Welcome to the 2015 Kindle Book Awards
Sponsored by…
Our 2015 Kindle Book Awards are Better Than Ever!
Each Category Winner Will Walk Away With $350 in Cash & Over $900 in Prizes.
2015 Kindle Book Award Details:
WHEN: Registration Starts Feb. 1, 2015. Ends May 1, 2015
WHO: Any Independent and Small Press Author.
WHAT: eBooks published on Amazon between May 1, 2013 – May 1, 2015 (Must have Amazon Link).
COST: $29 (Use Code SJC85 before April 1st for 10% Early Bird Discount)
HOW: Click the BIG RED “REGISTER” button & fill out the form.
PROCESS–HOW YOU WILL BE JUDGED:
- Books will be pre-screened by KBR staff and our amazing review team. We will initially read the “Look Inside” sample (90% of your score) and Amazon book description (10% of score). We’re looking for books with a compelling book description, but more importantly, books that “grab us from the beginning” and make us want to read more. The screening process is an indication of your potential buyers experience with your book, as subjective as that is. Book covers will only be judged to settle a tie.
- Your sample is enough for us to get a feel for the quality of writing and professionalism, and to get us excited to read on. Your book description should be compelling with zero typos. We recommend that you fix any typos on your book page and book file before submitting.
- If your book passes “pre-screening” it will become a “Semifinalists” (20 max per category) and one of our top reviewers who love your genre will read the manuscript in its entirety.
- NOTE: Advertising on our site will NOT help you win. Our screeners and review/judging team care nothing about ads. All we care about is finding the best books. That’s our quest, our passion. Of course, as always, literature is subjective and we hope you understand that.
CATEGORIES: The Following Genres and Related Sub-genres are Welcome.
- Mystery/Thriller
- Romance
- Y/A
- Sci-fi/Fantasy
- Literary Fiction
- Horror/Suspense
- Non-Fiction
AWARDS: 7 category Winners will Receive $350 cash, and $900+ in promotion & tools.
- $350 Cash to Each Category Winner [Compliments of The Kindle Book Review ($200), Digital Book Today ($100), and bookdesigntemplates.com ($50)].
- $200 in Free Promotion from The Kindle Book Review.
- $150 in Free Promotion from Digital Book Today.
- $50 in Free “Group” Promotion from Digital Book Today.
- $50 in Free Promotion from KBoards.com.
- $448 in tools and training from Author Marketing Club [FREE 1-year Premium Membership ($149 value), and FREE ticket to a “Virtual Event” ($299 value) at authormarketingclub.com.
- A FREE book template (Awesome Print Templates starting at $37) compliments of “The Book Designer”, Joel Friedlander, via bookdesigntemplates.com
- All Semi-finalsts, Top-5 Finalists, and Winners will receive a Contest Badge.
HOW MANY BOOKS CAN I SUBMIT?: Authors can submit up to 2 titles max.
IMPORTANT DATES (Mark on your Calendar & watch your email/spam):
- Submissions Accepted: Feb. 10, 2015
- End Submissions: May 1, 2015
- Announce Category Semi-finalists: July 1
- Announce Top-5 Category Finalists: Sept. 1
- 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. Simply login to your KDP account, click “Bookshelf”, and then click on your book. Next, scroll down to “7. Preview Your Book” and click on the “Download Preview Book File” link. Or you can go to draft2digital.com and get your MS Word doc professionally 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. Or share it with your author friends. 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-6b9
Feel free to use any of the images on this page when promoting the contest. And stop by our sponsors websites and let them know how grateful you are for their contributions.
RULES & CONDITIONS:
Any author submitting their book(s) to The 2015 Kindle Book Awards agree that their book will be judged by the Kindle Book Review Team & Reviewers (volunteers) and that the author is not guaranteed an award, prize, or publicity in return for the entry fee. Author understands that awards are based upon merit and not because the author buys promotion or any goods real or imagined from The Kindle Book Review and/or its sponsors, and that the judges decisions are subjective and final. Author authorizes The Kindle Book Review and their associates permission to read and judge his or her work, and will not hold them responsible for any damages seen or imagined due to not winning an award or prize. Only semi-finalists (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. Author further gives The Kindle Book Review and its sponsors permission to post his or her book cover, excerpts, or use of author’s name for publicity purposes during and after the contest. Author agrees that the judges are not obligated to “review” , “edit”, or “critique” said book(s).
