After the untimely death of the previous Awesome Indies coordinator, Brian Sfinas, I took over the administration, rebuilt the website at https://awesomeindies.net and relaunched Awesome Indies as Awesome Indies Book Awards.
Although we are attracting submissions, we are struggling to find suitably qualified assessors. In order to receive the Badge of Approval, a self-published book (or independently published book) must meet the editing standards found in traditional publishing and be recommended by two independent assessors.
A third assessor will then decide whether the book is worthy of the prestigious Seal of Excellence.
As Awesome Indies Book Awards does not charge a submission fee but relies on donations to meet expenses, we are not able to pay our assessors. Perhaps it is time to reconsider our submission and award process, so I would welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have. Ideally, this appeal will encourage a plethora of editors, proofreaders, publishing professionals or readers to join our assessment team! If you would like to be considered, please apply at https://awesomeindies.net/assessors-needed/