Tips for Winners

CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS!

Now that you’ve won a Gold or Silver IBPA Book Award/Benjamin Franklin Award, let’s make your book stand out. Winners can be proud of this significant achievement. Many publishers take this as an opportunity to re-promote their short-listed books. Tell all parts of your supply chain and your end-market just how good you are! Your title was judged one of the three or four strongest in your genre.

While there are numerous ways to maximize visibility of your publishing house and winning book, not every suggestion will work for every publisher or situation. So, we invite you to partake of this menu of opportunities. Adapt the ideas and drafts of marketing copy to suit your needs. Use what works for you. Let us know other creative ways you’ve discovered to market your winning books.

USE THE OFFICIAL SEAL

All winners (1985-2024) may affix the Gold or Silver IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award seal to their book, website, and marketing collateral. Physical stickers can be purchased here. New IBPA Book Award seals will be available in 2025.

If you’d like print-ready files of the seals to add to your cover art, simply email terry@ibpa-online.org and IBPA will provide them to you free-of-charge.

The seal adds credibility to books for end-consumers, many of whom look for the objective validation of an award to confirm their book-buying choices. Consider the best way to add your Gold or Silver award seal to your book copies.

COLLECTIVELY ENGAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

When you promote your winning status via social media, be sure to use the award hashtag to crowdsource mentions. The hashtag is #IBPABookAward.

If you add #IBPAmemberGoodNews to your posts on Twitter, IBPA will happily amplify your good news.

CREATE A PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING THE AWARD

Click here to download a sample press release in Word format:

https://www.ibpa-online.org/resource/resmgr/docs/IBPAbookawardPRtemplate.docx

with suggestions that you might adapt to your local market. Some important points to keep in mind:

Include ISBN in the first paragraph.
Include a quote from a judge if available, and use it as a banner at the top of the release. (Judging sheets will be returned to participants by the end of May.)
Include a contact name at the top of the release and again in the final paragraph.

INFORM YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN

Send a brief note (or a copy of your press release) about the book and its being named a winner/finalist, to your sales force, distributor’s sales force, wholesalers, and key retail and library accounts.

To garner more attention, affix a gold or silver sticker to each note. Short and sweet does the trick for this market segment.

SEND YOUR PRESS RELEASE TO LOCAL AND REGIONAL MEDIA

Local means the area surrounding the publisher AND the area surrounding the author(s)’ residence(s). Take full advantage of both.

Include a cover letter, indicating that your firm is a local company (or your author is local).
Offer your author for an interview.
Offer a review copy of the book (with its Gold or Silver Award seal) so that they might review and schedule an interview simultaneously.
Include a sample one-page interview or Q&A with the author.
Include other publicity materials that make the journalists’ job easier. This might include a bulleted list of practical points or action steps from the book, interesting points or “fun facts” that are excerpted from the book, a page of quotes from prior reviews, copies of prior articles or interviews.
To get results (an article, interview, or speaking date for the author) persistent and patient follow up is required, both for local media as well as targeted media.

REVISE YOUR PRESS RELEASE FOR TARGETED PUBLICATIONS, MAGAZINES, ASSOCIATIONS

Bring your winning book to the attention of the specialists in the genre, the topic-specific niche market your book serves.
Bring your winner/finalist to the attention of other relevant trade media, including book trade publications such as Publishers Weekly, Foreword Reviews, Library Journal and School Library Journal.
Include in this mailing all those organizations that your author belongs to, as well as any author alumni association publications.

UPDATE YOUR INTERNAL ONGOING COMMUNICATIONS VEHICLES

Note “award winner” in your future trade and consumer catalogs.
Update your website noting you are home to an IBPA Book Award/Benjamin Franklin Award™ winner.
Include a banner on letterhead and business cards
Include a tagline on voicemail
Add IBPA Book Award/Benjamin Franklin Award™ Winner to your email signature.

INVOLVE YOUR AUTHOR

Here are some of the ways that your award winning author can help lighten the load:

Engage your author(s) to help with their local publicity (print, radio, TV) and niche media they're connected with (blogs, podcasts, other online sites.)
If your author has a speaking program, have them reach out and pitch bookstores, specialty retail, and libraries in their community and surrounding area.
Authors’ communications materials (business cards, letterhead, voicemail messages, website, email signature) are also good locations for award winner announcements.