An Awesome Indies Book Awards’ Badge of Approval signifies that a self-published or independently-published book has been crafted to the standards expected from major publishers. This shows readers that they can trust that the book is a professional product worthy of their attention. After receiving the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ Badge of Approval, books that we consider outstanding will be considered for the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ Seal of Excellence.

Awesome Indies Book Awards’ assessors (all editors, educators or authors with formal qualifications in creative writing, literature, editing or journalism) approve books that are well-written and engaging at every level. They must have been edited and proofread to a professional standard, have correct formatting, and appealing cover design. Furthermore, two industry-qualified assessors have to agree that the book warrants approval. Once approved, the book is listed on the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ website, and the writer may display the badge on the book cover and the writer’s website for all to see. (Learn more about our criteria).

If you think your book might qualify, we invite you to submit it for consideration.

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Please note that this is NOT a review request, but a submission for Awesome Indies Book Awards’ approval. Your submission will be assessed under each of the following requirements:

• The book has been edited and proofread to a professional standard and is free from errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
• The book is correctly formatted for fiction;
• The cover looks professional;
• The plot is well structured, well paced, conceptually sound and engaging;
• The characters are well developed and their dialogue and interactions with others are believable;
• The book is not overwritten or unnecessarily wordy; for instance; no obvious dumps of information, unnecessary repetition or irrelevant scenes;
• Changes in point of view are clear;
• The prose is well written and engaging. Where appropriate for the genre, voice and intention, the story is shown rather than told and the writing active rather than passive.

It is not always necessary for the assessor to evaluate the book as a whole should there be significant failings in the early chapters. Please note that written assessments or reviews are a by-product of the process, not the point of it. You are submitting to find out if your book is worthy of Awesome Indies Book Awards Approval.

Our assessors are NOT required to review the book, but most cases, the assessor will return a few lines in the form of a written report to explain the reasons behind his or her recommendations.

Google and other search engines return a 1-star rating against any title on the Awesome Indies Book Awards Website that does not have a star rating on our website book pages. To avoid this, books receiving Awesome Indies Book Awards Approval will be listed on the website as having 4 or 5 stars. 

How to apply for Awesome Indies Book Awards approval.

• There is no charge for submission. However, assessment depends on the availability of suitably qualified assessors, so Awesome Indies Book Awards cannot guarantee that your submission will be assessed.
• On completion of the assessment, we might ask you to consider making a voluntary contribution towards the costs of administration. This is entirely optional and donations are accepted only AFTER your book has been assessed or at any time when an assessment is not required.

Please note:

1. We appreciate that some authors will be disappointed when the book fails to gain Awesome Indies Book Awards approval. To maintain the integrity of Awesome Indies Book Awards, all reported grievances will be examined. However, Awesome Indies Book Awards will NOT reply to any correspondence that the administration team deems to be offensive, derogatory, defamatory, rude, or insulting.
2. Books approved by Awesome Indies Book Awards’ assessors or awarded the Awesome Indies Book Awards Seal of Excellence will be listed on the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ web site with links (provided by the author) to wherever the book is on sale.
3. Other than the page on the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ website, Awesome Indies Book Awards do not post the results of the assessment elsewhere. However, as readers, individual assessors may choose to leave a review on their own website, on a commercial site such as Amazon, or on Goodreads and elsewhere.
4. Amazon review moderation has agreed that donations made for our accreditation service do not constitute payment for review.  This is because any reviews posted by our assessors are by-products of our service, not the point of the service.
5. Where the assessor notes any minor error in punctuation or spelling, the author will be asked to correct these before the book receives approval.
6. Where the book falls below the required standard, the assessor may recommend changes. Some assessors also offer independent professional editing services, which may improve your submission. (see Manuscript Appraisals.)
7. Books considered outstanding will be considered for the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ Seal of Excellence.

The Seal of Excellence

Should your book receive Awesome Indies Book Awards’ approval, you will receive a badge (e-mail version) together with a numbered e-mail certificate. If an assessor indicates that your book is outstanding in its genre, the book will be considered for The Awesome Indies Book Awards Seal of Excellence.

Reviews

The purpose of Awesome Indies Book Awards is to assess the quality of self-published or independently-published fiction. The star-rating associated with reviews is not usually an indication as to a book’s quality. A badly-written, poorly-edited book might have a string of five-star reviews because of its appealing style or storyline, but such a book would not receive Awesome Indies Book Awards approval,  Although Awesome Indies Book Awards does not provide reviews, our individual assessors sometimes choose to post a review on Amazon or elsewhere.

What’s in it for you?

IF your book receives Awesome Indies Book Awards approval:

• You will receive a computer-generated image of the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ Badge of Approval, which you can use on your book cover. There is also a separate badge for use on your website.
• Your book will have its own product page on the website with a link to its Amazon page that works across multiple countries.
• Notifications of approval will be posted on our website.
• A customized short-link to your book page on this site will be posted on Twitter with the #AIBk hashtag. We encourage all Twitter users to retweet any approved book with the #AIBk hashtag, so your book might reach a greater number of Twitter followers.
• Approved Books will be considered for the Awesome Indies Book Awards’ Seal of Excellence, which is awarded only to the most outstanding works.
• If you are on Facebook, you will be invited to join the private Authors’ group.
• The opportunity—though it is not required—to be involved as a volunteer at Awesome Indies Book Awards. (Please note that this does not guarantee that your next book will be approved.)

Assessment policy:

• Assessments are editorial in nature. We assess how well your book has been written and edited, not whether or not we like the story.
• We reserve the right not to assess or list any publication we consider socially irresponsible.
• Unpublished books may be submitted for approval. They must, however, be in Kindle or PDF format and be submitted with a cover image. If you want detailed feedback, you can book a manuscript appraisal which will be done using a Word file.
• It is the author’s responsibility to provide us with the correct file clearly labeled. We will not re-assess a different file if you sent us the wrong one.

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ARE YOU READY TO SUBMIT YOUR BOOK?

You should only submit this form if your book has been edited and proofread to the professional standards of traditional publishing. Some Independent editors offer a manuscript appraisal service. Please see the page Author Services/Manuscript Appraisals. Kindly note that these editors operate independently of Awesome Indies Book Awards and therefore cannot guarantee that your book will receive Awesome Indies Book Awards approval.