PRESS RELEASE: Prize package grows as Blurb joins Bowker® in sponsoring contest for the best from independent publishers Entries accepted through October 1, with winners unveiled in December
Blurb, the popular platform for creating and publishing beautiful books, is sponsoring indie book review ezine Shelf Unbound’s Writing Competition for Best Independently Published Book. Blurb will award a total of $1,500 in printing services to the winner and finalists of this year’s competition, which will crown the best from independent and self-publishers. Bowker,the official U.S. ISBN registration agency and creator ofSelfPublishedAuthor.com, is also a sponsor of this year’s competition.
“The goal of this competition is to showcase the extraordinary quality of independently published books and to support the winner’s business going forward,” said Shelf Unbound publisher Margaret Brown. “Blurb shares our passion for uncovering the rich talent and great stories from this fascinating and fast-growing sector. We’re thrilled to have them on the team.”
Entries are being accepted now through October 1. The winning entry, selected by the editors of Shelf Unbound, will receive a prize package designed to help build their publishing business:
- A feature, with links to purchase, in Shelf Unbound’s December/January 2015 issue, which is read by 125,000 book lovers in the U.S. and 65 other countries around the world.
- A full year of full-page ads in Shelf Unbound
- $1,000 in printing from Blurb to publish beautiful, bookstore-quality books on premium paper stock with archival-quality binding.
- A package of 10 ISBNs from Bowker to support additional books and/or alternative formats.
Self-published books, as well as those from independent publishers producing five or fewer titles per year, in print or e- formats in any genre are eligible for entry. Any publication date is eligible, and the competition is open to authors around the globe. This year the competition will also introduce the Pete Delohery Award for Best Sports Book, open to fiction and non-fiction sports-related books,in honor of Pete Delohery, author of the novel Lamb to the Slaughter.
Entry fee is $40 per book. There is no limit to the number of books an individual can enter; each book is a separate entry. The deadline for entry is midnight on October 1, 2014. The winners will be notified by November 2, 2014. The official rules for the competition and submission details can be found at Shelf Media Group’s contest rules page.
About Shelf Media Group
Dallas-based Shelf Media Group is the publisher of Shelf Unbound, a book review magazine that presents the best of independent publishing in a digital format. Curated by editors with their fingers on the pulse of small press, independent, and self-published books, Shelf Unbound features “must read” new fiction and nonfiction releases in a rich, visually engaging design. Each issue of Shelf Unbound is distributed to an audience of more than 125,000 avid readers and includes fascinating interviews with authors ranging from Pulitzer Prize winners to emerging voices. Shelf Unbound’s e format enables multi-media bonuses such as video book trailers and audio book excerpts and hotlinks to information and purchasing sources for all featured books, creating a truly interactive experience for book lovers. Shelf Media also publishes Middle Shelf: Cool Reads for Kids magazine and Foreground art magazine. All three Shelf Media titles have been honored as 2014 Maggie Award Finalists for Best Digital-Only Magazine. Subscriptions are free at shelfmediagroup.com
Media Contact: Beth Dempsey, for Shelf Unbound
Beth@bethdempsey.com or 248-915-8160
