August 2012 ~ Independent Publishing News

Having written 50+ book reviews for authors, I find it difficult to tear an authors work apart, especially when most of the times that I read a book, I read it with an eye from the CEO desk of Prodigy Publishing Group. Mainly focusing on plot, as I am more attracted to that as opposed to character driven novels. However, I never read a book that's not my type and then tear it down. Equally, I would never take my personal issues with an author to a public forum (e.g. Amazon, iBooks) and tear their work apart because I didn't like them.

Recently, I read an article that highlighted that John Locke the first independent author to sell 1 million Kindle copies of his novels utilized a firm to write faux reviews for him in order to push his book to the top. Good to some and bad to some. I have a by any means necessary approach to this so, I didn't care either way. On the flip side, what if the reviews were all 1-stars. How would that have affected Mr. Locke.

Recently, I was informed to analyze questionable reviews in the Amazon Kindle store regarding my novel, CON TEST. Specifically to pay attention to the 1-star reviews. One of them has nothing to do with my book at all, and says: "This author is an arrogant, obnoxious jackass that could not write his way out of the noose that his Republican status has placed him in. Not worth buying even if he GAVE it away." The others are so closely related and utilize the same language that they are questionable. They are all written by people that have not left any other reviews. In essence, the reviewer just hated my book so badly that they had to blog about it on Amazon. They didn't praise any other books and didn't dislike any other books?

Now, I am not suggesting that it's impossible for people to have disliked CON TEST; however, some people have created fake Amazon profiles to tear down an author that they can't in any other way. To encourage people not to buy a book because of a political party affiliation is absurd, and to call me an obnoxious, jackass, which is only half of me is just wrong on so many levels...lol. Yes, I am a jackass, but I mean well when I am. I happen to be very charitable, as well. Doesn't that count for something. Have people forgotten all that I do to stimulate this independent publishing industry by buying books, reviewing them, and attending book fairs/expos. I am not going to give a running balance of my contributions, but I note that I am an active member of the indie community and set out to advance it daily.

The reviewers that said I needed an editor have confused me. Amazing! Your scribe is not usually confused. My proofreader, who has an editing firm, praised the editor and wanted to hire her. And here I thought that validated my beautiful story, which was praised as a 5-star read by ARC Book Club's Locksie Locks. Not only did she give CON TEST 5-stars, but 7 months into the year, she wrote: "My most EXCITING read thus far this year!"

You be the judge. As of this writing CON TEST is $4.99 in the Kindle store. But in the end, please be diligent in your quest to write a review that accurately reflects your opine of the story at hand without any personal biases that you may have toward me or any other author. Or at least be upfront and post it as yourself and engage the author, as opposed to hiding behind your computer.

There is an overwhelming number of people that look to earn awards to help bolster their popularity and spark sales teams and book clubs to snatch up their book. Awards are an excellent way to promote and indicate a persons success and literary endeavors achieved making them worthy of honor. Having been in this business two years, I have created an awards that I have ran for two years, and it has had success and is designed to do what awards do: heighten an author's spirits and chutzpah, create a buzz for the author, and prompt people to pay attention to them. Below, I will outline what motivated me start the awards, and the nomination and voting process.

Prior to learning about the African American Literary Awards Show (AALAS), to my knowledge there was only one other literary awards for African American authors hosted by African American's On The Move Book Club (AAMBC) and Club President, Tamika Newhouse. The AAMBC awards show was hosted at a yearly conference and winning authors were given a plaque. I liked the concept, and found that there were a few categories that weren't represented that I wanted to see author's rewarded for like: Best Book Cover, Best Dressed Author, Best Web Site and Best Book Trailer. With that I set out to start my own event, Prodigy Publishing Group Urban Literary Awards.

In a recent article written by book club maverick, Tanisha Webb titled, Literary Awards: Have We Lowered Our Standards Just to Get Ahead?, I decided to write this blog to discuss some of her points that I totally understood. Tanisha complained that her blog talk radio show KC Girlfriend's Book Club was nominated for Radio Show of the Year at this years AALAS, despite the fact that their show had been off the air for two years. In her article the host criticized the nominating and voting process. This is not the first incident that an awards have been talked about negatively. I have been blasted for having a Best Dressed Author category, because people think that that is a non-literary factor. I have heard that Author of the Year awards are often based on popularity and not an author's body of work or sales, which would indicate whether or not they truly were the best author of that year. And lastly, I have heard complaints regarding how can a person be on an awards committee and be nominated repeatedly for awards. With these things in mind I created what I thought was a transparent and ethical approach to not have my creation criticized for just giving away awards and falsely stroking an author's ego.

