Our Mission
At Awesome Indies Book Awards (AIBA), we aim to:
- Identify and honour self-published or independently-published books that meet, or improve on, the standard of books published by major mainstream publishers and their imprints
- Support the authors of AIBA-approved books through promotion
- Raise the standard of independent publishing
- Raise the image of self-published or independently-published books among readers
- Operate ethically in all aspects of our endeavours
AIBA is an independent, volunteer-led book accreditation service that recognises self-published or independently published books that meet the same standards as those published by mainstream publishers—as evaluated by writers, editors, and publishing industry professionals.
AIBA does not charge submission fees and operates as a non-commercial, community-driven initiative.
We aim to showcase books that meet a specific set of standards so readers can browse with confidence, knowing they are discovering well-crafted works.
Who does the assessments
Publishing industry professionals is a term we use for those whose employment in a mainstream publishing house, past or present, as editors or publishers indicate that they know what standard of writing is considered a publishable product for a traditional publishing house. Other people deemed to have this knowledge are those with degrees in writing, editing or literature, or reviewers with a background of writing study whose quality of reviews indicate such a knowledge.
Further information on becoming an AIBA assessor can be found here.
What is assessed
The criteria are explained in detail on the Assessment Criteria page which includes links to further information on each point.
How the assessments are made
The assessor may provide a brief report and give the book a star rating. It is not always necessary for the assessor to evaluate the book as a whole should there be significant failings in the early chapters. As a general rule, AIBA does not accept resubmissions, so it is essential that the book meets the standard for approval BEFORE it is submitted for assessment.
How many books sold, how many positive reader reviews, and how many years or books a writer has been writing are irrelevant to our evaluation process. The evaluation is made entirely on whether or not the book meets the criteria for approval.
Please note that the book submitted must be the final version. Subsequent changes and resubmissions are not evaluated.
To submit a book for assessment, visit our Submissions page.
What AIBA does for awardees
The AIBA programme gives authors whose books are accepted the confidence that their work meets the same standard as those published by mainstream publishers.
In addition, AIBA provides the following for awardees:
- A dedicated post for the book on the AIBA website
- Promotion of the post across AIBA’s social media channels and to newsletter subscribers
- A digital award badge that may be used on the book cover and in marketing materials
- A digital certificate of recognition (for winners from 2026 onwards)
- Additional promotional opportunities and benefits as they become available
Our list of awardees can be found here.
How we define an Indie writer
Independent authors do not depend on someone else to decide whether or not they can express their voice in the world. They may self-publish or choose a small independent publisher as the vehicle for publication.
No matter what method of publication they use, they maintain a high degree of control over the product.
Disclaimer
The Awesome Indies Book Awards programme does not claim to be anything other than a site listing books that meet a certain criteria. Books not listed on the site are not necessarily inferior, as the author may not have submitted their books to the site for whatever reason. We recognise that, although we try to be objective in our evaluations, we are also humans and by no means perfect.