Hannah Jacobson of Book Award Pro on Leveraging Awards and Reviews for Author Success: The Creating Better Books Podcast with Howard Lovy

In the latest episode of the Creating Better Books podcast, ALLi Content and Communications Manager Howard Lovy interviews Hannah Jacobson, founder of Book Award Pro, a company dedicated to helping authors gain recognition through book awards. Hannah discusses the challenges indie authors face in navigating the award landscape, the importance of ensuring the legitimacy of awards, and how her company leverages AI to match books with the right opportunities. She also highlights the growing acceptance of indie authors in the awards industry.

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Listen to the Podcast: Hannah Jacobson, Book Award Pro

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About the Host

Howard Lovy has been a journalist for more than 35 years, and now amplifies the voices of independent author-publishers and works with authors as a developmental editor. Find Howard at howardlovy.com, LinkedIn, and X.

Read the Transcripts to the Podcast: Hannah Jacobson, Book Award Pro

Howard Lovy: Today, my guest is Hannah Jacobson, founder of Book Award Pro, a company that helps authors get validation for their books, and Hannah's expertise has been recognized as the leading voice in book awards and author advocacy. Hello, Hannah, welcome to the show.

Hannah Jacobson: Hi, Howard. Thank you so much for having me here today.

Howard Lovy: Sure. Before we go into what your company does, tell us about your background, where you grew up, and how you founded Book Award Pro.

Hannah Jacobson: Oh, yeah, absolutely. My name is Hannah Jacobson, and I'm the founder of Book Award Pro.

Originally, I am, of course, I am stateside. I'm from Texas, currently living in Seattle, Washington, but have travelled quite a lot. In fact, Howard, I think that the first time you and I connected, I was in Amsterdam and just living abroad for the first time. So, that was a really fun experience.

But five years ago, at the time of this recording, five years ago, I set out to help authors in a really unique way.

I happen to really have a passion for book awards and the magic that can unfold for authors using those awards. So, I set out, I started a company called Book Award Pro, helped authors find the right awards for their books, and flash forward to today, when I first started, I helped about five authors at a time, and now we help thousands of authors every year around the world.

Howard Lovy: Wow, that's amazing, and there are so many to choose from. So, I guess, let's start with a general question, what are some of the common challenges that indie authors face when trying to enter book awards and how do you help them?

Hannah Jacobson: For indie authors, knowing exactly what is out there for your book and how to navigate that award system can be challenging.

So, first and foremost, some of our work actually goes to serve authors by showing you what is out there. So, you don't have to do all the research and that time consuming task of figuring out what's out there for your book, and what to submit to; we handle all that for you.

But when you are preparing your book for submission in any scenario, whether you're working with Book Award Pro or doing this independently, always make sure that your book is as professionally polished, as professionally presented, as possible.

You may have some budget constraints, but do your best to have the best book cover design that you can, the best interior format, and of course, if you really can, make sure that your writing is well edited. That's some feedback that we have seen from awards specifically for indie authors.

Howard Lovy: Hopefully members of the Alliance of Independent Authors already know that, but it's good to repeat often, that because we call it self-publishing doesn't mean you're doing it by yourself, and you need to hire professionals to help you along.

So, how do you, as a company, and also how do individual authors ensure the legitimacy of a book award?

Hannah Jacobson: Oh, Howard, I love this question because this is really special to me and really close to my heart. How do you determine what award is a scam versus what's legitimate? When we talk about the concept of a scam, I think it is important to define, what is that? A scam, simply defined, is an organization of any kind that's not upholding its promises to authors. So, if you're going it alone, it can be difficult to see broadly, how is an award organization treating an author? How are they reviewing your work? How are they actually putting your book through award consideration?

From our end, we actually heavily research every single accolade in our system, and in fact, Book Award Pro operates the world's largest database of legitimate reviews and awards.

At the time of our conversation, Howard, that's more than 10,000 accolades and counting. We research all of those awards and reviews, and make sure that everything within our platform is completely safe.

But if you are doing things on your own, be sure to get in touch with the awards, see what their communication style is like, make sure that they're answering your inquiries. Just use some different touch points, if you will, to suss out and get a good feel for how they are treating you.

Also, really dig deep into their guidelines, their restrictions, just see how they are reviewing your work, how are they treating you as an author. Those are just a couple of sample ideas to identify maybe what's potentially a good, legitimate award.

Of course, you can always use our ALLi resource. We call it the Awards and Contests Ratings page. Book Award Pro works with ALLi to monitor this page, make sure that it's up to date, and make sure that there are good, safe opportunities out there for indie authors.

