Billy Bob Buttons's Blog

Winners Announced

THE WISHING SHELF BOOK AWARDS 2015
WINNERS
www.thewsa.co.uk
Below is a list of the 2015 WINNERS in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. The CHILDREN'S BOOKS were read and judged by children in 8 UK primary and secondary schools, the ADULT BOOKS by 2 Reading Groups, 1 in London and 1 in Stockholm. The books were marked according to EDITING, THEME, STYLE, COVER and, in the case of many of the children’s books, ILLUSTRATIONS.
If you happen to be looking for a good read, the readers at The Wishing Shelf Awards thoroughly recommend the following:

Category 1 Pre-School Picture Books
GOLD
Space Cop Zack, Protector of the Galaxy, Don Winn
SILVER
How It Happened in Hotterly Hollow, Tracey L Coutts, Colleen Holub
Feeding Time at the Zoo, Kevin Price
BRONZE
My Mummy is an Engineer, Kerrine Bryan, Jason Bryan
Do You Dream of Dinosaurs? Sally Alce
The Pirate Train, Nicole Plyler Fisk

Category 2 Books for 6 – 8 Year Olds
GOLD
Do Not Feed the Troll! Ryan Cartwright
SILVER
A Knock at the Door, Helen Yeomans
The Mouse Who Howled at the Moon, Sarah Hindmarsh
BRONZE
The Forever Tree, Hilary Hawkes
Nickerbacher, The Funniest Dragon, Terry John Barto
Horace Burp, Lizard Boy, Chris Tennent

Category 3 Books for 9 – 12 Year Olds
GOLD
Hieroglyph, Wendy Scott
SILVER
Bees in my Bananas, Lots of Fun Poems, Neal Zetter
The Sound Catcher, Graham Garrity
BRONZE
The Amazing Brain of O C Longbotham, Barbara Spencer
The Extraordinary Book of Doors, Anne Nydam
Frankie Dupont and the Lemon Festival Fiasco, Julie Grasso

Category 4 Books for Teenagers
GOLD
Community 17, James Cardona
SILVER
H.A.L.F. The Deep Beneath, Natalie Wright
Alex Finch: Monster Hunter (The Monster Files Book 1), Cate Dean
BRONZE
Escape from B-Movie Hell, M T McGuire
Apocalypse: Diary of a Survivor, Matt Pike
Echo Across Time, Book 1 in the Echo Saga, Skye Genaro

Category 5 Books for Adults (fiction)
GOLD
The Piltdown Picasso, Robin Richards
SILVER
The Porter’s Wife, Lisa Brown
Orphans, Assassins and the Existential Eggplant, J.T. Gillett
BRONZE
Three Little Birds, Carol Wyer
Anonymous, Christine Benedict
The Improbable Wonders of Moojie Littleman, Robin Gregory

Category 6 Books for Adults (non-fiction)
GOLD
Inside the Crocodile, The Papua New Guinea Journals, Trish Nicholson
SILVER
Spices and Seasons: Simple, Sustainable Indian Flavors, Rinku Bhattacharya
Woody Allen, Reel to Real, Alex Sheremet
BRONZE
London’s Firefighters, David Pike
Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time, Ellisa Rolle
The Secrets of Islay: A tale of golf, marathons, and single malt, Robert Kroeger

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

THE WISHING SHELF BOOK AWARDS 2014 FINALISTS

Below is a link to the 2014 FINALISTS in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

http://www.thewsa.co.uk/finalists2014/

The children’s books were read and judged by children in 8 UK primary and secondary schools, the adults books by 2 Reading Groups, 1 in London and 1 in Stockholm. The books were marked according to EDITING, THEME, STYLE, COVER and, in the case of many of the children’s books, ILLUSTRATIONS.

The WINNERS will be announced on April 1st, 2015.

If you happen to be looking for a good read, the readers at The Wishing Shelf Awards thoroughly recommend these books.

Cheers!

Edward

MY BOOK AWARDS: Fun to run? Or a total and utter nightmare?

Four years ago I set up The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Why? Well, I was upset with all the other book awards open to self-published and independently published authors. I felt they were a rip-off. I remember, I was a finalist in one award and they didn’t even bother to tell me. Then, in another award I did very, VERY well and all they were interested in was selling me dodgy winner stickers at a crazy, inflated price. Then there was the feedback I got from the Writer’s Digest Award. It was a joke. It was 19 (yes, 19!) words long and congratulated me on writing a wonderful adult book set in France. IT WAS A CHILDREN’S BOOK SET IN A MAGIC BOOKSHOP!!!

So I went for a walk…

I went for a walk and decided in amongst the tall chestnut trees to set up my own book award. And that, my fellow authors, is what I did.

But it had to be different. Much, much different to what was on offer at present. So I thought to myself, what do I want from a book award? Well, I want the organisers to see me, actually see me – and my book. I don’t just want to be a ‘$’ sign or a ‘£’ sign to them. Also, I want to get ‘value for money’ so, even if I don’t win, I want to get feedback from the judging. And, finally, I don’t want to pay lots of money to enter.

