Clive Staples Award: Note on Nominations
With the Clive Staples Award now revived for nominated Christian speculative novels published last year, and now hosted here at Speculative Faith, people are wondering why the contest is also limited to novels that have been:
published by a publisher which has no direct affiliation with the author and which pays a royalty (i.e. not self-published, even through any of the services offered by publishing companies)1
Today reader and self-published author Laura K. Cowan asked:
Are there any awards of this type that are open to self-pubbed titles?
We’ve been getting that a lot.
Speaking for the Clive Staples Award, anyway, Rebecca Miller responded:
When we first conceived of this award, one of the goals was to bring awareness to publishers of the kind of books readers want to see in print. We also wanted to recognize and therefore to encourage the best writing. In that light, we followed the guidelines of the other key Christian fiction awards–the Christy and what is now know as the Carol.
We did discuss the idea that “someday” we might include more than one award, either separating by genre (so that science fiction is pitted against fantasy and fantasy against horror) or by audience (so young adult and middle grade books aren’t up against adult books–a decided disadvantage to the latter
).
Since the explosion of self-publishing, I can see a real need for a self-publishing division, too, but that has to remain a “someday” goal. The last year we ran the contest, we had 19 nominations. Imagine how many there would be if we added into the mix self-published books? What we end up with is a best book chosen by a majority voting, but not a consensus. In the end we’d have the kind of popularity contest we want to avoid.
This is not a contest about who can get the most friends to click over to our site and punch in a vote for their book. We want genuine speculative fiction readers who have some discernment as to what makes a good book. That’s why we require voters to have read at least two of the nominations. It ought to be a higher number than that, but that will have to be a “someday” goal also.
- Reviving The Clive Staples Award, Rebecca LuElla Miller, Feb. 25, 2013. ↩
E. Stephen Burnett creates sci-fi and fantasy as well as nonfiction, such as The Pop Culture Parent: Helping Kids Engage Their World for Christ (coauthored with Ted Turnau and Jared Moore, from New Growth Press). Stephen explores biblical truth and fantastic stories as publisher of Lorehaven.com and cohost of the Fantastical Truth podcast. He and his wife, Lacy, live in the Austin area, help with foster parenting, and serve as members of Southern Hills Baptist Church.
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I understand, although don’t agree with, your reasons. It’s your contest, your rules. I think part of it comes from my background: in comic books, my medium, the divide between self-publishing and publishing is not nearly as deep as it is in book publishing. Self-publishing in comics is respected and expected. I know that I put just as much work and effort into my self-published works and my publisher sponsored works (although I do enjoy the advance payment!)
Unfortunately, people from traditional book publishing tend to be short sighted — a serpent eating the tail situation from my understanding. Technology makes it possible for anyone and everyone to publish . . . but the big publishers have trouble figuring out how to reach people with anything but an established brand, so they do not take risks . . . so people with riskier materials are staying away from big publishers, even as big publishers are hemorrhaging readers.
Anyway, I have not read anything that I would consider worth nominating that was NOT self-published. The few new Christian spec-fic books that I have tried to read from a publishing house I put down within a few chapters. (One I pushed forward, trying to make myself like it because it was by one of my favorite authors, but I realized that of his last few books, I have not actually been able to finish any of them.)
Meanwhile, I’ve had some quite good self-published books recommended to me by friends and contacts through my podcast. There are ups and downs — some difficult to make it through, but a couple thoroughly enjoyable. (I highly recommend and really enjoyed Ryan Dunlap’s The Wind Merchant, which I would have nominated.)
Again, I totally understand having to put limits on what can and cannot be submitted for the award. I just see it as a missed opportunity to celebrate what’s good, not just what’s “paid for”. The divide between traditional and self-publishing is closing.