Previous Finalists

Newsletter

A very enjoyable visit to the LBF, promoting the FINALISTS and WINNERS and also promoting the awards with publishers and authors. I also got to say hi to the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, which was fun. She congratulated me on setting up the awards and all the work we do in independent publishing.

Hi everybody, you will find the list of the 2022 WINNERS here: https://www.thewsa.co.uk/winners2022/

THE WISHING SHELF BOOK AWARDS 2022 FINALISTS

THERE'S LOTS OF INFO FOR THE FINALISTS AND NON-FINALISTS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS NEWSLETTER!

To check out the list of the 2022 FINALISTS in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards simply go to the top of this page, hover over the word FINALISTS and click on FINALISTS 2022.

The children’s books were read and judged by children from 12 UK primary and secondary schools, the adult books by 2 Reading Groups, 1 in London and 1 in Stockholm. Over 150 readers! The books were marked according to EDITING, THEME, STYLE, COVER and, in the case of many of the children’s books, ILLUSTRATIONS. The audio books in Category 7 and 8 were also marked according to NARRATOR PERFORMANCE, SOUND QUALITY, MUSIC and SOUND EFFECTS. Every book in Category 1 - 6 which was awarded over 25/35 is a finalist. Every book in Category 7 and 8 which was awarded over 30/40 is a finalist.
 
The WINNERS will be announced on April 1st, 2023

Note: you will also see the Best Book COVER Awards from LAST YEAR listed there; ignore them as this year´s will be posted in August. 


INFO FOR NON-FINALISTS
Firstly, many thanks for entering your book in the Awards. Not everybody can be a finalist, and it's important to remember that the list of finalists simply reflects the opinion of our readers. They are not experts in publishing; they simply enjoy, what they feel, is a good book. Remember, you wrote a book, and you should rightly be proud.

Over the next month, we will be sending out feedback to everybody who entered the Awards (Op. 2) and was NOT a finalist. I hope you will find that feedback helpful to your writing careers. Once you have read the feedback, you can then decide if you wish us to post it on Bookbub and Goodreads. We will also be awarding a few Red Ribbons to books that were not finalists but the reading groups still very much enjoyed. This can happen when, say, the story is good but the editing or cover is poor. We will let you know if you are a Red Ribbon Winner when we send you your feedback.

By the way, every year, 1 or 2 of the non-finalists send me a nasty message. It is not welcomed. I run the Awards, but I do not judge the books, so yelling at me won’t get anybody anywhere.
  

INFO FOR THE FINALISTS
Firstly, congrats on becoming a finalists in the 2022 Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Our readers very much enjoyed all of your books. 

If you contact us at thewishingshelfawards@gmail.com, we will send you your wonderfully cool certificate as an attachment. Also, if you wish to have a FINALIST MEDAL, include your FULL POSTAL ADDRESS - important: read the info regarding the cost of the medals at the bottom of this newsletter before deciding if you want a medal or not.

You will find the link to the medal logos at the bottom of this page.

Remember to TELL THE WORLD! Being a finalist in a book award is now a ´tool in your toolbox´. But if you don´t get the tool out, it won´t help you to sell your books. I always find local newspapers are particularly interested in locals winning awards - CONTACT THEM NOW AND LET THEM KNOW!

The winners will be announced on April 1st, 2023. After that, we will be starting to send out feedback to finalists. This is a HUGE job and will take a number of months. We will work as fast as we can. Once you have read the feedback, you can then decide if you wish us to post it on Bookbub and Goodreads.

We will also be organising a Facebook advert to market the finalists' books. We will be targeting the advert at 'readers (interest/hobby) in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand'. The budget will be $2000, so we expect to get a lot of hits for your books! 

Over the next few weeks will will be sending out a Press Release promoting the finalists to over 100 bloggers. Plus we will be promoting them within Facebook and Goodreads reader groups.

Don't forget, if you are a finalist, you can get 50% off website design from www.webreger.com. Simply let them know you were a finalist, and they will help you.


FINALIST MEDALS
As most of you probably know, the gold, silver and bronze winners now get wonderful MEDALS! The medals are amazing; individually designed for the awards, gold-plated in a velvet padded box. Last year’s winners loved them.

But, over the years, a number of finalists have asked us if they could have medals too.

The thing is, they are not your typical school sports day medals i.e. they cost a fortune. All the winners get them for free - it's covered by part of the entry fee - but if we had them produced for all the finalists, the awards would go broke!

However, what we could do is this. As a 2022 finalist in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, if you would like a finalist medal, let me know ASAP. We would charge the exact cost of having them produced (if I remember correctly it's £29) plus whatever the postage is. 

So, if you wish to have a medal, contact us ASAP at thewishingshelfawards@gmail.com with your FULL NAME and POSTAL ADDRESS (don’t forget to include the ‘country’ at the end).

They really do look wonderful; gold-plated, big and heavy too! By the way, the design is different to the winner medals in so much as it says 'Finalist' on them, not 'Winner'. But they are exactly the same regarding size and quality. They will look amazing at booksignings, on a bookshelf or even on your writing desk. We only have so many, so let us know ASAP.

Remember, we will only charge the cost of producing and sending them; the awards will make no profit whatsoever. We just thought you all might be interested. If it was me, I´d get one!

So that's all for now. Congrats to all the finalists!  Non-finalists, if you picked Opt. 2 (with feedback), keep an eye on your inbox; your feedback will be along shortly.

Chat soon!
 
Edward (and The Wishing Shelf Gang)