A short rant on Award Eligibility posts

[catherineldf]

Around this time, pretty much every year, science fiction, fantasy and horror authors, editors and publishers start doing "Award Eligibility Posts," generally for works published in the previous year and generally for the purpose of raising awareness about works that can be nominated/voted on for the Nebula Awards, the Hugo Awards and other awards with a voting component. And every year, there are a series of posts and comments condemning the practice. The fact that the latter generally come from male authors with established careers is not incidental. Writers who are not me, like Amar El-Mohtar, have written eloquently about why these criticisms impact the likelihood that underrepresented groups like, say, women writers, will promote their works and get some current work noticed that otherwise might get overlooked. Me, I ranted on Twitter, see below.

The pertinent points being:

• This is not a level playing field. Books by women, by POC by LGBTQ writers including LGBTQ content, small press authors, indie press authors and so forth, do not get the same review love or the same opportunities, as a rule.
• If most of the "Books I'm looking Forward This Year" lists are straight, white and male, this should tell you that this is what the award nominations look like as well
  
• Award eligibility posts are not magic and will not guarantee your place in the sun. They, are however, a change to get your name out enough for people to be aware that you have new work and maybe they could check it out. Just don't be tiresome about it.
  
• Telling these authors, editors and publishers that they should never do these posts because you don't have to (huzzah for you!) elicits a chorus of self-doubt and apologies, which in turn leads to no promo by these authors and so forth. You want to ignore the promo? Skip the posts. You're uncomfortable making those posts or plugs yourself? Don't do it; the world will not end. Just don't slam other authors or publishing professionals trying to get the word about their work, particularly not if they're writing in the numerous underrepresented  parts of the field.
• Please use the hashtag - I'll try and boost. Personally, I find reminders useful and I know I'm not the only one.

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

And I see we're going to go through the whole thing about people doing award eligibility lists and how "bad" that is. Again.

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

Slowly now, repeat after me: in general, genre awards are not a fucking meritocracy. It would be lovely if they were.

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

 

Re: award eligibility posts. Again. The likelihood of getting "discovered" with no marketing or effort on your part = highly unlikely.

 

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

More on award eligibility: the likelihood of being "discovered" if you are a writer who is small press pubbed, female, POC, LGBT? Lower.

 

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

The illusion of meritocracy means that we get annually harangued on the vulgarity of the lists. But no marketing = no sales, no "discovery."

 

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago
Do posting award eligibility lists if you're not already well known make a difference? Probably not. But it's a way to promote your work.

 

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

And, most assuredly, if you do not promote your own work to some degree, no one else is likely to. Which is not license to be an asshole.

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

The people I see do best for better known awards have one or more of these: marketing backgrounds, good connections, communication skills.

 Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  3h 3 hours ago

Does the work count? Yes, but how many talented writers do you know who can't get agents or pub contracts? It doesn't stand alone.

 

Catherine Lundoff @clundoff  ·  2h 2 hours ago

New hashtag for linking diverse and/or small/indie press 2014 award (Hugos, Nebulas, etc.) eligible work: #2014awardeligSFF