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There's a story, behind the story

1/22/2018

So, last time I blogged I was asking the question: should we care about awards?

Well, this past weekend I attended the London Book Festival 2017 awards ceremony to collect my winning certificate for the sci fi category. It was held at the 5* Grosvenor Hotel in London, and there was nice alcohol and food and even real drinking glasses. About 30 people came, from the USA, Switzerland, the UK and Latin America.

So, already my expectations were surpassed.

I was able to give a short speech and feel important when receiving my award. People laughed and cried. It was emotional… (cough).

But, that is not why I’m writing this blog.

I will fully admit that I went in very focused on me. My award. My achievement. My interest in the other books was not high. It was my first award ceremony, and so I was busy being all self-important.

That quickly went out of the window.

Firstly, we had some VERY educated people in the room. A psychiatrist, a PhD in literature. A guy from Capitol Hill, a former exec from HBO… the list goes on. My little PhD was not stand out in this crowd.
Secondly, the stories behind these people’s books reminded me that for every book out there, someone’s blood sweat and tears have gone into it. For many it’s very personal. Just a few examples from this event included:

A Children’s Book called the Princess and the Parakeet, written for a little girl with brain cancer. She gave the author, the title and he ran with it. The author works a lot with these kids, writing storied based on their ideas. The little girl in question in this book passed away. The characters were based on and named after people in her life. As someone who works in childhood leukemia, this hit home.
A book on how to rebuild Somalia’s economy by helping them to produce their own affordable food. The author, formally on Capitol Hill had quit his job and teamed up with a partner in Dubai (a former Somalian refugee) to make this happen.
A book on how to help children deal with the aftermath of terrorism. The author, known as the Terrorist Therapist, was so affected by 9.11 that she changed her practice to focus solely on dealing with the associated stress. Her book, Lions and Tigers and Terrorists, Oh My!, is probably the first to help children – who are normally not engaged in this topic.

Ultimately, it gave me new perspective. And renewed respect for others’ work. In a culture where keyboard warriors are out to fight their righteous fight, and everyone is quick to judge or bash someone else’s work, I found renewed empathy.

I know that I will not be quick to judge another’s work so harshly. For every story, there’s a story behind it.

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Book awards. Should we care?

1/13/2018

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Recently, I received an email telling me that my debut novel, Children of the Fifth Sun, had been named the winner of the sci fi category at the 2017 London Book Festival. I was invited the the award ceremony, which I will be attending. Set in a 5 star hotel in London it promises to be the Oscars of the book world (cough).

I was chuffed. Okay more than chuffed. I was elated.

I did a bit of reading on the internet (always a bad idea) to look into what authors do with their new found 'fame'. Surprise, surprise, I found a whole lot of vitriol. Many authors, though mostly indie, were scathing about the various awards out there - calling them money-making scams that have no impact on sales etc etc. Perhaps some are scams. But it got me thinking. Should I care about my award? Should I bother entering any more competitions?

So, I dug a little further and came across an interesting article on the shift in the publishing industry and the weight of even the big awards; Pulitzer, Man Booker, Hugo etc. The author told of how since the consumer is now king, as opposed to the literary elite, the awards themselves have less impact. Some of the best-selling books in the world have zero awards. The readers just really like the book.

So, I asked myself again - should I care about the award?

More digging, and another article came up which was quite positive. The author suggested that while awards may not have direct impact on sales, it does allow us to give a boost to our marketing campaign and put a shiny sticker on our book that other books don't have. He/she equated it to a bottle of award-winning wine with a lovely gold star. No-one questions the competition it came from; the consumer only knows that one bottle has the star and another doesn't. It may tip the balance when choosing.

A solid reason to enter competitions and hope for an award.

But, after much thought, finally I came to a different conclusion. I care about the award, because I care about my book. I write because I like to write. I do it for the love of it. Thus, if someone, somewhere, in a competition, big or small, has deemed my book to be more worthy than others to receive an award then I'm damn happy.

Someone liked my book. They liked it enough to give it a gold star. I feel proud, and that - dear reader - is all that matters.

Now, I'm off to rub shoulders with fellow winners and drink Lambrini from a styrofoam beaker.

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There's a story, behind the story

Book awards. Should we care?

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