Howard Lovy: Now, what about the question of entrance fees? I'm assuming that many legitimate awards charge entrance fees, but how do you know whether this is a moneymaking scheme on their end or if these entrance fees really go into their work?

Hannah Jacobson: Fabulous question, Howard. So first, regarding the concept of entry fees, book awards and book review organizations are professional, they're businesses. What it takes to professionally review your work, whether for award or review consideration, that's a professional service. So, 98% of awards will charge some kind of entry fee.

At the time of this conversation, that average entry fee is $89, and that's 89 USD for our international audience, but the range is all over the place. You can find awards that cost nothing to submit for. Maybe they've got a very modest entry fee of less than $50, but maybe it's more than $100, maybe it's $500.

When it comes down to deciding what's a good fit for your book, I always tell authors, don't go beyond your budget. There will always be more opportunities for you. You should never, ever feel pressured. So, if you're feeling high stakes, like this is the last stop on the merry go round, you can't win another award, there won't be another opportunity, that's not the case. Never feel pressured to pay more than you'd like. There is always something else for you.

Now, like we talked about, these are professional organizations, they are charging an entry fee. How can you tell, are they giving out awards, can you tell that?

I will say that we perform thousands of submissions every year and we've never seen a 100% success rate with any award. In fact, not even close, like a technicality 99%. Most awards out there will actually professionally consider your book for the award.

Quite frankly, for any number of reasons, if you look at an award and just think that's not an organization that you would like to participate in or be associated with, pass on it. There are thousands of other opportunities out there and you should never, ever feel pressured to pursue that one.

Howard Lovy: I don't know if you have specific numbers, but you said the average is $89, which to me sounds like a reasonable price, but when you get high up there in the hundreds and hundreds of dollars, do you have a price limit where you say, you better take a hard look at this?

Hannah Jacobson: Oh, yeah. Pricing and entry fees are so subjective. So, I'll make a recommendation here, but do know that whether your number is below or above mine, it doesn't make it right or wrong. Always do what's right for you, your book, and your budget. At about the $100 mark, it makes sense to really start paying attention to, what is the potential of this award? What could it get me? What kind of publicity do you get?

There's a concept of bonus benefits, that's what we call it at Book Award Pro, but basically for the price, when you submit your book, do you get something in return at no extra cost? For example, there are some awards out there where you pay your entry fee, you submit your book, and they'll actually perform a professional editorial review for you at no extra cost. So, pay attention to those bonus benefits, see what you might get as a winner, are they marketing you very well, do they have a really good internet presence, are they sending out press releases? Just really pay attention to basically, what would this accolade get me for this price, it's a question of ROI, return on investment.

Howard Lovy: That to me sounds like a good deal, even if you don't win an award, at least you get a good manuscript review or an editorial evaluation. There are some rewards that actually do that, right?

Hannah Jacobson: Yes, exactly right, Howard. To your point, too, you may get feedback directly from the judges. Especially indie authors have been really happy to get feedback from judges who say, you know what, we really want to award your book because you've got a great story, the cover design is amazing, we really just felt engaged with it, but we highly recommend a developmental editor who might be able to resolve some of the issues that we saw with your book. That kind of private feedback came at no extra cost, but actually helped these authors further refine their story and get more readers for their books.

Howard Lovy: I know many authors just crave that kind of feedback. Now, this wouldn't be a podcast in 2024 if I didn't also ask about AI, and I saw the word AI somewhere on your website. You have a service, Book Award Pro's Target AI. Can you tell us about that?

Hannah Jacobson: Yes, absolutely, this has been a fascinating part of my journey in book publishing.

Quite frankly, I am not the technology expert on our team. A few years ago, when we had lots of authors signing up for Book Award Pro, I couldn't handle the sheer quantity, the number of awards that needed to be matched to authors and in a really tight timeframe. So, that's when I brought on my technology co-founder, and he was responsible for really streamlining Book Award Pro.

What I have learned, Howard, is that AI technology can be a beautiful thing, and AI is built by humans. So, when you are looking at some kind of technology, look at the company behind it. Do you trust them? Do they care about you? I know at Book Award Pro, everything that we do has been created by us and we continually refine that based on the knowledge that we gain from the industry, how awards, how reviews change over time, and how we can encourage those awards and reviews to do even more and do even better for authors.

Over time, what is this gradual refinement as an author using Book Award Pro, better matches for your book, that awards and reviews have upped the ante and do even more these days and just the sheer, I hesitate to call it the knowledge of AI, but being able to leverage AI to make a service more effective, more affordable, has been a huge growth for Book Award Pro and for our authors.

