Frequently asked questions
Everything authors ask us, in one place. If your question is not here, write to us and a person will answer it.
About the awards
What the program is, and how it works.
What is the International Impact Book Awards?
A standards-based book award program, running year-round across fifty categories. Your complete manuscript is read in full and measured against ten published pillars. If it meets the Standard of Excellence, your book receives the International Impact Book Award in its category and you become a Distinguished Author.
The program has been running since 2020 and has recognized authors in more than forty countries.
Is this a competition?
The year-round program is not. Your book is measured against a published standard, never against other submissions, and there is no fixed number of places. Some categories recognize several books in a cycle and others recognize none at all.
We also run one competition, Author of the Year, which names a single winner in each category at a gala in Hollywood every October. It is entered separately.
What is the difference between the two programs?
Both begin with your book, and both are assessed against the same Standard of Excellence. The difference is what happens next. In the year-round program, a book that meets the standard is recognized. In Author of the Year, the strongest books in each category become finalists and are set against one another, and one title is named per category.
Who decides whether a book is recognized?
Every determination is made by our lead reviewer, after the complete manuscript has been assessed by the Literary Metric Assessment System and read in the context of its category. A team handles intake, verification, and record-keeping before a book reaches him. They do not score books and they do not decide outcomes.
Do you only recognize self-published books?
No. The program is open to independently published, self-published, hybrid and traditionally published books alike. What matters is the book, not how it reached print.
Entering your book
Eligibility, categories, and what a submission involves.
Which books are eligible?
Books published in 2020 or later, written in English, in any format including print, ebook and audiobook. Authors anywhere in the world may enter. There is no requirement to be nominated, invited, or represented.
Can I enter a book that has already been recognized elsewhere?
Yes. Recognition from another program has no bearing on how your book is assessed here, in either direction.
How many categories can I enter?
Up to five for one book. Each category is assessed independently against that category’s own expectations, so a book can meet the standard in one and not another.
How do I choose the right category?
Enter where the book genuinely belongs rather than where you think competition is lightest. Category Relevance is one of the ten pillars, so a book entered somewhere it does not fit is assessed on that mismatch. Every category has its own page explaining what it recognizes.
What does it cost?
$79 for your first category, then $139, $189, $229 and $259 for up to five. Expedited Results is available for $29, and an Impact Assessment Summary for $39.
Author of the Year is entered and priced separately.
What do I need to send?
Your complete manuscript and your cover. Not a synopsis, not a sample, not a description. The whole book is read.
What happens to my manuscript?
It is used for evaluation only. It is never published, excerpted, sold, or shared outside the review process, and it is never used to promote the awards without your written permission.
Can I enter more than one book?
Yes. Each book is a separate submission and is assessed entirely on its own.
How books are judged
The short version. The judging page has the whole of it.
Is my whole book actually read?
Yes. The complete manuscript is assessed, not a sample, a synopsis, or the description you supplied. This is the single most important difference between a real evaluation and a certificate that arrives in exchange for a fee.
What are the ten pillars?
They fall into four families: The Writing, The Substance, The Reader, and The Finished Book. Each pillar is published in full, with what is assessed under it, before anyone submits.
Is there a score my book has to reach?
There is a threshold, and it is applied consistently to every book. We do not publish the number, because a published number invites writing to the number rather than writing the best book. What we do publish is every criterion the number is built from.
Are the pillars weighted?
Every pillar is assessed for every book. The determination reflects the book as a whole, read against the expectations of its category, rather than a single quality outweighing the rest.
Are the criteria different for each category?
The ten pillars are the same everywhere. What changes is what they mean in context, because excellence in a memoir does not look like excellence in a business book. Your book is read against the expectations of the category you entered.
Results and recognition
What happens after your book is read.
How long does it take?
Your result normally arrives in 10 to 12 weeks. With Expedited Results it arrives in 3 to 4. You are told the outcome for every category you entered.
What do I receive if my book meets the standard?
