With over a million ebooks published each year, how can you make sure that your book will be seen?

Award-winning books stand out above the rest!

Jordan Barnes, author of **One Hit Away**

Jonathan Edward Durham, author of **Winterset Hollow**

Blake and Raven Penn, authors of **Dragon Thief**

Azizi Tuere, author of **I’m Beautiful Because I Am**

At just $59, Indies Today offers the best value in the industry.

CONTEST DETAILS

An award gives readers a reason to choose your book! Past winners have used their placements to land interviews and other promotional opportunities, and many report higher sales after adding our award badge to their cover or Amazon A+ content. See the FAQ below for information about our contest and prizes.

The deadline for submitting your book is 11:59pm EST on January 1st, 2027. We expect to post the results on Indies Today’s website and notify winners on or around March 1st, 2027.

The contest is open to fiction and nonfiction books by self-published authors, independent authors, and authors working with small presses. Books with any publication date are eligible, including books published years ago and ones not yet published.

Your entry fee covers two genres of your choice, so your book can compete in both at no extra cost. Many contests charge for a second category; we don’t. You can choose from:

Action/Adventure
Children’s
Collection
Contemporary
Fantasy High/Epic
Fantasy Low/Urban
Historical
Horror
Humor
Inspirational
Juvenile/Middle Grade
Literary
Memoir
Mystery
Nonfiction
Novella/Short
Paranormal
Poetry
Religious/Spiritual
Romance
Science Fiction
Suspense
Thriller
Teen/YA

Our judges rate each book on literary qualities that vary somewhat by genre, typically including plot, character development, narrative coherence, grammar, and reader engagement. Final placements are based solely on each book’s combined average rating from our judges. Every entry is read and scored by human judges, and we do not use AI or any other automated system to evaluate or rank books.

Best Book of the Year winner:
- $500 cash prize (new for 2027)
- A personalized Best Book of the Year trophy
- A year-long feature on the Indies Today homepage
- A digital Best Book of the Year badge for your cover and marketing
- Quotable endorsements from two or three of our judges

Best in Genre winners:
- A year-long homepage feature on the Indies Today website and a digital Best in Genre badge.

Runner-Up in Genre:
- A digital Runner-Up in Genre badge.

Other Highly Rated Books:
- Finalists and other rankings may also receive digital placement badges.

We don’t penalize authors who use AI as a writing or editing tool, and we don’t scan or screen books for AI use. Our judges evaluate the writing that is presented to us, so if a book shows the common weaknesses of unedited AI text, such as repetitive phrasing, stock expressions, or flat, formulaic sentences, those issues will lower its scores just as any other writing flaw would. Whatever tools an author uses, every entry is read and rated by human judges, and we do not use AI or any other automated system to evaluate or rank books.

After completing payment using the Buy Now button below, you’ll be asked to upload a digital copy of your book along with a few details like selecting your genre(s). We accept PDF, EPUB, and Microsoft Word (.docx) files.