The Ink Book Prize Opens Today

Authors are encouraged to enter their latest book into the new prize celebrating and championing books that are categorised as ‘self-published’: https://www.inkbookprize.co.uk

Created by the founders of The Diverse Book Awards and Ink! Publishing Services, Abiola Bello and Helen Lewis, the Ink Book Prize is open from today (April 15) until 31st May 2024 to all self-published books by UK/Ireland based, or UK/Ireland residents* that were released in eBook, paperback or hardback format any time between January 1st 2023 and April 30th 2024.

The definition of self-published in the case of this prize is as follows:

Any book that has been published with financial contributions provided by the author for all/some of the production of said book. For example, this could include authors who have totally self-published the book on Amazon KDP with their own design, typesetting etc, through to an author who has worked with a self-publishing team, or outsourced elements of the production process, right up to hybrid/collaborative publishing. Indie publishers such as Hashtag Press for example are not permitted to participate as authors are not required to pay for the production of their books.

Abiola Bello says: “I’m not sure if many people know this but I started my author career as a self-published author. There aren’t many book prizes to celebrate the work of self-published books, the way there is for traditional, so I’m really pleased to present the Ink Book Prize.”

Helen Lewis says: “We are passionate about levelling the playing field for self-published authors and believe the Ink Book Prize is a great way to champion them, showcase the talent that is out there, and help those stuck in the olden days to realise that self-publishing is not ‘vanity publishing’ or any other negative connotation. Self-publishing is a wise choice for many, many writers, at different stages of author journeys, and indie publishing as a whole is only going to get bigger, and stronger, and more fascinating, over the coming years. If the Ink Book Prize is even half as successful as The Diverse Book Awards was in its first year I will be over the moon.”