and no one on the sister
lists talks about ebooks? RIGGGGHHHT. Tell me another fairy tale. But yes,
it does matter, since I have laid out which ones do sell books vs. which
don't. But I notice you deleted the part where I point out that all wins
have the ability to sell books to certain subsets of readers. And that does
apply to ebooks, as well.

Brenna
-- 
http://www.brennalyons.com    http://www.facebook.com/brenna.lyons
"Though it went against his base nature, Davon -- son of Ares, Horseman of
War, and holder of the red sword -- had to make peace. What an odd turn his
life had taken." ALL'S FAIR...on presale at Silver Publishing
http://silverpublishing.info/product_book_info/coming-soon-c-2/all-s-fair-p-178


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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