Howard Lovy: The process is, you plug your story in, the kind of book you have, and the AI does its magic stuff in there, and it comes up with the perfect kind of award for you.

Hannah Jacobson: Beautifully said, Howard. That's exactly right.

Howard Lovy: Yes, very eloquent, magic stuff.

Hannah Jacobson: No, I like it, because technology does feel magical in even the way that a story can feel magical. So, you can either fill out your book profile, if you're joining Book Award Pro, you can either choose to fill out your book profile manually or you can upload a PDF copy of your book to our system, and our system will actually look at your book and evaluate some of the unique metadata that's in your book. For example, your ISBN, some of the keywords in your book, and our system will know what is your book about? What kinds of awards would be a perfect fit for this? What kinds of reviews would be a perfect fit for you? And all of that is kept completely private on our backend. That's all we ever use to make sure that you are always getting the very best fit for your book.

Howard Lovy: I know a lot of authors, or some authors maybe, are hesitant to upload their entire work into a system, but you guarantee that this is all private?

Hannah Jacobson: For sure. If you ever upload any kind of information into Book Award Pro, we only use that for matching and for targeting your best opportunity to submit to. Of course, if you ask us to submit to an award or to a review on your behalf, then we will share that PDF book file with the award or review organization.

But again, it's only ever at your request and if you're technology averse, know that you can fill out that book profile on your own, you don't have to upload a book copy, and you can still see what opportunities are out there for you.

Howard Lovy: Now, what's the advantage of you doing it for the author rather than the author doing it themselves?

Hannah Jacobson: Yeah, circling back to that first part of the conversation we had, Howard, that being a self-published author doesn't mean that you're actually doing everything on your own, it's almost assembling your team to do things in the way that you want. As an author, you're a business owner.

So, authors choose to have Book Award Pro perform their submissions because we do it professionally. We do it exactly in the right way that the award or the review wants. We always verify that your book is a good fit for the award. So, as much as our AI technology will pinpoint that opportunity, we still have real eyes behind the screen paying attention and just re-verifying all of that information before we submit your book.

Another big thing is that we actually pay the entry fee for you and monitor and track that award submission all the way through completion. So, you need to know, what is the status of your award-winning success? Book Award Pro will notify you, what is the status of your submission?

If you're doing things on your own, be sure that you really research the opportunity you're submitting to double research, double verify everything, pay your entry fees, submit your book, and make sure that you actually receive those results, some kind of results, whether or not you're a winner.

You can't guarantee that you're a winner, but you do need to hear back from the award organization whether or not your book has been designated something.

Howard Lovy: I've been asking you all these questions about awards, but I haven't asked you anything about reviews. Is that something you do as a separate service or is that all together?

Hannah Jacobson: Yes, actually, so Book Award Pro, we monitor awards and reviews. There are all kinds of different types of reviews. We actually handle Amazon reviews and Editorial reviews. Editorial reviews are professional type accolades. They can help increase your distribution, get your books into libraries, librarians pay attention to editorial book reviews.

Anyway, yeah, we absolutely match and submit authors to reviews as well.

Howard Lovy: So, you have individual reviewers, bloggers, newspapers, all of the above?

Hannah Jacobson: All of the above, and just to clarify, Book Award Pro is an independent organization. So, our job is to objectively monitor the awards and reviews space, figure out what's a perfect fit for your book, and make sure that it gets into the right accolade at the right time.

So, we do keep our system really fresh with the right reviewers, whether that's editorial reviews or Amazon reviews, all of that is directly within your account.

Howard Lovy: Now, is there any prejudice out there against indie authors that you've discovered, or is that stigma going away when it comes to awards and reviews?

Hannah Jacobson: It is so exciting to see that stigma is going away, and Howard, I know that you are very familiar with this, as are all of our ALLi members tuning in, but the difference between a traditionally published book and a self-published book is nothing. The indie works are very professionally done. Your book cover is indistinguishable from a book that's been published by the big five. It's professionally edited. The story is there, of course, wonderful writers.

And when you are submitting your book for consideration for an accolade, which is what professional authors do, you're taking the step forward and saying, I'm a professional author with this professional work, I want it to be professionally evaluated.

So, we are seeing lots and lots of indie authors stepping up, getting recognized for their works, and yeah, that's been a really exciting evolution in the industry.

Howard Lovy: What are some trends out there you see in the book awards industry? Is it becoming more specialized or are there any trends?

Hannah Jacobson: Oh, I love this, by the way.

Awards change all the time, and that's part of the reason they're difficult to track down, and then figure out if your book is a good fit, but awards, specifically audiobooks, audiobook categories, and entire award programs that focus on audiobooks; that's been a growing trend.

