Previous Finalists

Comments from Authors/Publishers

’When we read about the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards, we thought, "Wow! We could hear feedback from kids!" We have often wondered how our book, which is set mostly in America but partly in Cornwall, might be received by kids across the Atlantic. We never dreamed we might win a bronze medal. We have to say, the prizes for finalists and medal winners are awesome! Even more awesome was hearing feedback from the kids who read our book. We send many thanks to them, and to their teachers, and to their parents, and especially to Billy Bob Buttons!’

Rosie McTozy (and Jane Donovan), authors of Esme Dooley

’The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is a great place for indie writers to get constructive feedback about their stories. Over thirty readers (a mix of school children and teachers) read my story and the feedback I received was both honest and insightful. There are not many genuine opportunities like this to help improve your writing and I’m grateful for all of the feedback I’ve received for both Napoleon Xylophone and Xyz.’

Frank Lambert, author of Xyz

’As the author of a novel for teenagers, The Wishing Shelf Book Awards provided a unique opportunity to have my book critiqued and judged by my target audience. I’m not aware of any other awards program offering this. Nothing is more relevant for a teen novel than the opinions of teenagers. I’m delighted to have been accepted into the competition and I’m equally pleased by the fact that feedback was provided to each author after the judging. Not only that, but the host of the awards graciously offered to post the feedback on Amazon, if I so chose. Since Amazon restricts most teenagers from posting reviews due to age, there’s tremendous value in having it posted publicly. The Wishing Shelf Book Awards sets itself apart by the way it’s organized and the benefits it offers.’

Rebecca P McCray, author of The Journey of the Marked

The Award is useful because it is judged by a range of ’normal’ readers so we can be confident there’s no publishing in-crowd who make the decisions based on an opinion that does not match readers’ wishes; and, of course, because the result of that is getting opinions from genuine readers who don’t know us at all.

Early Works Press

So far, the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards have helped me mainly in terms of how my book actually looks. I was glad to hear that readers from a range of age groups enjoyed it, especially teens -- previously, it had only been read by adults. However something that was flagged by multiple readers was the need to change the cover to be something more age-appropriate, and this is something I’ll look at doing. The feedback I received was thus really useful, and the way in which it was all collated and distilled into different elements (eg "x readers liked the humour; y liked the plot") was both very thoughtful and very useful.

Laura May, author of Pickles and Ponies