Utilizing a Face Book Group I have brought together a band of 40+ people that make up the award's nominating committee. In that committee are authors (K'wan), editors (Carla Dean), book club members, (English Ruler, ARC Book Club), Blog Talk Radio Host (The 1Essence), Book Reviewers (Adrienna Turner), and Book Interviewers (Joey Pinkney). I listed in parenthesis one representative from the sort of executives on the panel for my awards. Each of them are required to submit a full ballot, which I E-mail and they forward it back to me with their name, and I print them all out. Hence, I have a record of each nomination sheet, so that I can shut down anyone that questions how a person was placed on the ballot. Once I print out all of the sheets, I write down the nominees and the people with the most nominations in any given category make the actual public voting ballot, and all others receive an honorable mention. Each nominee has to have at least two nominations to make the public ballot. Once I have completed the entire list of final nominees, I personally verify the release date of each nominees book. Any book that falls out of the previous years window is removed, and any book that has not been released over 90 days is removed. My position on the latter is that a book needs time to pick up steam and to truly mature into a worthy book. Certainly, a notable like Wahida Clark can shoot right to the top of the Amazon ranking on her release date, but that is a testament to her followers not the greatness of a book. Anyone on the committee cannot vote for themselves and they have been warned that calling on others on the committee to nominate them is frowned upon and prohibited. Each winner is mailed an Oscar-like statute for their win.

Once the nominations have been compiled, I first have a two week voting block to determine the winner of Blog Talk Radio Host of the Year. I ask a radio host to announce the winner of that category only and award that winner the privilege to host the actual awards on their radio show on a date determined by the host and I. That award has been given to Kisha Green (2011) and Mack Mama (2012).

Once that date and time is set, I begin to ask people to be award's announcers. Each announcer must call into the show and announce the winner live. The announcer does not learn the category and winner until the day of the show (just a few hours prior to), and they are sworn to secrecy. To date, I have not heard about any violations of that rule. During the past shows each announcer has been prompt and respectful to the timeline and schedule which they are also forwarded so that they know where they fall in the line-up to be ready. Each announcer is special as they have the opportunity to be on a show that has a large reach and can mention and promote their web site and brand to an audience without cost. Each show is archived and can be listened to at anyone's leisure: 2011 Show & 2012 Show.

I have had two problems with the awards: 1) People have questioned the purpose of having a sexiest male/female and best dressed male/female categories; and, 2) People have wondered if I have given Envy Red the awards that she has won because we are friends? I find that readers do buy books at times based on an author's sex appeal and look. As an author, I find that my sales at signings vary and I have found some connection to what I am wearing playing a pivotal role in that. If I am dressed in a typical jean and T-shirt, I am not approached as much as when I add a blazer. My female author friends have revealed that men do seem to pay them a bit more attention and buy a book just because of an attraction to them, and have no desire to read the book. They just buy with the hopes of getting their phone number. So, I find that commending authors that take the time out like T. Styles and Monique D. Mensah to look great and not head to an event looking like they're dropping their kid off at school at 7 a.m. is important. On the second issue, I was uneasy about Envy Red winning any awards, but she earned the two that she received. Her name was consistent on 90% of the ballots for one category or another, so it was no surprise that she won two of the three awards that she made the final cut. She went on to win awards by a book club and another literary event, as well as some other nominations, which added validity to her win at my awards.

My purpose for this awards is to truly highlight those authors that actually deserve it. I am so open with the process and what I do, because I want a Prodigy Urban Literary Award to matter on a persons resume. I intend to maintain the integrity of the event, and there will be no compromise on remaining ethical. I have won awards and I have been nominated for awards, and I believe that I have truly earned anything that I have received. I am determined to be the face of African American Lit and take on the torch of pushing this industry to the next level, and this awards highlights great book trailers, excellent book covers, respected book reviewers, and the stylish authors. In essence, looking at the nominees aspiring authors can look at the best covers, trailers, and dressed authors to see what it takes to effectively compete in this business.

Thanks for your time and attention, and I look forward to next years awards, where I plan to host the show live, while broadcasting on blog talk radio and youstream.

Rahiem Brooks
Founder & CEO Prodigy Publishing Group
Amazon