In the previous article, Awards for Self-Published Books, we discussed everything from the type of awards out there to how you could win them. We understand that your time is valuable. That's why we include a small summary of the information from the previous article before learning more about Book Award Pro.
How do I win an award for my book?
Officially receiving a prize for your book could add fantastic formal proof to your book which can improve your marketing efforts. The good news for self published authors such as yourself is that you don’t even have to wait for your book to be published before becoming a winner.
You can submit your unpublished manuscript, post-editing of course, to some selected contests and get an award before publishing your book. Now, you can announce that you're an award-winning author and elicit interest in your book before publishing it. Not only can you boost sales, but you could become the grand prize winner of items like cash prizes, publishing deals, and more.
There are 1000s of contests around the world that you can enter. Some are free but the majority of them require you to pay an entrance fee which could vary from 5 dollars to as high as hundreds of dollars.
Cons of book awards
The problem is that sourcing these contests that cater to your genre could be very time-consuming and also expensive.
The other problem is that there are many sketchy contests out there. Fake websites that target indie authors pop up overnight and you could lose your money, get hacked, or have your manuscript stolen. It's vital that you make sure that you don’t submit your book to one of these rogue sites that pretend to be a book contest.
But how do you know who to trust?
That is where Book Award Pro comes in very handy, especially for independent authors who have to do all the hard work themselves.
What is Book Award Pro?
Book Award Pro is an automated platform where you simply submit your manuscript and entry criteria, and the AI will source contests that match your needs and apply for them. It doesn't matter if it is a work of fiction or nonfiction, or if it is a self published book or from an independent publisher.
The Book Award Pro AI scours thousands of awards to provide you with matches that are eligible for your book or manuscript. This impressive AI also filters out untrusted contests for you, eliminating the risk of getting scammed.
In this article, we will do an in-depth review of this platform.
The history of Book Award Pro
Hannah Jacobson, the founder & CEO of Book Award Pro has been in the industry for many years. Before she and Jay, the architect of the platform, developed this platform she was actively involved in assisting authors. One of her key roles in the self-publishing space was to assist writers to find trusted book contests.
Over the years, the duo became very familiar with book contests and paid attention to those with solid reputations. It allowed them to build a reliable database to find and match contests for authors, regardless of the genre.
In 2019 they set out to automate this process by developing a platform that would make this process much easier for the writer and the administrators. And so, Book Award Pro was born. Today, they have clients spanning over 5 continents. Although the process is automated, the founders still have a very hands-on approach to their business and make sure that human intuition and assistance are still present.
Is Book Award Pro legit?
As mentioned above, the founders have been in the industry for quite some time and their platform is almost two years old. In the first half of 2021, their authors won 327 awards from all over the world. These included works of fiction and nonfiction alike in every genre imaginable. They also run white-label award services, which publishers and publicists provide to their authors.
We contacted Jay from Book Award Pro and had a very long information-filled session with him. He is the architect behind Book Award Pro. Jay was extremely excited about the launch of version 3.0 soon and gave us a walkthrough of the new platform.
They are in the final test phase of the platform and it seems that user interaction is vastly improved in the new version with plenty of great new customization options available. It's good to see the company growing and that they're actively evolving the software.
We were very satisfied with the information we received and the results we got from submitting our book, Catch the Unicorn: Demystifying book marketing for fiction authors. Weekend Publisher can testify that everything appears to be legit and the platform exceeded our expectations.
In the first half of 2021, their authors won 327 awards from all over the world.
What are the benefits of Book Award Pro?
The primary benefit is that it saves you a lot of time and effort because you don’t have to search the internet for hours to find the appropriate contests for your genre. It's connected to over 3500 researched awards and has matching criteria of 148,000 plus.
Next, is the security that the platform provides. The platform filters out all those nasty scam sites for you so you have peace of mind that your manuscript, poem, novel, etc. stays secure.
It can even submit your manuscript or book for you and depending on which plan you selected, the platform will even cover your entry fee. But more on that later.
Another benefit that is built into the platform, is the ability to provide a nomination certificate and badge. Once you receive a nomination, the system will generate a certificate you can use to promote you book. You also receive a badge that you can use on social media or for communicating with peers or fans.
