Do Audiobook Awards Matter

Yes. And No. *sigh*

“Hi Tanya, I am wondering what your take is on awards. They sure get my attention--admittedly from a place of envy. Also, because I think at least a couple of my 250 audiobooks deserved to be in the running after listening to some of the winners and nominees. Vanity and my need for validation aside, I can't help thinking that they DO indeed provide some helpful "heat" when soliciting for work. Would you agree? That said, how do we find ourselves in consideration for awards? Do we have to campaign for them by reaching out to the Audie's committee, SOVAS, Audiofile(Headphones), etc? ”

Do audiobook awards matter?

Yes.

And no.

There is never an easy answer in Audiobookland. There just isn’t. Let me break it down:

THE BACKGROUND

The APA (Audio Publishers Association) hosts the Audies every year and it is the industry’s version of the Oscars. Here’s a quote about the history of the APA from their website:

“Formed in 1986, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) is a not-for-profit trade association that advocates the common, collective business interests of audio publishers.”

Knowing this background of the APA is important for understanding the Audies and the purpose.

For narrators, the Audies feel like a statement on their career: the final approval of their work as a narrator. It feels like every time you narrate a book, you have a chance of an award-winning performance. For narrators performing alone in their dark booths, getting nominated feels like a public decry of “You belong. You are part of the community. You are valued.”

All those things are true, and I’d argue, they’re true with or without a nomination. It hurts when we’re not noticed for the work we do. It does.

Here, though, is the purpose of the Audies from the APA’s point of view: the Audies were created to help celebrate the industry, yes, but they were also created as a marketing tool to sell more books.

Awards generate content for press releases, excitement in the industry, and ways for publishers to further advertise their books in hopes of increasing sales. The purpose on one level is to celebrate achievements in the audiobook landscape, yes, but it is also a tool to sell more books. The last part is important. That last part—selling more audiobooks—is actually the most important.

Why is it important to know that? Because as a tool, there are limitations on the Audies fairness and usefulness. Not every book is submitted. Only a tiny portion of the books produced are actually entered.

Please know, I love the Audies and I’m a full supporter of the event and its purpose. (And I want to be nominated too. BADLY.) But knowing that the award is intended to help with selling books helps. If you understand the purpose of the awards, it doesn’t hurt as much when you’re not nominated.

You shouldn’t be hurt. It’s not personal.

It is, like most things in audiobooks, a numbers game.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Publishers are limited in the number of titles they can submit. Why? Because listening to audiobooks is a huge undertaking for judges. In the Audies, they consider the whole book, all 4 to 84 hours of them. So there has to be limitations. You can’t submit every book you produce.

Each submission also has a cost so that also needs to be considered.

Okay. So limited titles are submitted and each one costs to be submitted. So?

Well, this means that with limitations, publishers must make choices and tend to invest more in pushing/promoting their A-List titles. They submit the books that are the most popular. They have great production values and performances, of course, but most of the submitted titles have bigger budgets and marketing plans. Most A-List titles are cast with A-List talent. They cast the talent that have had success in prior books, have established followings, or are Hollywood actors.

It doesn’t mean that they won’t submit a lesser knowing title, but it’ll have to be really special. It just works out that most of the titles submitted are already at a certain level. This is why you’ll see multiple nominations for a single narrator. They’re getting cast in the books that are pushed and submitted.

Think of it from a publisher’s perspective: If you’re limited to submitting 5 titles only, will you submit the book that hasn’t made much of a wave, or will you submit the book that’s creating huge waves already and might become a tidal wave with a little more razzle dazzle? Where will you make the most money? With the book that just needs a little nudge; the one that is already doing well.

DO I EVEN HAVE A CHANCE?

You do. Sometimes small books get really big. (Think of GONE GIRL. This was early in Julia Whelan’s career and the success of the book launched her career. No one knew this book was going to be so huge, and then it was colossal. She got lucky, but she also has the acting chops to build on the luck and create a long-standing, award-winning career. So, you can be prepared for luck. Luck is a huge part of it.)

If you have a book that is really special, you can reach out to your production team leader and ask if they would consider submitting it or allow you to submit it.

There is always a chance. But…

It’s important to know that it’s possible even with your great performances…if you are performing less-well known books, less A-list titles, then you have less of a chance of being submitted.

