2014 Best Kindle Book Awards

 Welcome to Kindle Book Review’s 2014 Best Kindle Book Awards

Sponsored by…

Welcome to the The Kindle Book Review’s official 2014 Best Kindle Book Awards page. This is our 3rd annual literary contest and it’s bigger and better than ever. There will be 7 category winners and here’s what each winner will take home…

  • $500 Cash to Each Category Winner!
  • $300 promotion credit from Kindle Book Review, Digital Book Today, BargainBooksy, and Kindle Boards.
  • A Free Premium Membership from The Author Marketing Club valued at over $100.

 

“Badges” awarded to Category Semi-finalists, Top-5 Category Finalists, and 7 Category Winners.
   

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WHEN:Registration Starts Feb 10, 2014. Ends May 1, 2014

 

WHO: Any Independent and Small Press Author.

 

WHAT: eBooks published on Amazon between May 1, 2012 – May 1, 2014 (Must have Amazon Link)

 

COST: $25

 

HOW: Click on the BIG RED “REGISTER” Button and fill out our easy registration.

 
 
**** 2015 EARLY REGISTRATION: 2015 Contest Submissions Accepted HERE. Use coupon Code (SJC85) for a 10% Early-Bird Discount!
 
 

PROCESS:
  1. Books will be pre-screened by KBR Staff, judging “Look Inside” sample (90%) and Description (10%). We are looking for books with a compelling book description, but more importantly, books that “grab us from the beginning”. The screening process is an indication of your potential buyers experience with your book, as subjective as that is.
  2. If book passes “pre-screening” it will become a “Semifinalists” (20 max per category) and a Judge will read entire manuscript. Books will be judged by The Kindle Book Review Team of reviewers who read hundreds of books each year.

 

CATEGORIES: The Following Genres and associated Sub-genres are welcome.
  1. Mystery/Thriller
  2. Romance
  3. Y/A
  4. Sci-fi/Fantasy
  5. Literary Fiction
  6. Horror/Suspense
  7. Non-Fiction

 

AWARDS: 7 category Winners will Receive $500 cash, and $400+ in promotion and tools from our sponsors.
  1. $500 to Each Category Winner.
  2. $100 in Free Promotion from The Kindle Book Review.
  3. $100 in Free “Group” Promotion from Digital Book Today.
  4. $50 in Free Promotion from BargainBooksy.
  5. $50 in Free Promotion from Kindle Boards (K-Boards).
  6. A Free 1-year Premium Membership at Author Marketing Club valued at over $100.
  7. All Semi-finalsts, Top-5 Finalists, and Winners will receive a Contest Badge.

 

HOW MANY: Authors can submit up to 2 titles max.

 

IMPORTANT DATES (Mark on your Calendar & watch your email/spam):
  1. Submissions Accepted: Feb. 10, 2014
  2. End Submissions: May 1, 2014
  3. Announce Category Semi-finalists: July 1
  4. Announce Top-5 Category Finalists: Sept. 1
  5. Announce 7 Winners: Oct. 1

 

LANGUAGE: All books must be written in the English language.

 

FORMAT: All submissions must be in “mobi” format. This is the most commonly accepted Kindle format. You can get your mobi copy from your KDP account. Or you can go to draft2digital.com and get your MS Word doc formatted to mobi for FREE. You do not have to publish at draft2digital.com to take advantage of their free formatting service. I highly recommend this site; their customer service is excellent. Please do not contact us regarding book formatting; we’re going to be too busy reading to help you with this. If you have questions, contact KDP Customer Service, or draft2digital.com.
HOW CAN YOU HELP? GLAD YOU ASKED!
You can help us promote this contest with tweets, FB posts, and Blog posts. The more publicity this contest gets, the better exposure YOU will receive if you are a Finalist or Winner! Use this link in your promotion: http://wp.me/P2H01p-1nH

 

RULES & CONDITIONS:
I agree that my book will be judged by the Kindle Book Review Team and that I am not guaranteed an award, prize, or publicity in return for the entry fee. I understand that awards are based upon merit and not because the author buys promotion, and that the judges decisions are subjective and final. I authorize The Kindle Book Review and their associates permission to read and judge my work, and will not hold them responsible for any damages seen or imagined due to not winning an award or prize. Only semi-finalists (Top 20 max per category) and finalists (Top 5 per category) and category winners will be notified if they advance. All works will be judged on the file submitted–no updated files will be accepted. further give The Kindle Book Review permission to post my book cover, excerpts, or use my name for publicity purposes during and after the contest. I agree that the judges are not obligated to “review” , “edit”, or “critique” my book. WHAT NOT TO DO:
Do not email us and inquire about your status/results. We will not respond to inquiries.
•Do not send doc files, jpg, pdf or unformatted Kindle files.

 If you are not on our author mailing list, you can subscribe here.

 

Confirm your subscription and check your email/spam for future notifications and confirmations.

46 thoughts on “2014 Best Kindle Book Awards”
  1. Just curious, I have a short story that I believe would fare pretty well based on literary merit and the message behind the story. It is only 33 pages long however, would that be a disqualifying factor for the judges?