WHAT NOT TO DO:
1. Do not email us and inquire about your status/results. We will not respond to inquiries. If you are having trouble loading your kindle file see notes above regarding formatting.
2. Do not send doc files, jpg, pdf or unformatted Kindle files.
3. Do not worry if your Kindle file does not load. If you pass the initial screening and make it into the “Semifinals” we will contact you if there is a problem with your file. Initial screening is based on YOUR Amazon sample, and book page–this contest is initially judged on the “reader’s” experience (see above for details), so we are more concerned about the sample the reader reads while visiting your Amazon book page. Only top-20 category semifinalists will get a full reading.
If you are not on our author mailing list, you can subscribe here. Please share this with your author friends and/or fellow reviewers. Then, confirm your subscription and check your email/spam for future notifications and confirmations.
I really wanted to enter, but something feels very wrong about paying to try and get a reward.
Janiera — That’s pretty much how every award or contest works. I’m actually quite surprised and pleased that the entry fee for this award contest is so low!
Nadine’s right–many contests are far more expensive, with a heavy pitch to buy things (stickers, etc.) on the back end. This is just a tiny chip out of the ol’ marketing budget!
Thank you Nadine and Kirk. We agree. We put in hundreds upon hundreds of hours of reading and work to make this possible. And our sponsors are extremely generous. It takes work but it’s all about creating a literary award program targeting Kindle Books. That’s what we’re all about. That’s what we review. And we want to recognize the best. There is always an expense to literary awards. You either pay (much more than we charge) up front, or pay later in author conferences, etc. We are affordable for a reason. Because we, too, think $50-$80 is too expensive.
I wish there were a category for international fiction. My books, set in India, don’t seem to fit in any of the above categories.
Sounds like Literary fiction. Tell me more about your book.
Does this include novellas? Or is this full length novels only? (I’m not seeing a word count minimum). Thanks!
We do not have a word min or max. If your novella fits one of the categories, or sub genres associated with those categories, you’re good to go. We screen and judge all submissions based on the criteria listed above–and it all starts with your Amazon book page, with the lion’s share of our attention focused on your “Look Inside” sample. From there, we pass your book/novella on to the semifinals. If you can capture our attention in that sample, and make us want more, you’ll get a full read whatever the length.
Are novellas accepted??? What’s the min word count?
See above comment.
Hi…can you explain more about the categories? For example, “Romance”…does this include erotica and/or BDSM?
Can you enter erotic romance?
We accept all romance categories, including sub genres associated with Romance.
Two queries:
1) what counts as a Small Press author? Eg My novel Eden Undone is published by a tiny tiny publishing house called Instant Apostle – does that count?
2) My novel is more in the style of CS Lewis’ “Narnia” series and Wm Paul Young’s “The Shack” : is it worth submitting it or will it be automatically discriminated against (sorry, I realise that’s a loaded word, but am using it in its literal sense rather than its frequent fear-laden legalistic overtones) because it is written from a Christian (NOT “religious”!!!) outlook?
With very limited funds, I don’t wish to waste your time or my money if you feel that it is unlikely to be what you are looking for!
Lake, As far as your genre is concerned, you would have to decide if your book leans more heavily on literary fiction or fantasy. Then choose which genre best fits. Our contest is not about nailing down your genre, it’s about finding writers capable of wowing our judges.
Lake, if you are published by Penguin or Random house you are not a small press author. All others, published by boutique publishers or obscure presses, and especially independent presses and authors are welcome to submit. Thank you for your question!
Thanks so much, Jeff! (for both answers)
YES, it’s small press (Instant Apostle) … I’m guessing “fantasy”? though it doesn’t really sit comfortably in *any* existing genre – it’s more a case of straddling several, I suspect! But if the aim is to wow the judges… then I hope it ticks *all* the boxes 🙂
Sounds good. For any author questioning whether his or her book nails down one of the categories to the tee or not– Don’t sweat it. We want to find the best Kindle books. Period. That’s our goal. Naming your exact genre in a world where there are a gazillion sub genres should not be your biggest issue. Writing a flawless and exciting book should be your only concern where our contest is concerned. Good luck everyone!
I really, really jumped the gun here and entered my book in this contest last November after stumbling across it in a Google crawl. Since it says submissions open in February, I just wanted to make certain my book was accepted, or if I need to resubmit. I can confirm that my entry fee was processed but just want to make sure my actually entry didn’t get lost in a sort of “this is so insanely early it can’t possibly be legit” vortex.
