This post is to collect my thoughts on entering my book in contests as a form of marketing. My hope is other self-published and indie authors find this useful, maybe as a way to start slightly ahead of Square One like I’m doing.

Since I’ve written a book I’m proud of, I want it to be read. That’s really my only goal as a retired person writing for the fun of it. (Well, not just for the fun of it… I helped my husband self-publish 11 sci-fi novels and I’ve always been curious what I’d come up with myself. I had an itch that needed scratching, you could say.) There are a lot of marketing options for self-published authors, all of which cost money:

• An interesting blog and website as a platform for engagement.
• Pay-per-click ads (e.g., Amazon Ads, Bookbub Ads)
• Static ads in reading-focused e-magazines (e.g., First Chapter Plus)
• Run a promotion at a bargain price, usually 99 cents or free, and advertise (e.g., Bargain Booksy, Ereader News Today, Kindle Book Review)
• Enter book contests and hope to win the prizes, which often include exposure
• Physical marketing (e.g., conventions, book signings, author association events)

I’m sure there are many others I haven’t even thought of yet or have forgotten. Today I went down the rabbit hole of “Book Contests.”

First, exhaustive lists of these contests already exist. I’ve bookmarked this one from Indies Today for additional research. As you can see, there are many contests and most have a non-trivial entry fee. Further, that entry fee is PER CATEGORY you want to compete in. That presents my first conundrum.

Driftless Spirits is a cozy read with a mystery, for sure, but it’s not a murder whodunit. I wrote my story as I wanted to tell it, not to fit a category. I’ve already reached out to a couple “cozy mystery” focused websites whose admins politely said they only want murder mysteries. At $100 a pop on average for a book contest entry fee, I think it might be hard to win a category I don’t fit in perfectly. Also, I’m confident in my story, but it’s my first one. Being realistic, my chances of winning against seasoned authors feel slim.

However, a few of the book contests have categories that do fit Driftless Spirits perfectly! First, I’m a debut author and some contests, like Next Generation Indie Book Awards, have a special category for first novels. Second, my book and series have a definite sense of place, being set in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin. A few book contests have “Regional” categories for stories or authors based in, say, the Great Lakes area or the Midwest. Targeting these categories feels like a good way to narrow down the competition to something manageable.

I did make one submission today. It’s not a contest, really, but a site I found that seemed pretty unique called indieBRAG. I submitted my book to try to earn their B.R.A.G. Medallion, a sort of seal of approval as to the quality of my book. While there is a $100 fee to submit a book, that fee is refunded if the book doesn’t pass an initial screening or if their army of reviewers don’t choose the book for review. (If the book is chosen for review but doesn’t meet the standards for the medallion, the fee is not refunded.)

I’ve bookmarked a few contests that aren’t currently open or that I need to take a second look at:

• The Kindle Book Review Awards is for Kindle books and submissions open in January. It’s only $35 to enter.
• The Midwest Independent Publishers Association contest is opening “soon.”
• I’m still considering picking a contest with a first-time author category, but that list isn’t complete yet.

So, not bad for an afternoon’s work, educating myself on what to spend money on to market my book. We’ll see how things turn out. I’ll keep reporting back and make this a recurring topic, in the hopes I can help someone else out.