Does Crystal Peake enter its books for awards?
We aim to win awards at Crystal Peake and we have a dedicated Awards Co-ordinator who routinely enters Crystal Peake books for awards. She uses her discretion in this area, based on reader reports and recommendations from Publicists, Publisher and the Marketing Manager. If your book is entered for an award you will receive the Title submitted for an award notification.
We can only enter our books in a limited number of awards each year, so while we understand that most authors desire to enter their books into as many awards as possible, we have to be selective.
I want to enter my book for an award. What should I do?
If you think that your book should be entered for a specific award, make sure you read its guidelines thoroughly.
If you are sure your book is eligible then let us know via the Awards Forum. Please be mindful that in many cases, this may not be possible. However, we encourage you to enter your book into awards if we don’t, if the award allows it.
We pay for the awards we choose to enter; you, the author pays for the awards you choose to enter, including related costs, entry fees and copies to be sent in, etc. If you enter an award, update the system!
If you submit your book to an award, enter it as Marketing Activity and add the award to the Contacts Database. If you win, or are a runner-up, mark it as completed and a notification will be sent out to the relevant book team members to let them know what has happened. The Publishing Manager and Publicist can then use this information to promote the activity using social media. If you have a good or bad experience, let us know on the Awards Forum, you will give a gift for authors in the future!
Why you should be careful of vanity awards
Not all awards are equal, so use your discretion.
Some awards, such as those created by JPX media, can be seen as vanity awards and are mainly promoted to self-publishing authors.
These are characterised by:
- Dozens or hundreds of categories to ensure all applicants have a shot at being a winner or finalist. They are easy to enter and easy to win.
- There is an entry fee with additional fees for each specific category or other premium service such as trophies/stickers or prominent display on the award website.
- Promises of marketing, often using social media.
These awards have little standing in the book trade and in our experience, have no relevant effect on the sales of a book. We are usually unable to update your book cover and back cover copy with the award logo, due to the costs involved, unless you have exceeded sales of 1000 copies. Discretion must be applied to the types of awards we will include here, and the final decision is ours.