Most legitimate book-award contests don’t allow submissions by self-publishing authors. There are, of course, the book contests for self-publishers that hand out awards like candy. Nearly every contestant wins something—including a shiny sticker they can display on their book cover to make buyers think they have written something of quality. Fortunately, there’s at least one book contest out there for self-publishing authors that does not dance to this tune. The Eric Hoffer Awards honor excellence in writing, and showcase exceptional self-published books and books produced by small presses. Here is their impressive mission statement:
The Eric Hoffer Award Mission Statement:
The Hoffer Award was founded at the start of the 21st century (with permission from the Eric Hoffer Estate) to honor freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit. The commercial environment for today’s writers has all but crushed the circulation of ideas. It seems strange that in the Information Age many books are blocked from wider circulation, and powerful writing is barred from publication or buried alive on the Internet. Furthermore, many of the top literary prizes will not even consider independent books or previously unpublished prose, choosing instead to become the marketing arms of large presses.
The “Hoffer” honored prose is largely unpublished, and the books are chiefly from small, academic, and micro presses, including self-published offerings. Throughout the centuries, writers such as Emily Dickinson, James Joyce, Walt Whitman, and Virginia Wolfe have taken the path of self-publishing rather than have their ideas forced into a corporate or sociopolitical mold.
The books and prose of the Hoffer Award are nominated by the people and judged by independent panels. Winners of the “Hoffer” are given prizes, honors, and worldwide media exposure, as well as being covered in the US Review of Books and published in the annual anthology, Best New Writing.
This is a real opportunity for outstanding self-published authors to get the recognition they deserve. One of my clients, Michael Hurley, won this year’s Eric Hoffer Prize for General Fiction for his exceptional novel, The Vineyard. It was an honor well-earned.
If you’re searching for self-published book contests that are genuine, check this one out. Deadline for submissions for the 2016 Eric Hoffer Awards is January 21. Visit the website for details and a list of award-winning books from this and previous years at http://www.hofferaward.com/
Jessi Rita Hoffman … book editing by an industry professional