    1. Hi Tex, We offered a short story category last year and we didn’t have enough interest to include it this year. Having said that, each category semi-finalist moves forward because their first few pages are extremely compelling along with the book description–not because of length. If you think your short story is good enough to get through the initial screening, and if making it to the semifinals is enough (assuming it is later disqualified due to length), you could try for the semi-finalists badge. But yes, it is pretty likely to be disqualified later due to length. Hope that helps.

  2. Just to clarify, THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT is May 1st, 2014.

    WHY SHOULD YOU SUBMIT? Because awards matter. Not having a literary award or editorial review may keep you from promoting your book on some book promotion sites. Just answering questions that some authors have already submitted.

    1. Hi Rachel, The payment system is linked directly to Paypal, which has cleared payments all day, and you can use credit cards with Paypal. Please try again. There could have been a glitch. If it still doesn’t work, let me know. Thanks.

  3. Question: My book for this time period would be the second in a series (the first was a finalist last year) – does it make sense to enter this? I don’t know that it would make sense to someone who hadn’t read Book 1.

    1. That’s up to you. If it’s a good stand-alone novel, I’d say sure. The other thing to consider is, if it passes the initial screening, it will be a Semi-finalist. After initial screening, we will only read the semi-finalist’s full novel. So if you get that far, you will already have won the Semi-finalist badge, even if it doesn’t go on to the finals due to any confusion. Obviously your writing is good enough to make to last year’s Top-5.

    1. Yes. That will work fine. Write it like this ~> ASIN: B004S7AR0E

      I appreciate you letting me know about this. I’ll edit the form to include more characters. Thanks!

  4. I noticed that you have NO catagory for Historical fiction and also none for Christian fiction. My Biblical novel would fit into both of those catagories. Can I submit it, and, if so, under what catagory?

      1. Yes, it would, due to the eclectic writing style in which I wrote it. But you might want to consider adding “Historical fiction” as a category. I’m now in the process of writing a new novel set in the 1860’s, which may or may not fit into “literary fiction,” and I’m sure there are other writers with works that would fit the category of “Historical fiction.”

      2. James, The categories are broad, but they cover most genres. At the end of the day what matters most is quality of writing and your ability to grab our screener’s attention early on. Hope that helps!

  5. Did I miss a spot where you describe each category? Would women’s fiction work ala Jodi Picoult/Nicholas Sparks fit best in Romance or Literary fiction? Thanks!

    1. Hi Theresa, Sounds like either Lit-Fic or Romance would work. You’ll have to determine which you think is best. Good luck!

  6. Hi! I am attempting to register, but I’m not sure what genre to list my book under. It’s a 100% true story, so I’d like to list it under nonfiction, but the names were changed, which technically makes it fictional. Do I have to list it under literary fiction or can I go with nonfiction? Thanks so much!

  7. Can we enter the same manuscript into 2 different categories? (I apologize if this is addressed somewhere, I couldn’t find a specific rule on this.) I have a YA Memoir, and it would pretty evenly fit both the YA and Non-fiction categories.

    1. Hi , A.N, You should enter each book in only one category. Sounds like you’re better off in non-fiction. We’d like to see all memoir in the non-fiction category. Good luck!

  8. Hi I see that I can enter 2 titles. If I enter 1 book in 2 categories, is that my 2 titles, or can I also enter another book as well? Thanks.

    1. Hi, Cade. You are allowed 2 books total. You can enter both books in separate categories, or in the same category, but only one category per book.

    1. I’m sorry, Linda. We just don’t have enough reviewer interest in that category to take it on.

    1. Hi, Karen. That’s no problem. We have different judges each year so you never know! Good luck!

    1. Sorry, Monika. We just don’t have enough reviewer/judge interest at this point. Maybe another time?

  9. Just enquiring as to whether the competition complies with KDP select enrolled books with regards to posting excerpts etc?
    Also, my novel is a YA Paranormal Romance. What category would it be best to enter it into?

    1. Hi Jessica, We are not connected to Amazon. We do not post excerpts so that wouldn’t apply. As far as your genre, I’d say you should choose which category your book leans more heavily on–romance or YA–and choose that category. Hope that helps.

  10. What about an epic fantasy trilogy, if it’s a single boxed set? Can I enter the boxed set ebook as one book, especially considering that it really is one long story and needs to be read as one thing, just like Lord of the Rings which is really one long book broken into three books?

    1. We would prefer that you only enter one of the books. But if they are published as a box set, we will only consider the first book or the first two if you enter book one and book two separately. Thanks!

  11. How is publication date determined? If a title is republished, the date shown on the Amazon book page is the repub date, not the original publish date.

  12. Hey Jeff –

    Thanks for holding this again. Not here, but in the email from your team, it says we can submit up to two books. Questions:

    1. Are they separate entries, requiring two registrations + two entry fees?
    2. May they be in the same category? I would be submitting the 2nd and 3rd books of a mystery series.
    3. If yes to #2, would they be the same judges?

    Thanks,
    matt

  13. Yikes, I entered and paid for all three books of my trilogy a couple weeks ago. I didn’t see the rule of only two books. Does that mean I will be disqualified?

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