Even authors who win them say they have little value, Graham, as they don't necessarily help sell books, although the publicity is worth something. And people who have been on judging panels say there is such a lot of disagreement on which books should win that sometimes they promote the third choice to first to save argument.
I think having one of the international awards on a novel, especially the Hugo, might mean a few more sales for the author. I note that Neil Gaiman's American Gods and China Melville's The Scar both say they are Hugo award winners. But did that increase their sales? In the world of literature, winning a Booker, Pulitzer or Nobel prize leads to, in the majority of cases, a massive increase in sales. In Australia, only the few of us who have heard about the various speculative fiction awards care about them, and after my bit of research, I don't think any of them mean that much. Perhaps all the magazines and different speculative fiction bodies in Australia could get together and promote one award, which has credible judges who read all the books nominated by the various bodies.
I thought I might add an alternative perspective to the value of awards. I do find that they have value, and I place the Ditmars and the Tin Ducks at a high value. (This after administering the Ditmars for 2008
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I have no doubt that awards can boost a writer's confidence and give their career a little push along. What interests me is whether individual readers of speculative fiction have found any particular award of value when selecting books for reading, as the Booker Prize has been when I am selecting literature. I am not so much saying most speculative fiction awards are rubbish, I am saying that they have very little influence on the speculative fiction I buy. After reading two excellent winners of the Arthur C Clarke award, a winner of it is more likely to be bought by me.
I think i was talking less about their career side of things and more the warm fuzzy side of things where we the community appreciate those doing interesting and amazing things amongst us... whether they're professional or doing it for the love of it. It's nice to have a way to express that appreciation... I think of the awards as less for the people winning them and more for the opportunity for the community to regognise people - that the benefit is for everyone in a wholistic way, and less about the individual ego/career push.
Comments 5
Yes, they probably are pretty useless, really:-)
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