So, from this, I set up The Wishing Shelf Book Awards (www.thewsa.co.uk).

Over the last four years, it has grown. Wow! How it’s grown. In the first year we had 42 authors and publishers enter. This year it will be closer to 200! Now we have a very interactive Facebook page where the authors and publishers can discuss the award and how best to run it. Now we provide ALL the authors who enter a catchy quote to help them to market their books. Now we post reviews – based on the feedback – on Amazon and Goodreads. Now we actively support Blind Children UK, helping them to produce books for children with sight problems. Now we have over twenty schools and two adult reading groups (1 in London, 1 in Stockholm) helping us to judge the books. Now we send every author who enters feedback of between 400 – 1,500 words based on the readers’ comments. They look at the cover, the content, the editing and the style. We even provide the authors with statistics e.g. How many of the readers would read another book by this author etc, etc.

So now, my tiny award is a bit of a monster and is taking more and more of my time. Is it fun? Yes, most of the time. I only upset the odd author! In fact, most of the time it is very rewarding and our reputation on and off the web is ‘glowing’. Don’t get me wrong. We do mess up. This year, for example, it is taking too long to get all the feedback to the authors. So, next year, I’m employing help. The Wishing Shelf Awards will actually have a member of staff! An ex-primary school head teacher who will help me to correlate all the feedbacks. It’s all very exciting.

But do you know what the best bit is? The very, VERY best bit. Twice now, one of the US-based awards I hate has attempted to buy my small awards. And I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed telling them to go to…well, you know where. Now THAT was fun!

Edward Trayer

Edward Trayer, writing under the pen name Billy Bob Buttons is the author of Rubery Book Award finalist 'Felicity Brady and the Wizard's Bookshop' the much-loved 'The Gullfoss Legends' and People's Book Prize runner-up 'TOR Assassin Hunter' and 'TOR Wolf Rising'. His latest book, 'I Think I Murdered Miss, won the 2014 UK People's Book Prize. He is also the organiser of The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.

www.thewsa.co.uk
www.bbbuttons.co.uk

A New Breed of Book Award

The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is growing fast. Check it out at www.thewsa.co.uk. It's a new breed of book awards run very differently from any other book awards on or off the web. The entry fee is very, VERY low and everybody 'EVERYBODY!' who enters gets feedback from the judging, a catchy quote and reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. But the best bit is the judging. The children's book are read and judged by children in 7 schools in the UK; the adult books by readers in two established Reading Groups, 1 in Stockholm and 1 in London. Every book entered is read by a minimum of 15 readers and you will get all the feedback.

If you're interested, please do visit the webpage. All the best. Edward

At last! A book award run by another author

AT LAST! A BOOK AWARD RUN BY ANOTHER AUTHOR

Hi, my name is Billy Bob Buttons and I’m a UK-based children’s author. I’m pretty successful. My books, Felicity Brady and the Wizard’s Bookshop, The Gullfoss Legends, TOR Assasin Hunter and TOR Wolf Rising sell over 10,000 a year (hardbacks and paperbacks direct to primary schools). Not bad, I guess, for any independently published author.
But for all my success, I detest entering book awards. Not that I don’t do okay. I was a runner-up in the Rubery Book Awards and the prestigious UK People’s Book Prize. But the problem with many book awards for independently published authors is they don’t seem particularly interested in the book. All the organisers seem to want to do is sell ‘Winner!’ and ‘Runner-up’ stickers.
So, two years ago, I (my real name is Edward Trayer, Billy Bob Buttons is simply a pen name) set up The Wishing Shelf Book Awards (www.thewsa.co.uk). I wanted to offer other independently published authors a very different award to what was presently offered on the internet. I wanted authors who enter to feel ‘special’ and I wanted them to know we will judge their books thoroughly.
I visit approximately 200 primary and secondary schools a year giving literary workshops. Here, I thought, was the perfect judging panel. I persuaded a number of the headteachers to allow their students to read and judge the children’s books entered in the award. This way, not only are the finalists and winners decided by the intended readers and not a panel of so-called ‘experts’, but the feedback they send to us we then send on to the authors.
The adult books are judged by two established Reading Groups, one in London where I often work and one in Stockholm where I live. ‘They love reading the books and discussing them for hours over coffee and cake.
The next problem I faced was cost. I wanted to keep it cheap so as not to exclude any authors but also the award cost a lot to run. I had to set up and pay for the website (www.thewsa.co.uk), cover the cost of posting the books between schools, have certificates designed and printed and, most importantly, I wanted to advertise the finalists in a high-circulation magazine. In the end I set the price at £28 per book; a lot cheaper than other awards. And I decided to advertise the finalists with a quarter page, full colour advert in The School Librarian. It cost a fortune but I think it was worth it and it helps the finalists to sell their books.
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards boasts 100% satisfaction from every publisher and author who has, so far, entered (42 the first year, 104 the second year and probably about 150 this year). The problem with other awards is, if you win, you win. Fantastic! But if you don’t, you get nothing. With our award, every entrant, finalist or not, gets all the feedback from the judging, a catchy quote for the back of their next book or reprint and a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Then, if you are a finalist, you also get a logo, a certificate, marketing on the web and your book in The School librarian. This year, we even organised for the all finalists in the children’s category to have their book reviewed by The School Librarian. The authors were very happy.
With so many awards right now, particularly for self-published authors, the author is simply a number. Even if they win, by then the organisers are concentrating and getting next year’s authors to enter. But we answer every email personally, we ask authors to send us the blurb of their book prior to entering and, if we think it’s not the sort of thing our readers will enjoy, we urge them not to enter (we turn away approx. 10% at the moment; I often read the first chapter on Amazon (Look Inside) and if it’s full of errors and needs a good edit I tell the author). There is even a Facebook page so the authors can make suggestions on how to improve the awards and how to spend the entry fees to best market their books.
If you are interested in entering The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, check out the website www.thewsa.co.uk. Alternatively, send info on your book directly to me at thewishingshelfawards@gmx.com. I can promise you a very different experience; in fact, I’m so confident in how well the award is run, if you’re not happy at the end, I will refund your entry fee.
All the best and good luck with your writing.