THE WORK AROUND

Here are ways to work around the A-List issue and get submitted for an Audie:

1. Ask your production team for permission to submit the piece on your own (you’ll pay for it) or for them to submit it (they pay for it.) Sometimes, they say yes. If you have permission to submit directly, the APA may ask for confirmation from the producer.

2. Encourage your indie clients to submit projects you’ve been a part of. Every year an indie or small production house makes it into the Audies. It’s a surprise and a delight but it happens all the time. Many authors don’t know it exists.

3. Create your own productions. This was how I busted into the Audies at first. I produced a book of short stories, we competed, and we won.

4. Create your own content and produce it. You can do the whole thing yourself. If you write, create your own content. If you don’t write, you can put a call out to friends and colleagues and see if anyone has a book that would work well in audio that you could produce.

DO AWARDS MATTER IN GETTING CAST?

When people post about their nominations and awards won, a narrator is likely to feel two things at once: happy for their colleague, and sad that their own work isn’t highlighted. It hurts, even when you’re excited for your friends. So that’s just a thing. That’s just part of the business.

Here’s the fact about awards and nominations: it doesn’t really help in casting.

WHAAAAAATTTT?

It’s true. It doesn’t help really for a number of reasons: you are judged on your audition, not what you’ve done in the past. And after a while, everyone eventually gets an Earphones or a SOVA or an Audie, so the playing field eventually evens out. If you’re in the game long enough, something you work on will get highlighted.

What awards are useful for is that feeling of “I’ve made it” or “I belong”. They’re also useful for your own content generation: post about it online, share it, create graphics, and use it as a way to reach out to producers with fun news. It’s a useful tool for narrators too, not just production.

It may help influence an indie writer to hire you but likely, they’re already following you and like your social media and performances, so that will have more pull.

SO ARE AWARDS POINTLESS?

No. They’re wonderful. They’re an opportunity to gather together as a community, to celebrate our work and our art, to create marketing content, to possibly elevate the industry, to increase sales, and to get a little spotlight on your own accomplishments. They’re useful and they feel good when you get them.

That said, you can build a steady and beautiful career without ever getting a spotlight, a review, or a nomination or award. What matters is the work you do, the auditions you do, and the product you deliver.

If you are never nominated, it doesn’t mean you are less than. It just means out of the few titles submitted, yours wasn’t highlighted for any number of reasons.

REMEMBER

• A nomination or award is not a litmus test for your worth.

• Many terrific books are never nominated or submitted due to budget concerns, lack of marketing push, other titles taking precedence, or simply because the book just didn’t get noticed.

• If you want an award nomination, consider asking for approval to submit one of your titles, but keep the ask to one or two books per company. Ask for only the best thing you’ve done. You may or may not get approval. Just asking can let the team know they should take a closer look at the title, and that’s helpful.

• You can request a review from AudioFile Magazine or other news outlets. Sometimes reviews can give an unknown book a little more weight and pull. It can be the tipping point for it getting submitted.

• Consider creating content, working on short story collections, working directly with authors and then submitting pieces for award considerations.

• Remember that A-List titles have bigger budgets, bigger audiences, and more pull in the industry. That’s just a fact. It doesn’t mean the A-List title is more worthy; it just means it already has a bigger presence in the industry. If you want to narrate those titles, continue to build your portfolio of strong work and hope one of your books ‘hits’. Continue to ask for the kind of books you want and audition audition audition.

IN SHORT

While an audiobook award is a terrific achievement, it isn’t the only achievement. Every book you are cast in is an achievement. Every hour you spend researching, reading, prepping, performing, is an achievement. Every gig you complete is an achievement.

If you get an award or a nomination, celebrate it. Enjoy it! But know it won’t likely change your career. Tomorrow, you’ll be back to the hustle along with all of the rest of us.

Our work, with or without awards, is valuable. Keep at it. Keep doing good work, and more jobs (the ultimate award) will follow.

FOR FURTHER READING

Check out this article on what makes an Audie Award (or Earphones or SOVAs) winner/nomination with bonus content on places to submit: HERE

Check out this article on dealing with missing out when you aren’t included in the nominations: HERE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

It’s Tanya’s birthday today. She’s asking people to read one of her books or share her Substack or a post about one of her books with friends on social media. See HERE for inspiration.

She’s trying really hard to get the word out about her creative work, and any help is deeply appreciated.

She is currently working on a collection of stories and hopes to submit it to the Audies and other awards upon its completion.