Publishing Contests

In May 2008, a member of Book Publishers Northwest asked "Which contests make sense to enter? How much should I spend on contest entries? Are some contests more valuable than others to a publisher? Should we hold a contest?"

We sent these questions out to the PMA Affiliates group and received the following thoughtful responses. If you've had experiences good or bad with a publishing contest, let us know. E-mail your comments to bpnwnews@aol.com.

An Avalanche of Book Awards

There is an avalanche of book awards competitions out there now. Many are fine cash cows for their "sponsors"-- offering plenty of categories, "finalist" certificates for everyone, and fees ranging generally from $40 to $100 per entry/category.

Presently, it's a win-win for everyone. They get your cash on very little investment, and you get a book award recognition to help promote your book.

However, eventually it will be a case of the killing of the Golden Goose. When awards appear commonplace (and they will), readers will get wise -- and, unfortunately, it will diminish the meaningfulness of the more legitimate competitions.

There's little you can do right now to change this scenario. We've entered some, both well-established competitions such as Benjamin Franklin Awards and PubWest Book Design, plus a few of that new generation of awards contests. I will be interested seeing input from other affiliates.

Richard Polese (Ocean Tree Books)
Executive Director
NEW MEXICO BOOK ASSOCIATION

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