Indie Award Rules

• Submissions for the Historical Novel Society Indi Award are selected from novels written in the English language and submitted to the Historical Novel Society (HNS) for Indie Review by members of the HNS, or non-members.

• For the purpose of this Award ‘Indie’ shall mean all formats of ‘self-publishing’ to include all novels that have been wholly or partly financed by the author or their representative/s, be that for production, cover design and/or editing for some or all stages of publication and production.

• Only Indie published novels in hardback, paperback, or e-book format will be acceptable at any stage. Unpublished manuscripts will be rejected. For short list and final judging e-books will only be accepted if they do not have an alternative hardcopy format in either hardback or paperback.

• Anyone may be eligible to submit an indie/self-published historical fiction novel for initial review, regardless of age or nationality, or country of residence, and whether or not previously published with other titles in mainstream or self-publishing, or whether members of the HNS or not.

• Novels must be in the English Language, original, and not a translation of another author’s work.

• This annual Award shall not be open to anyone involved in the direct organisation, or sponsorship of the Award, or in the short list or final judging.

• The Award is not open to novels that are published in the English language as a traditional/mainstream edition prior to the closing date for the current Award (2014 closed. 2015 closing date January 31st).

• To qualify for final judging books must be in print and available for easy purchase from any reasonable source (i.e Amazon or equivalent on-line store, direct from the author or publisher, or easily obtainable from bookstores). Out of print books, and/or deceased authors will, unfortunately, not be eligible.

• Any genre of historical fiction will be eligible. For the purpose of these rules, ‘historical fiction’ shall mean any fictional book set in the main at least fifty years ago (pre-1964).

• Novels (adult, children’s,Young Adult) only will be accepted, not non-fiction.

• All novels submitted for initial review will be assessed in the first instance by the Indie Review Editors (Helen Hollick / Steve Donoghue) then, if not rejected for review, read and reviewed by panels of experienced readers in accordance with the Historical Novel Society review guidelines.

• Novels chosen as Editor’s Choice Indie Selections by the UK and US review editors each quarter will automatically be long-listed for the Award. Formatting, layout, style of text, cover design and general impression will be taken into consideration in addition to the quality of writing.

• Submissions to be included for possible future selection as Indie Editor’s Choice will run between 1st February and the following 31st January inclusive.

• For the 2014 Award past Editor’s Choice Indie Selections, up to and including February 2014, will be forwarded to an HNS Indie Award long list, from which a short list will be selected.

• From the Editor’s Choice long list (approximately 18-20 books – number may vary) a short list of nine books will be selected. (Four titles from the USA, four from the UK, plus one ‘wild card’.) From these, four will go forward for final judging. The winner and runner-up will be chosen from the four finalist selections.

• There is no entry fee. However, authors put forward for the short list will be required to provide one e-document file for initial judging, and two hardcopy (hardback or paperback) editions of their book at their own expense. E-book versions (Kindle, Nook etc) will only be accepted for final judging if they are only available in e-book format. These books will not be returned. If insufficient postage, books will be rejected.

• Authors have the right to decline to have their books entered for judging at no detriment to themselves.

• The winner and runner-up will be announced at each annual HNS Conference UK/US (Australasia when applicable).

• The winner shall receive £100 or $100 ($100Aus) depending on which HNS Conference is hosting the award.

• The runner-up shall receive £50 or $50US ($50Aus) depending on which HNS Conference is hosting the award.

• Prize money will be converted to the prevailing exchange rate at the time of final judging and awarded via BACS transfer, PayPal or Cheque depending on the recipient’s preference.

• No correspondence shall be entered into between authors and organisers in regard to judging the Award.

• Any required moderation, final decisions or change of rules will be made by the Managing Editor for Indie Reviews, Helen Hollick.

• Failure to comply with any of these rules will render an entry liable to disqualification. The decision of the Award organisers as to the interpretation and application of these rules shall be final.

For further details contact Helen Hollick : author@helenhollick.net