Edward

The Wishng Shelf Book Awards

The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is a new non-profit making award set up to help independently published authors market their work.

I set up the awards because I was tired of the way the present independent awards treat the authors who enter. For example, I was recently longlisted on the Rubery Awards, and they did not even bother to let me know.

I want the Wishing Shelf Awards to be different.

Everybody will get lots of feedback, all emails will be answered personally and we will do all we can to publicise the winning books. Also, every winner will be personally notified by email and phone and I will post the accounts at the end of each year so all the entrants will know how the money was spent. But the best bit of all, every book entered will be well read and properly judged, perhaps not by experts, but by avid readers and school children.

Interested? Check out our webpage www.thewsa.co.uk

WRITING BLURBS

Over the next few months I will be writing a blog describing how I transform my 45,000 words into a hardback book. TOR Wolf Rising is my eighth independently published book so I pretty much know the hoops I must jump through. I’m hoping this blog will help authors contemplating the self-publishing route to know what they must face if they wish their book to be a success.

Today, I thought I’d discuss blurbs a bit. You know, the bit on the back of the book. I’m also the organiser of The Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards so I spent a lot of my time reading self published author’s blurbs, and, frankly, I think this is where many authors destroy any chance of a potential reader buying their book.

When I write a blurb, I think it helps to keep two things in mind. Firstly, who do I want to read my book? And secondly, how will I persuade that person to buy my book? Many self-publshers make the simple mistake of thinking a blurb is there just to tell the reader what the book is about. Wrong! Well, sort of wrong. Yes, it can do that, but, most importantly, it is a marketing tool.

Take the blurb for my book, Felicity Brady and the Wizard’s Bookshop. Initially, the blurb was simply a summary of the plot. It did not sell well! Then I thought, who do I want to read my book? Young adults. And how can I persuade them to read it? A little intrigue; a blurb which just tickles the taste buds. The result was this:

‘The Wishing Shelf is not just a magic bookhop, it is not just the doorway to hundreds of magical lands, it is, most importantly, the prison to the most powerful and dangerous book ever penned.’
Galibrath Falafel, Wizard.

As a result, the sales of this book rocketed!

Another clever way of marketing your book is to put an extract from the story on the back cover. I don’t know about you, but when I pick a book of a shelf, I thumb through it and perhaps read a paragraph or two. I will then decide if I wish to buy it or not. Now, if you put an extract from your book on the back cover, you can direct your ‘would be’ reader to a part of the book you think is particularly exciting and well-written.

With TOR Assassin Hunter, as the book is a hardback and subsequently has a dustjacket, I can put an extract on the back and a blurb on the inner front flap, and, here it is:

The year is 1870. Major Tor, a mercenary and deadly sniper, is called from battle and ordered to stop Locust, a SWARM assassin who is planning to murder the King of Sweden.
From the rubble and watery craters of France to the shadowy corridors and tunnels of Stockholm’s old castle, Tor must discover who the assassin is and stop his, or her plan to throw a country into a barbaric and bloody war.
Accompany him if you dare into a world of bayonets and bullets, where the enemy’s sword is forever chasing his shadow.
But remember this, when you hunt assassins…
…trust nobody.
Billy Bob Buttons spine a chilling tale of betrayal and trickery.
‘So many twists, I felt dizzy.’ Bookworm

I guess the most important part of writing a blurb is this. Don’t rush it. You spent months, years, writing your baby. Why throw it away with a crap blurb. Spend a week on it, two weeks. Then put it away and go back to it later. Ask you family what they think and ask for feedback from anybody who you think may enjoy your book.

Anyway, I hope this helps. Next week I will be looking at cover design, a part of self publshing I particularly enjoy.

Billy Bob Buttons is the author of the much-loved ‘Felicity Brady and the Wizard’s Bookshop’ and ‘The Gullfoss Legends’. His new YA book, TOR Assassin Hunter, will be in the shops this February. The ebook of TOR Assassin Hunter wil be on Amazon on 20th February at the introductory price of only 0.99 cents.