As well as media content associated with your book. So, some authors will, say for example, you publish a book and have a digital workbook that goes along with it that's downloadable from your website. There are awards that recognize that pairing of your book with that kind of digital workbook, so digital assets have been an interesting trend.

As well, you do see awards that are specific to indie authors, but also awards that accept everyone that accept all kinds of books, and that's been really exciting to see that your book can be recognized in a very niche, highly specialized genre among other books out there in the world.

So, those are some immediate trends that come to mind, but awards do change all the time and that has been so exciting to follow.

Howard Lovy: Now, having that stamp on your cover, award winner, does that often actually result in higher sales, or is there a way to quantify that?

Hannah Jacobson: I wish I was able to quantify that, Howard. I wish I could give you a specific, direct answer on that. I always do tell authors that no award and no review can guarantee immediate book sales, but what these accolades do, they position you for success.

So, first and foremost, you get validation. That feels good as an author, to know that your work impacted someone and that they read it and decided that it was award worthy. But even more than that, and not to diminish that, because that is still huge, social proof is huge to readers. Readers are humans. Humans want to know that something they're trying, in this case your book, they want to know that it's tried, that it's true, that it's something that they'll enjoy, that it was a good use of their money to buy your book, and when they see this award on your cover, or on your social media, in your newsletters, on your website, not only are they saying that you're a professional author, so that lends a lot of credibility to your author reputation, but they see that other readers have enjoyed your book.

So, just subconsciously, these awards and reviews have meaning that's difficult to quantify, but means something. It stands out if your book is physically on a shelf. It makes your book stand out, it catches the eye, and it also shows readers that your book is tried and true. It's something that they want to try too.

Howard Lovy: Now, I guess your official title at ALLi is Awards and Story Marketing Advisor. What kinds of questions do you get from ALLi members? Are there any common ones?

Hannah Jacobson: So, every month, I write a new article for ALLi that's an awards update, and I try to keep that fresh with some relevant news for indie authors, and also ways that you can rise above the crowd and keep positioning your book for success.

But some of the common questions we get from ALLi members, are there awards for indie authors? And there absolutely are. And not only awards for indie authors specifically, but as we spoke earlier, so many awards that you may have never heard of that are special to your book, but there are no restrictions on being independent or self-published or traditionally published. Those opportunities are open for you.

Also, another question we get is, how much should I spend on awards? How much should I spend on reviews? And ultimately, this is up to you. I always tell authors, don't spend more than you'd like to. So, if an opportunity just feels too expensive to submit to, pass on it. There will always be something else around the corner.

So, those are two kind of major questions that we see lots and lots of times, but if you ever have questions about awards, please get in touch with us.

ALLi works really hard to make sure that we have great opportunities, great resources for authors, and working with Book Award Pro, we try to fuel these informational resources just to help you do better, help you feel knowledgeable, and get the success that you deserve.

Howard Lovy: Great. Are there any future developments or features we can expect from Book Award Pro?

Hannah Jacobson: Oh, you asked this at a very key time. We do have some exciting updates coming later this year. So, stay tuned. We will announce that with ALLi too, we'll keep you guys posted. But there's some really exciting updates coming from Book Award Pro.

We always look for ways that we can improve your matching, make sure that you keep seeing the very best fit for your book, keep showing you resources so that you can have more access to information to help you make those key decisions, and just doing great for authors.

Howard Lovy: That's great. That's all I have. Is there anything else you want to add that I didn't ask?

Hannah Jacobson: Oh, wonderful, Howard. You know what? I would add that if you haven't considered awards or reviews, don't feel intimidated by them.

In fact, that is circling back to the very first part of our conversation, Howard, not knowing that awards and reviews are available for your book is a challenge for indie authors.

So, if this is your first kind of foray into this territory, I know there's a lot of information to digest, but take your time. See what opportunities are out there. See what's a great fit. Don't be afraid to rely on our AI technology to help you identify that, and of course, use ALLi resources to keep learning how to be a great indie author and to just keep fuelling your success.

Howard Lovy: Wonderful, Hannah, thank you so much for your time. I've learned a great deal, and I'm going to check to see if I need to apply for some awards or reviews or all of the above.

Hannah Jacobson: Please do. Howard, thank you so much for having me here, and again, for everyone joining us, thank you so much for being here.

Please do check out all of our award’s resources on ALLi, and also get in touch with us anytime at bookawardpro.com.

Howard Lovy: Wonderful. Thank you, Hannah.

Hannah Jacobson: Thank you, Howard.

Howard Lovy: Bye.