Day: February 1, 2016

IUEA 2015 Voting: Best Review Site, Promotion Site, and Resource Site for Writers.

2015 Indies Unlimited Excellence AwardsThis year, we’ve done things a little differently for the 2015 Indies Unlimited Excellence Awards. Through social media polling, we’ve come up with the finalists for each category. Voting to determine the winner for each category will commence at 1 PM US Pacific Time on February 1, 2016, and conclude at 5 PM US Pacific Time on February 19, 2016.

Winners will be determined by dividing the votes received (popularity) by the Alexa global traffic ranking (impartial industry statistics) as read on the morning of January 20, 2016. Alexa is the foremost internet traffic ranking service. A site’s Alexa ranking is an indication of the utility and presence of the site.

Winners for each category will be announced at 1 PM, US Pacific Time on February 22, 2016.

You may vote only once for one finalist in each category:

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Which of the finalists is your choice for Best Book Review Site?

  • Girl Who Reads (58%, 61 Votes)
  • Big Al's Books & Pals (29%, 30 Votes)
  • Authors Interviews (6%, 6 Votes)
  • Online Book Club for Readers (4%, 4 Votes)
  • A Voracious Reader (2%, 2 Votes)
  • Cath 'n' Kindle Book Reviews (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Layered Pages (1%, 1 Votes)
  • Charles Ray's Ramblings (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 105

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Which of the finalists is your choice for Best Resource Site?

  • Chris the Story Reading Ape (44%, 44 Votes)
  • The Passive Voice (23%, 23 Votes)
  • The Book Designer (10%, 10 Votes)
  • Anne R. Allen’s Blog (6%, 6 Votes)
  • Kristen Lamb (5%, 5 Votes)
  • Terrible Minds (5%, 5 Votes)
  • Let's Get Digital (3%, 3 Votes)
  • The Digital Reader (2%, 2 Votes)
  • Independent Publishing Magazine (1%, 1 Votes)
  • The Author Chronicles (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 99

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Which of the finalists is your choice for Best Promotion Site?

  • Book of the Day (39%, 28 Votes)
  • Ereader News Today (25%, 18 Votes)
  • Read Freely (14%, 10 Votes)
  • Goodriter (BuckBooks) (10%, 7 Votes)
  • bknights (10%, 7 Votes)
  • eBookLister.net (1%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 71

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The John Gardner Fiction Award

Binghamton University Center for WritersThe Binghamton Center for Writers has opened submissions for the John Gardner Fiction Award which will go to the strongest novel or collection of fiction published in 2015.
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Prize: $1,000.00

Entry fee: FREE

Deadline: March 1, 2016

For more information, please visit their website.

Indies Unlimited is pleased to provide this contest information for the convenience of our readers. We do not, however, endorse this or any contest/competition. Entrants should always research a competition prior to entering.

Size Matters: The Benefits of Writing Short Fiction

Sometimes smaller is just better.
Sometimes smaller is just better.

Six months ago, I wrote a post about what I would do if I was starting over as an indie publisher. One of the things I said I would do was to consider writing shorter. I’d like to expand on that.

First, I love to read short stories. I grew up reading O. Henry, Mark Twain, James Thurber. As an adult, each new Stephen King short story collection has been must reading. With the popularity of eReaders today, the lines are now blurred of what a novel, a novella, and a short story are in the minds of our readers. They all weigh the same on a Kindle. I markedly promote my shorter works as short stories to avoid a rash of “It was too short” reviews, but I notice that a number of reviewers just refer to them as “books.” Continue reading “Size Matters: The Benefits of Writing Short Fiction”