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The IPPY Effect III - Wear Your Award Proudly
A series of articles about book awards and how they can help you promote and sell more books.
The celebrating is over. You’ve drained the last of the champagne. You’ve told everyone you know.Now what?
You’ve just received an award for your book. You’re an author or a publisher. Now, how can you make that award work for you? How can you use it to promote your book? What’s your often overlooked, most powerful secret weapon?
Whether you’re an IPPY winner, finalist or honorable mention, or you’ve won any other publishing award, don’t forget to put your award stickers on your books.
The IPPY gold seal is available to winners, finalists, and those who’ve received honorable mention. Putting these adhesive-backed seals on the front covers of all the books distributed to retailers or sent to the press signals that this is a book to pay attention to, one that has earned that attention.
Editors, writers, journalists and producers receive tons of books every week from publishers, publicists, and directly from authors. Your award gold seal makes your book stand out. It says to the media: “I’m a book that’s been honored. Look at me first. You can be assured that I’m a quality book worthy of your attention. You don’t necessarily know that about all the other books sitting on your desk, but I’m special and my sticker makes that obvious.”
When you’re competing against scores of other books for media attention, that little gold seal can make all the difference in the world. It can raise the odds considerably that the editor, reviewer, writer or producer will notice your book, pluck it from the pile, and then act on it.
Like other journalists, I still remember award-winning books that arrived on my desk 10 and 20 years ago. I’m not kidding. I gave those books my attention because their award stickers assured me I wouldn’t be wasting my time.
Any edge you can get will help you in your quest to get media attention for your book. If your book has been honored, don’t hide that. Make it obvious by putting notice of that honor right on the front cover.
Many publishers use stickers or seals, then in future printings of the book they move to incorporating wording about the honor into the cover design, usually at the top. We’ve all seen this before with bestsellers, too.
Your gold seal also tells bookstore owners that your book is worthy of shelf space, and that by using the seal you’re helping the store sell the book. Ship all your books with your gold seals affixed to them. Many bookstores create special displays for honored books bearing stickers, seals, and wording on the front cover that announces the honor and catches the attention of customers.
Let potential readers know that you have a great book. Your gold seal tells them that the minute they look at the cover.
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For more information about Awards seals and other promo materials, send an email to awards@bookpublishing.com
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Nina L. Diamond is a journalist, essayist, and the author of Voices of Truth: Conversations with Scientists, Thinkers & Healers. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including Omni, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and The Miami Herald.
Ms. Diamond was a writer and performer on Pandemonium, the National Public Radio (NPR) satirical humor program, for its entire run in Miami and select markets nationwide from 1984-1998. As an editor, she works frequently with other authors and journalists on both fiction and non-fiction.