- The International Impact Book Award in every category it met
- The Distinguished Author designation
- Your official emblem and Certificate of Recognition
- A place in the Impact Archive
- An invitation to The Impact Honors & Gala Weekend in Phoenix
What happens if my book does not meet the standard?
You are told the result for every category you entered, and you are welcome to submit again. You are never listed publicly, and no list of authors who did not meet the standard is ever released.
Will I be told why?
The result itself does not include written commentary. Authors who want to know how their book read against each of the ten pillars can add an Impact Assessment Summary when they submit, for $39. It is delivered with the result either way, whether or not the book met the standard.
Can I resubmit a book that has been revised?
Yes. A revised edition can be entered again as a new submission. Write to us first if you are unsure whether your changes are substantial enough to be worth it, and we will tell you honestly.
Using your award
What you can say, where you can say it, and for how long.
How should I describe the recognition?
Your book received the International Impact Book Award in its category, and you are a Distinguished Author. Both can appear on your cover, your website, your media kit, and anywhere else you would list a credential.
Authors recognized before June 2026 were named winners in their category. That designation stands and does not need updating.
Can I put the emblem on my book cover?
Yes, and most authors do. The emblem is supplied in high resolution for print and digital use. Use it on the book it was awarded to, in the category it was awarded in.
How long can I use it?
Indefinitely. The recognition does not expire and is not renewed. Your book met the standard, and that does not stop being true.
Will you promote my book?
Recognized books are listed in the Impact Archive and featured across our channels. We are a recognition program rather than a publicist, so what we provide is credible third-party standing you can use in your own outreach, not a marketing campaign.
The events
Phoenix twice a year, Hollywood every October.
Do I have to attend anything?
No. Attendance is never a condition of any outcome, in either program. Recognition is complete whether or not you travel, and awards are posted to authors who cannot.
Who can attend the Phoenix weekend?
The Impact Honors & Gala Weekend is by invitation, to Distinguished Authors and the guests they bring. Seats are not sold to the public.
We do occasionally welcome an author who asked to be there, whether or not they have submitted. Write to us and we will consider it individually. These are case-by-case decisions, and no purchase of any kind affects the answer.
The Saturday festival is open to everyone, with tickets sold separately.
Who can attend the Hollywood gala?
The Hollywood Grand Gala is the Author of the Year ceremony, and attendance is by invitation to finalists and their guests, with the same ask-and-we-will-consider exception.
Does buying a ticket affect anything?
No. Recognition is decided before any event comes up, and no ticket, upgrade, or add-on has ever changed an outcome. The ticket pays for the room, never for the award.
Fees, refunds and integrity
The questions authors are right to ask of any award program.
Is this pay to play?
No. The entry fee pays for the reading, which takes real time in every category entered. It does not buy an outcome, and the fee is identical whether or not your book meets the standard.
No offer is presented to you between the moment you submit and the moment you receive your result.
Why is there a fee at all?
Because a complete manuscript is read against ten pillars in every category entered, and that is work. Programs that charge nothing generally read nothing.
Are fees refundable?
Submission fees are final and non-refundable once a submission has been received and processed, because at that point the reading has been scheduled and the work has begun.
Do you sell placements or promotion?
Some optional promotional placements are offered through our media partner, and they are labelled as promotional wherever they appear. None of them has any bearing on judging or on any outcome, and none is ever offered while a book is under evaluation.
Are book awards worth entering at all?
It depends on what you want from one. No award sells a book on its own. What recognition provides is third-party credibility you can point to on a cover, in a pitch to a bookstore or a podcast, and in a media kit. If you are weighing programs, ask three things of any of them: are the criteria published before you pay, is the recipient list public, and is anything else being sold to you along the way.
Still have a question?
Write to us at contact@internationalimpactbookawards.com and a person will answer it. If you are weighing up whether your book is ready, ask us that too. We would rather tell you to wait six months than take a fee for a book that is not finished.