Previous Finalists

Newsletter

I do enjoy this time of year! It's true. I know the weather is horrible (in England anyway) and summer is a long, LONG way off, but it is also when the Reading Groups (children and adult) start to work out who will be the FINALISTS in the Awards.

A week ago, I visited a school in London which is helping us to decide the finalists and winners in Category 1, 2 and 3. The children (yrs 1 - 5) were very much enjoying the books and, I'm happy to say, seemed very decisive when deciding which books they liked the most. Just like the Adult Books, they look at the story, editing, style of writing and the cover. That's one of the best things about this Award. Not only do we help authors, we also help the children in the schools we work with to understand the importance of analysing and being critical of a text; a skill they will need as they move further up the educational ladder.

I also visited the London Adult Reading Group. The best way I can describe it is a 'nuclear bunker'. They met in a cafe in North London; 26 of them, and every one of them seemed to think differently about every one of the books! But, although they argued a lot (A LOT!), they all seemed to be enjoying it. Oh, and there was a lot of coffee and a lot of chocolate cake on offer, so that seemed to help.

On March 1st, we will be announcing the finalists of the 2021 Awards. Now, this is important. I understand how important your book is to you. I should! I have written 19 books myself. But, if your book is not a finalist, there's nothing I can do to change that. I will not even have read your book; it's up to the Reading Groups (not me) to decide the finalist and winners. So please, please, PLEASE don't scream at me. I know a few will, no matter what I say, but, hey, I can but try!

Regarding feedback, we will start sending that out after March 1st, but only to non-finalists. Then, after we announce the winners on April 1st, we will be sending feedback out to everybody. The feedback will go out pretty much all the way through to the end of the year - there's a lot of it! When we send you your feedback, you will then be able to decide if you wish us to publish it on , Amazon.co.uk, Bookbub.com and Goodreads.com. It will be up to you. But, remember, we won't change the individual feedback in any way. We will post it exactly as it is.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to you. Remember, if you don't know what's happening and when, just visit the website: www.thewsa.co.uk. Pretty much everything you need to know is on there.

All the best,

Edward

Hi everybody,I often work with Book Printing UK; In fact, they have been printing my books for 10 years or so. If anybody in the UK happens to be looking for a good book printer, check them out. Below is a little info about them.

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Hi everybody, If you didn't know, The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is a BIG supporter of Blind Children UK. Every year, we send them a donation specifically targeted at helping them to cover the cost of producing 'large print books' for visually impaired children. Here is the Charity's Mission Statement: Support of visually impaired children, their families & helpers by providing the 5 key services of Family support, Educational advocacy, I/T support & equipment, Holidays & activities & Large print books. This year, we are planning to send them a LITTLE EXTRA! So, what we thought we'd do is offer our authors an EDITORIAL REVIEW at a discounted price. If you don't know what an EDITORIAL REVIEW is, go to https://www.thewsa.co.uk/needareview . As it's for charity, the reviewers have (very kindly) offered to do the reviews for FREE! We usually organise editorial reviews for £79 ($99) but, for this weekend only, we will organise them for £50($69). Then, EVERY PENNY/CENT WILL GO TO BLIND CHILDREN UK! THIS OFFER WILL ONLY BE VALID UNTIL MONDAY 23RD AUGUST, so you have THREE DAYS to contact us! So, if you wish us to organise an EDITORIAL REVIEW for one OR LOTS of your books, send us a PDF of the book and we will organise it for you. Not only will you be paying 90% less than asking Kirkus to do it, you will be supporting an excellent charity. We will let you know how much money we will be sending the charity next week! :) IMPORTANT TO NOTE: 1. This is a totally SEPARATE service we offer and has nothing to do with the awards. 2. Everything you need to know regarding EDITORIAL REVIEWS is HERE: https://www.thewsa.co.uk/needareview 3. You can send us any book you wish for an Editorial Review - as long as it yours! :) Cheers, Edward (and The Wishing Shelf Gang)