You’re in—The Reclaiming. Good luck!
Can you give us an idea of how many books were entered last year? Just trying to judge the competition.
Appx. 800 and that is dispersed proportionally as you’d expect all genres to add in… i.e. more Mystery/Thriller and Romance, followed by YA, etc….
How about A Christian fiction category?
love the suggestion, Shelly!! That would be simply awesome
I’d love to see a Christian fiction category, too!
We don’t need a special category for Christian fiction. It most likely fits in any of our general categories. Excellent Christian fiction has as good of a chance to win as Athiest fiction. It’s about the quality of writing, not the genre. Our 7 genres cover almost all sub-genres.
Hi Jeff,
I am really interested in entering your contest. I’m wondering if i can submit the Science Fiction books I write for Middle Grade readership under the Science Fiction category?
That or YA. We are more concerned with quality of writing than splitting hairs over the exact genre. YA or Sci-fi would probably work…. for next year obviously, since I just saw this.
Hi Jeff, My recently uploaded Kindle book (formatted using Vellum) looks different (missing some formatting) in the “Look Inside” feature than in the downloaded Kindle books (in which all formatting is intact). The software engineers at Vellum informed me that it is a known problem that Amazon is using “older mobi” code for its “Look Inside” feature, which can negatively affect how Vellum-formatted Kindle books look in “Inside Inside.” As the first screening is your KBR staff reading the “Look Inside” sample, which is 90% of the score, if they see “off” formatting (such as misalignment of paragraphs and missing spaces between paragraphs) will this negatively affect their scores? Does it make a difference if they realize it’s a Vellum-created book? Thanks.
CSC, Just saw this. The problem Vellum (or actually the authors who use them) is that it doesn’t matter what code Amazon uses, it’s still the what readers are looking at, and Vellum should take that into account. Based on our experience authors who use that technology could be losing sales. If readers see poor formatting, they may back out of the purchase. That is the premise of our contest–initial screening based on the reader’s experience. So, yes, the screeners would take points off for formatting.
Would a published 2015 revised book be eligible if the original was published before 2013?
Thank you for your help.
[…] Kindle Book Review’s 2015 Kindle Book Awards https://www.thekindlebookreview.net/2015-kindle-book-awards/ […]
The published dates listed in the “Book Details” must fit in the dates listed above.
[…] Charlottetown author Patti Larsen’s book Freak Show is one of the finalists in this year’s Kindle Book Awards. […]
About how many entries were there this year in each category?
Thank you.
Hi Serena, We had over 800 entries total and they were distributed per the usual stats within genres such as Romance and Mystery Thriller being the highest number of entries, followed by YA, Sci/Fi, Suspense/horror, non-fict, respectively.
I want to leave my congratulations for Donna Fasano also. Her book, No Perfect Christmas, was so good 🙂
Looked for the 2015 winners but seems this is not yet posted. When does the 2016 award open for submissions?
All winners are listed on The 2015 Kindle Book Awards page, along with the finalists and semi-finalists. We probably won’t open the 2016 awards until after the New Year. We’re taking a breather.
Looking forward to entering…..and winning 😉
…once you open it up for 2016 of course
My book was published in 2012, but revised in 2015 with new editors and new layout. Is it eligible for the 2016 Kindle Book Awards?
If the publish date on the Amazon page fits our requirements, you’re good to go. https://www.thekindlebookreview.net/2016-kindle-book-awards/
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Do you provide guidelines as to what you think makes for a positive reader book description — or at least a set of do’s and don’t’s?
Good question, fickshuneer!
As an author I would start by looking at the top 20 books in your genre. See how they do it. I also know that you’ll see a wide variety from short and concise, to long and drawn out with editorial reviews, quotes, etc. Because book descriptions are almost as subjective as the book itself, I would lean toward shorter is better. The big mistake I see is that authors, being the detailed peeps that they are, tend to runaway with details that overwhelm/bore a reader before they even finish reading the description. Tell me why this book is filled with tension and conflict. End of story. That’s me. But I’m not a judge this year, so subjectivity will prevail once again. Subjectivity is the name of the game, and in the end it’s probably all about luck, and a cool, smart stroke of the pen. ~ Jeff Bennington