My certificate of nomination from testing
They also have an affiliate program built in the system where you stand the chance to make money or receive discounts. For every new member that you nominated to sign on, 25% of the new customer’s first month plan fee is paid back to you in the form of a commission. You can claim a cashback commission once you’ve accumulated more than 100 dollars.
If you select to receive the commission as service credits instead of cash, then it doubles in value. You will receive 50% of the signup fee from the new customer for you to spend on your own service fees or extra features that you could upgrade to. Pretty nifty!
Signup with BookAwardPro and get your own fancy badge like this one
What are the different plans available on Book Award Pro?
There are three different plans available on the Book Award Pro platform that you can subscribe to.
The Essentials Plan
This is the most affordable plan but its services are limited, unlike the other two options. When you subscribe to this plan, you will also receive the full power of the AI just like with the other two plans. In this case the system would only nominate the awards and place them on the dashboard for you. You have to enter the competition yourself.
The Essentials Plan comes with a price tag of $9 per month and just like all the plans on the platform, there is no minimum time limit that you have to commit to. If you are done after a month, then you are free to cancel the subscription.
The Plus Plan
This plan has a little more meat on the bone but it comes with a higher price tag. In this plan, you will receive the same high-tech service from the AI behind the platform, but with additional benefits. Instead of just pumping out matches, the platform will accurately target the ones that are most suited to your specified genre and provide you with the awards where you have better odds of winning.
The Plus Plan is $59 per month.
It seems like I was matched everyday with a new possible award. SUPER EXCITING! PLUS, all the time I saved not having to manually track down all legible awards.
The Pro Plan
This plan is the crown jewel of the platform. It does the same as the Plus Plan but it goes one step further. Every month, the company submits your book for the targeted award. Again, that is the award that the AI identified as the one that is most suited to your genre. That means that you can just sit back and relax until you are notified of winning an award.
During our test trial, we opted for the Pro Plan and were pleasantly surprised to soon see on the dashboard that our book was nominated for the Hollywood Book Festival under the Business category. The system automatically identified the contests, targeted this one as the most obvious choice for the genre, and submitted the application, all by itself.
You're still welcome to enter the other contests that the system identified to increase the chance of becoming an award-winning author. For the complete package, you have to pay $189 per month.
It should be noted that for all the plans above, you are allowed to place as many of your books on the platform as you want. The AI, however, will only run with one of the books you selected. You can switch between the books monthly, but if you want more than one book to be eligible at the same time, you need to upgrade. There is no limit to the number of plans on your account, and each plan is specifically tailored to each book.
If you want to submit more than ten books at one time, you could apply for a customized discount. You just need to contact them before you do the submission.
Book Award Pro Boost Options
On top of the standard plans provided above, there is a value-added option called Boost. Increase your odds of winning, enter additional competitions, or spend those commission credits you earned through the affiliate program by selecting to pay for the Boost option.
There are two options to select from namely Submit Books and Fast Track Boost.
The Submit Boost costs $199 and it does the complete professional submission on your behalf and includes the award fee of up to $100.
Fast Track Boost is Boost Submit on steroids. This option will take your five best opportunities and professionally submit your book to these identified contests. It will analyze your genre’s landscape and identify the most suited competitions that could deliver awards the soonest. On op top of that, it will also submit the entries and pay for them as well.
Fast Track Boost costs $999 and includes the entry fee for the five contests up to $500 in total.
Conclusion
Book Award Pro has been around as an automated platform since 2019 but the founders have been in the publishing space for much longer. They identified over 3500 trusted awards globally, catering for every genre out there.
The platform allows writers to find contests for their specific genres in which they are eligible to win an award. Depending on the plan you purchased, it will also go as far as to professionally submit your book for your without you having to lift a finger.
There are 3 plans with different price tags and benefits, starting from $9 for the most limited option and $189 for the most expensive option with the most benefits. Also, there are 2 upgradable options that you can buy once-off to gain more submissions and improve your chances of success.
Getting an award for your book is a major credibility booster, and will have a positive effect on your sales, and your overall brand as an author.
Weekend Publisher's Recommendation
We highly recommend investing in the future of your book by entering award contests. If you need more information about Book Award Pro or book awards in general, you are welcome to schedule a 20-minute free discovery call with us or drop us an email.
