It was so exciting to receive an email from the States that my novel, Book 1 of The Voyagers trilogy: Annie’s Story, has been awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion award, so I’m what’s known as an official ‘B.R.A.G. Medallion honoree’.
B.R.A.G. (yes, I know you’re going to ask me what the letters stand for) stands for ‘Book Readers’ Appreciation Group‘ and was set up in the US to recognise new and talented indie authors who have written top quality books. It takes into account the plot, characters, writing style, dialogue, presentation, cover and so on. And it’s now a global standard.
Submissions are read by a team of professional editors who immediately ditch 50% of them. The other 50% goes out to at least ten readers. They in turn ditch 40% of that 50%, leaving approximately10%. And you’re still not home and dry. The readers have to answer the following question: Would you recommend this book to your best friend? All ten have to say Yes. And only then are you awarded that coveted title and the gold labels you can stick on to your books.
So you can imagine how thrilled I am to have that professional validation of my debut novel. And if you’re looking for high quality independently published books, there is no better place to look!
I shall definitely submit Book 2 of The Voyagers trilogy: Juliet’s Story, due to be published on 25th January 2016.
Why don’t you have a go yourself? If you do, I wish you the very best of luck.