In the world of Christian Fiction, it’s the awards season! The Christy Awards are about to be announced – in a couple of hours, actually – the Carol Award nominees have just been announced, and our bloggers’ own INSPY Awards will be announcing their winning books shortly. On top of the three mentioned there are numerous other book awards taking place. Writers love the honour of being nominated and, of course, a win is no doubt a great boost to their confidence.
But my question today is for the readers out there, do you pay much attention to Award winning books? Does it make you more likely to buy them, or not?
June 24, 2014 at 9:38 am
Hey, Rel! I have the Christy Awards live feed going in another tab right now. 🙂 To answer your question, no, I don’t think I would purchase a book just because it won an award. I have gone and checked out a book from the library to read that I passed by earlier because it either had won or was nominated. I don’t remember. I do take notice of them.
June 24, 2014 at 10:45 am
I’m watching the live feed, too, Sylvia! Fun 🙂 It’s is interesting, isn’t it? My feel is that readers pay little or no attention to awards in terms of purchasing a book. I could be wrong, though!
June 24, 2014 at 10:01 am
Rel, as a reader, I can’t recall ever buying or reading a book because it won an award.
As an author, however, awards can often be helpful in getting a new contract or keeping your name in front of the reading public. My books have won more awards than I ever expected to garner, yet I honestly can’t say any of them have furthered my career.
Thanks for raising the question.
June 24, 2014 at 10:46 am
Thanks for your insight from a reader and an author perspective, Richard. It seems that awards would be good for your career but maybe it isn’t so.
June 24, 2014 at 10:40 am
Awards don’t influence my reading choices. More likely I am super excited about a book that I have read winning and award. Then I do a little happy dance on behalf of the author and I feel like because I read it I had something to do with the whole process. Which is completely untrue, of course, but I get pretty invested in the books I read!
June 24, 2014 at 10:47 am
Oh, Tracy, I know exactly what you mean. We are truly dedicated readers, aren’t we 😉 Others may think us a little crazy but I can live with that!
June 24, 2014 at 7:20 pm
I support Tracy with doing the cheering if a read book has been chosen for an award. Anyway, previous year published books. good to support authors n give recognition
June 26, 2014 at 9:22 am
I agree, Dianne!
June 24, 2014 at 11:34 am
I don’t necessarily buy a book because it made an award.
However, I do get some ideas about whose book I’d like to read, or not.
June 26, 2014 at 9:23 am
It can help with final decision making, too, Michelle 🙂
June 24, 2014 at 11:34 am
If I was having to decide between two books of new authors or genres that I don’t ordinarily read then an award (like a Christy) might help sway it one way. But to be honest, my TBR shelf is so full as it is, that’s really not an issue I ever face!
June 26, 2014 at 9:24 am
The over stuffed TBR…know that feeling well, Kara!
June 24, 2014 at 11:40 am
Rel – this is a really interesting question. I’ll definitely scan the results later in the week as I’m quite curious about it.
What’s wonderful about the various Awards is there is such variety in what appeals to the judges across the awards just like we as readers. So what gets nominated in the Christys say will be different to the Carols.
As a reader I will take note of an award winning novel and that may push me over the edge to read it if I’m grappling with too many choices. So I’m even more determined to read Lori Benton’s debut as a result of her dual Christy win and Patrick Carr’s series due to his Christy & Carol noms.
June 26, 2014 at 9:27 am
Well, I highly recommend both Lori and Patrick’s books, Ian, as you know.
I think Awards still need to be very careful. On more than one occasion, I’ve been unable to work out why a certain finalist is in when others are out. And I don’t mean on simple preference. There have bee books that final that don’t have the quality of others so there are certainly some awards I’m wary of, I’m afraid.
June 24, 2014 at 11:50 am
I don’t read books based on awards.
June 24, 2014 at 5:01 pm
I definitely use award finalists as a way to find new authors / books! Typically any of the books that make it to the finals are worth reading so I don’t get overly concerned with which books actually won since that can get so subjective. However, I think it’s a wonderful thing for the authors to get the honors and recognition so it makes me happy for them 🙂
June 26, 2014 at 9:27 am
That’s a really good point, Meghan. In most cases any finalist is well worth the read!
June 24, 2014 at 9:23 pm
I’m taking off my author hat for a moment and answering as a reader and book club member. At those rare meetings where no one has a recommendation, we’ll pick a Christy winner. We discovered Chris Fabry’s Not in the Heart this way, and it’s an all-time book club favorite. Other authors we’ve read include Susan May Warren and Elizabeth Camden. And then there’s Nancy Rue’s Reluctant Prophet series. We wouldn’t have found them without the Christy link.
Speaking more personally, my own bookshelf is full of . . . well, everything. But I have a special fondness for first books. Can’t wait to read Burning Sky. It looked good even before the Christy wins (plural!!!), but now I’m even more eager to read it.
June 26, 2014 at 9:30 am
Thanks for stopping by, Victoria. It seems you and I share the same fondness for first time novels 🙂
Chris Fabry is a favourite in our Book Club, too. We have done a number of his books – always excellent.
June 24, 2014 at 10:08 pm
I don’t really pick a book based on the awards they received. Other reader recommendations have more influence on my choices. That being said, I recently read Bad Ground by Dale Cramer based on a recommendation. It won a Christy in 2004. It was excellent! It has made me more likely to check out the award winners more closely.
June 26, 2014 at 9:31 am
I’m with you, Beckie. Dale is an excellent writer – all his books are well worth the read. Bad Ground is fantastic.
June 25, 2014 at 12:56 am
I actually pay little to no attention to whether or not a book has won an award. I’ve read a few books that have and I might think afterwards that the book really deserved it, but that’s generally about as far as my thought process goes. I also might be a little curious about it, wondering why it won an award, but it doesn’t influence whether I buy it or not.
~Sarah
June 26, 2014 at 9:31 am
Great thoughts, Sarah – I’m the same.
June 25, 2014 at 5:45 am
I don’t pay much attention to awards. However, I’d never heard of Lori Benton before and will try to remember to look for her books. I am an avid reader but I won’t live long enough to read all the good books out there!
June 26, 2014 at 9:32 am
Lori is well worth looking up, Joan. And yes, so many books…so little time!
June 25, 2014 at 6:14 am
Honestly, not usually. I mean if I read about which books win awards and think, “I’ve been meaning to read that,” sometimes that will inspire me to finally pick the book up, but more or less, I rely on recommendations or what I think sounds good since I’ve gotten to know and trust my likes and dislikes really well. Either way, it’s fun to follow “awards season” and root for favorites to win.
Congrats to all the Christy Award winners. 🙂
June 26, 2014 at 9:32 am
Love your thoughts, Rissi!
June 27, 2014 at 3:14 am
Yes! Especially inspirational ones. If my peers love it, then I’m sure to give it a chance.
June 27, 2014 at 2:44 pm
Before I wrote, no awards persuaded me one way or the other, I just picked up what looked good. However I know that my pastor’s wife always makes the church library’s she’s at buy the Christy award winners. So there’s a reader for whom it matters.