Tips on Submitting to ForeWord's 2009 Book of the Year Awards

The deadline for ForeWord magazine's Book of the Year Award is January 15, 2010! ForeWord is a trusted and widely read print magazine and online review service for readers, booksellers, and librarians; receiving a good review or award from them lends credibility to authors and enhances the marketability of the book. Whitney Hallberg, Awards Coordinator for ForeWord sent out a helpful letter yesterday with submission tips for authors and publishers. She's kindly given us permission to reprint them here. If you plan to submit, be sure to read these first!

1. If you can’t decide what category to enter your books in, look at previous years’ winners and finalists in the categories you’re considering. This will give you a good idea of what kind of books each category receives. Past winners are listed at http://www.forewordmagazine.net/botya/. Pick the category you think is best, but know that our finalist judging panel will move books to different categories if they think they’ll compete better.

2. Two copies, please! Two judges will be looking at every book that’s named a finalist, so we need two copies of every book.

3. Save postage—package entries together. If you’re entering more than one book, you can box them all together.

4. Think about the real people—my coworkers and me—who will be opening your packages, and don’t use too much tape and packaging! We don’t want your books to fall out in the mail, but in order for them to be considered for the awards, we have to be able to get them out of their envelopes.

There you have it: advice straight from the source. Be sure to follow Whitney's practical advice for the best chance at having your work recognized. Finalists will be named in March; winners will be named at BookExpo America in June