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Hi everybody,

Every year, we offer a wonderful deal for entrants in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Basically, if you plan to write/publish a number of books over the next few years, this is for you.

As you probably know, we offer an Editorial Review service which is separate to the Awards. For info on what an Editorial Review is, go to www.thewsa.co.uk/needareview

So, what's the wonderful deal? Well, if you would like to enter 3 books in the Awards and also organise 3 Editorial Reviews, we can offer to do this at HALF PRICE! And there's no time limit as to when you can do it. So, if you wish, you could enter a book in 2020, a book in 2021 and a book in, say, 2028. And have 3 separate Editorial Review on completely different books (or the same books) whenever you wish. The cost of entering three books in the Awards and having three Editorial Reviews would normally be $564 (£444). But we would only charge you $282 (£222).

Interested? Contact me thewishingawards@gmail.com and let me know. I will then send you a Paypal inv. Then, whenever you wish - this year, next year, ten years from now - you can enter three books in the Awards plus we will organise three separate Editorial Reviews.

Considering Kirkus presently charge $575 for ONE Editorial Review, this must be the best offer ever!!!

Let me know,

Edward

Hi everybody,

Just a short update on how everything's going at The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. As you might know, ALL the feedback from the 2019 Award has now been sent out. So, if you entered your book in 2019 and picked Opt 2, you should be ALL SORTED!

I have good news for all the authors/publishers who entered in 2020 (or still plan to enter in 2020) and picked Opt. 2. We are planning/organising to have all your feedback sent out to you between March 2021 (when we announce the finalists ) and June! Considering it took from March to September this year and from March through to November the year before, this is a vast improvement. 
By the way, if you didn't know, when we send you your feedback, we can then (if you wish us to) post your feedback on Amazon, Bookbub and Goodreads.

Here's the plan for authors entering the 2020 awards:

1. We announce the FINALIST on March 1st 2021. We will then list all the FINALIST on the website, including the book cover and a link to the book's Amazon page. We will also then begin sending out feedbacks to non-finalists and sending out the finalist certificate. They'll also be a chance for FINALISTS to purchase the AMAZING FINALIST medal! Finally, the FINALIST logo will be posted on the website which authors can download and add to front covers of FINALIST books.

2. We announce the WINNERS (taken from the FINALISTS) on 1st April 2021. There will be 1 gold medal winner for every category, 2 silver and 3 bronze. However,in Category 5 (which is always the biggest category), we double it up; so in Cat 5 they'll be 2 gold medal winners, 4 silver and 6 bronze. We then list all the winning books on the website including the book cover and a link to the book's Amazon page.

3. Then things start getting crazy. We will be sending out the WINNER certificate. Also, we will be sending out the WINNER MEDALS! We will be organising a Twitter event to promote the WINNERS and we will be sending out a press release to over 100 reader-related bloggers promoting the FINALISTS and the WINNERS. And, of course, we will be sending out the rest of the feedbacks and running promos on Goodreads and with The Fussy Librarian.

That's it!

This year, we have over 100 adult readers judging the books and over 150 children readers. We guarantee every book will be read by a minimum of 15 readers. And, if you picked Opt. 2, you'll be getting the feedback from them. Personally, I think that's the best part of this award, and why it's so much better than any of the others.

I hope that helps to clarify things for you all. REMEMBER, if you still want to enter the awards (or enter another book), you still can! If you want more info on ANYTHING to do with the Awards, you will find it on the www.thewsa.co.uk.

Chat soon, stay safe,

Edward (B B Buttons)

Fun to Run or a Total and Utter Nightmare

Seven years ago, I set up the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Why? Well, I was upset with book awards open to self-published and independently published authors. I felt they were a total rip-off. I remember, I was a finalist in one America-based award - I was so excited – and they didn’t even bother to tell me. Then, in another award, also America-based, I did very, VERY well but all they were interested in was selling me dodgy winner stickers at a crazy, inflated price. Then there was the feedback I got from another award. It was a joke! It was 19 (yes, 19!) words long and congratulated me on writing a wonderful adult book set in war-time France. IT WAS A CHILDREN’S BOOK SET IN A MAGIC BOOKSHOP!

So I went for a walk…

I went for a walk and decided in amongst the tall chestnut trees to set up my own book award. And that is what I did.

But it had to be different. Much, much different to what was on offer at present. So I thought to myself, what do I want from a book award? Well, I want the organisers to see me, actually see me – and my book. I don’t just want to be a ‘$’ sign or a ‘£’ sign to them. Also, I want to get ‘value for money’ so, even if I don’t win, I want to get feedback from the judging. And, finally, I don’t want to pay lots of money to enter.

So, from this, I set up The Wishing Shelf Book Awards (www.thewsa.co.uk).

Over the last seven years, it has grown. Wow! How it’s grown. In the first year we had 42 authors and publishers enter. This year it will be closer to 300! Now we have a very interactive Facebook page where the authors and publishers can discuss the award and how best to run it. Now we provide the authors who enter a catchy quote to help them to market their books. Now we post reviews – based on the feedback – on Amazon, Goodreads and Bookbub. Now we actively support Blind Children UK, helping them to produce books for children with sight problems. Now we have over twenty schools and two adult reading groups (1 in London, 1 in Stockholm, a total of 67 adult readers) helping us to judge the books. Now we are recommended by ALLi; not many are! Now we send authors who enter feedback based on the readers’ comments. They look at the cover, the content, the editing and the style. We even provide the authors with statistics e.g. How many of the readers would read another book by this author. How many of the readers felt the cover was strong etc. etc. And the prize list for the finalists and winners is pretty impressive too.

So now, my tiny award is a bit of a monster and is taking more and more of my time. Is it fun? Yes, most of the time it is. And that’s important as the Award is not run for profit and every penny/cent of the entry fee is spent on running the award and helping to support Blind Children UK. In fact, most of the time it is very rewarding and our reputation on and off the web is ‘glowing’. Don’t get me wrong. We do mess up. Three years ago, for example, it took too long to get all the feedback to the authors. So, this year, I’m employing help. The Wishing Shelf Awards actually has a member of staff! An ex-primary school head teacher who will help me to correlate all the feedbacks. It’s all very exciting.

But do you know what the best bit is? The very, VERY best bit. Twice now, one of the US-based awards I hate has attempted to buy my small awards. And I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed telling them to go to…well, you know where. Now THAT was fun!

Edward Trayer, under the pen name Billy Bob Buttons, is the author of sixteen children’s books including the UK People’s Book Prize Winner, I Think I Murdered Miss. He is also the organizer of The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

www.thewsa.co.uk