The Kitschies: The First 60 Days
Thursday, July 11, 2013
The Kitschies have been open for submissions since early May, and the first two months have been busy ones.
On the literary side (Red and Golden Tentacles), the prize already has 63 books for consideration. Of these 63:
- 15 are debuts
- 6 are books in translation
- 26 imprints are represented (with "self-published" counted as a single imprint)
(It is worth noting that some of these books have been submitted by publishers, but not yet received by the judges.)
We made a couple of small tweaks to the submissions procedure this year, both of which have had slightly surprising results:
- We no longer require that publishers submit physical copies for consideration. 16 of our submissions so far have arrived as ebooks. (We were expecting more.)
- In the past, all books would be automatically considered for the Cover Art category, but this year the Inky Tentacle has its own submissions process - with 35 books received. (This year, it seems likely that we will have more literary submissions than artistic ones for the first time.)
From my purely administrative point of view, I'm quite pleased with the way things are shaping up. Although I don't have comparable numbers from previous years, it does feel like we're ahead of where we normally are at this point in the year - at least, in terms of in books received, books expected and diversity of publishers.
It also helps that many of the larger publishers are taking the approach of sending books throughout the year (and not solely at the deadline), which makes things easier for the judges. Plus, we've also received books from several imprints for the first time, which is encouraging.
It is also worth noting that the judges are calling in books more than in previous years. This is not meant to replace the submissions they receive from publishers, authors and agents, but to supplement them.
On a personal note, I applaud their decision. When we started The Kitschies, it was with the belief that awards have a unique opportunity to be role models, as they are free of the practical restrictions and commercial realities that dominate the rest of the publishing industry. The Kitschies are meant to select the most progressive, intelligent and entertaining fiction, and, with that responsibility in mind, we encourage our judges to consider the year's publications as actively as possible.
You can help support their search with your recommendations - if you read something that's "progressive, intelligent and entertaining", let us know on the prize's Facebook page or on Twitter.
You can find more information about submitting to The Kitschies on the webpage, or just drop us an email at submissions at thekitschies.com.