A Review of Book Award Pro

Let me emphasize at the outset that, yes, Book Award Pro is a legitimate business. What I'm here to discuss is its usefulness or lack thereof for indie publishers, based on my experience. 

I first learned of Book Award Pro via one of those article lists compiled by one of the book promotion sites, and since it offers a free membership tier, why not, right? 

What the site does is provide weekly opportunities via email for writing contests, editorial reviews, and Amazon reviews. With the free tier, those opportunities are severely limited. I'll receive notification of writing contests, but no link to the contests themselves, nor any information about them. So, if an author is interested in checking out a particular contest, he or she will need to Google it. While the site ostensibly vets these contests, it's questionable as to whether any of them are worthwhile versus just being a money suck. 

Entering writing competitions is a financial risk with an almost zero chance of reward. And the rewards themselves are often worthless. A winner might get a sticker to place on their website, or I suppose to digitally adhere to their book cover; and they might get a mention on the contest site itself. (How many contest sites do you visit? How many contest sites does anyone visit?) In reality, very few writing contests hold any cachet whatsoever, and they're not only extremely difficult to win, but most readers really don't care about awards anyway. 

Be wary of the Amazon review offerings. There is considerable debate over whether Book Award Pro's review opportunities violate Amazon's terms of service. Personally, even if I could afford to spend $199.00 for three reviews, I wouldn't chance getting my Amazon account suspended. BAP's rationale is quite convoluted. It states that an author is not actually paying for reviews, but paying for a "review opportunity". He or she would still send a copy of the book for free, and the reviewer is not compensated nor required to post a review. But bottom line, the author is still paying. 

If one is willing to put forth the effort, an author can obtain free reviews, generally by securing ARC readers.

The last category is editorial reviews. Since my free plan is very limited, I don't receive any listings of editorial review opportunities, but most every author knows where to find them anyway. The biggies are Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and a handful of others. All of them require payment. So, in essence, if you choose a paid Book Award Pro tier, you're paying twice. (The same can be said for both its contest and Amazon reviews offerings.)

I wonder if having an editorial review pasted on one's Amazon book page is akin to slapping a virtual sticker on your book. How many potential readers care? No doubt, a few do. I will agree that having one "looks good". The book page for Running From Herself is pretty barren without pages upon pages of reader reviews 😏, which is really why I chose to add A+ content and yes, an editorial review to fill out the page. Including an editorial review could lend some social proof, but that review only needs to come from an established source, not necessarily the expensive big boys. When my novel was first published, to echoing silence, I paid $35.00 for a guaranteed editorial review from a UK site, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the result. By comparison, Kirkus charges $500.00, and it's quite possible that the result would not be something you'd care to brag about.

To save time for authors who are considering hooking up with Book Award Pro, these are the three tiers:

STARTER (free) - The free plan is limited to one or two writing contest opportunities emailed to you each week. Again, no detail is provided regarding these contests, so an author will need to Google the name to find out more. The free tier also includes the aforementioned Amazon reviews, which the site lists at $199.00 for three reviews.

ESSENTIALS ($19.00/month) - Same as the free plan, just more of it. The contest listings provide details, rather than just a contest name.

PRO ($69.00/month) - All of the above, plus something called "Match AI", which automatically matches a book to relevant contests, and "Target AI" to dwell down further into the best contest(s) to enter. This tier is the only one of the three that provides the editorial review option. The site claims this is superior to a manual search, because it vets the providers and because it's a time saver for authors.

In its favor, Book Award Pro wouldn't have to offer anything for free. Many service providers don't. It's an author's judgement call whether the free stuff is in any way worthwhile. If you are into entering writing contests, it could be a hassle to constantly Google to find new ones. At least Book Award Pro gives you the contest's name as a starting point. And with the least expensive paid tier, the Googling part is eliminated, although I would always, always research other authors' experiences and feedback regarding any contest. 

Bear in mind that for the money-conscious author, all of Book Award Pro's information can be found for free. Its service is geared more toward those who don't mind (and barely notice) luxury expenditures. 

The site's focus is writing contests, so if this is not your area of interest, there's little reason to subscribe. 

Maintaining my free membership is neither here nor there, unless one counts the cluttering of my email in-box. However, I can't claim that Book Award Pro has provided me any benefit.