Previous Finalists

Comments from Authors/Publishers

'The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is far and away the most useful and most bang-for-your-buck book awards that I have encountered. With the other guys, you send your money into their nebulous black box and, unless you win, you'll never know how you did. The Wishing Shelf, on the other hand, is extremely transparent about their process. It is fueled by a bunch of volunteer readers. You are kept informed every step of the way, and you'll get much more feedback about how your book was received. And there's a fun online community of writers with the awards at the center where you can see what other authors are up to and get useful tips on just about anything writing-related. If you enter only one book award, make it this one.'

Robbie Mahair, author of Orc Road Trip

"I made it to the finalists and got a medal: this is awesome! But even more awesome was the feedback I got afterwards. Contrarily to other book awards I tried in the past where the anonymous judges gave a feedback often suggesting they had not read much of the book, the Wishing Shelf Book Awards feedback is a gem: it contains a catchy quote, feedbacks from four readers (who obviously did read all the book), and plenty of useful tips. The feedback is a good reason enough to enter the awards."

Cédric H. Roserens, author of Uncle Greg's Treasure: A Novel Full of Riddles and Time Zones

'I've entered The Wishing Shelf Awards for a few years now (without winning, I hasten to add) and always enjoy doing so. Many 'awards' feel as though they are run for profit - but TWSA is not one of them. The award is administered efficiently and pleasantly by the organiser, who himself is a noted author of childrens' books. As the judges are not appointed but groups of actual readers of different ages, the results reflect genuine reader experiences of the books entered. The feedback from these groups is not a few trite lines but real responses to the work and is invaluable to any author who wishes to improve their craft. I can't recommend TWSA highly enough.'

Will Macmillan Jones, author of Scout Pilot of the Free Union

'I highly recommend The Wishing Shelf Book Awards and Editorial Reviews to any author who wants to improve his or her craft. Where indie authors are concerned especially, it can be difficult to navigate through the minefield of improvement. Well-meaning family and friends are often too terrified to tell you how to improve your work, and many editorial review establishments shy away from "the dreaded self-published author". Knowing that Wishing Shelf is run by authors (who know the difficulties of writing a book) and readers (your target audience!) you're guaranteed to get honest, well-rounded feedback that's useful in so many ways.'

McKenzie Austin, author of The Tree that Grew through Iron

'It has been a lovely experience being a finalist. Having these reviews to share on social media will give the book (and me) a nice boost & help me set up book two - as the reviews really pick out the content and the threads I’m moving forward with for book two ️Seeing that 15/16 would read another book if wrote one is very encouraging!
Thank you for all you do to support authors.'

Katie Brockhurst, author of Social Media For A New Age