It’s that time again. Drop by and nominate your favorite small business books for the 8th annual Small Business Book Awards. Books may be nominated in the categories of marketing, social media, management, economics, technology, startup and motivation.
There are certainly plenty of recognitions for authors out there and even recognitions for authors whose work deals mainly with small businesses. But what sets the Small Business Book Awards apart is that it is truly a series of awards for and chosen by the small business community. The awards recognize books f interest to small business owners and entrepreneurs, certainly.
They also recognize books and resources important to small business CEOs, managers and their staffs. More than that, however, the small business community has an unprecedented role in choosing the authors and titles to be honored.
Members of the small business community nominated and voted for the winners aided by a panel of judges. These judges will eventually vote for the final winners of this year’s contest.
Deadlines for the Small Business Book Awards
Here are some important deadlines to keep in mind for the 2016 Small Business Book Awards.
- You can start nominating your favorite authors, books and resources today. Nominations will continue through April 27, 2016, 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT.
- Then it’s time for the community to be heard. Vote for your favorite nominations from April 28, 2016 until May 11, 2016, at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT.
- We announce the community choice awards on May 12, 2016.
- We announce the choices of our special expert panel of judges on May 19, 2016.
How Small Business Book Awards Got Started
So, how did the Small Business Book Awards get started?
“Back in 2007, we noticed that most business books being reviewed or winning awards were books of interest to the enterprise or corporate audience,” says CEO of Small Business Trends and Founder of the Small Business Book Awards Anita Campbell. “No sites consistently covered books specifically for small business owners and managers and entrepreneurs.”
Next came the business book review series at Small Business Trends. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Small Business Trends’ regular small business book reviews are part of helpful small business content readers of the site enjoy.
But still, the Small Business Trends team wanted to find a way to do more. Enter the Small Business Book Awards!
As Ivana Taylor, book editor for Small Business Trends, explains:
“Once you’ve reviewed as many books as we have, you start getting asked for a lot of advice. People want to know which books you think they should read. You can spend a lot of time responding to these kinds of questions. Instead, we created the Small Business Book Awards with the goal of recognizing the best of the best. But more importantly, those titles aren’t just picked by our reviewers — they are chosen by you, the Small Business Trends community.”
How to Participate
So, now it’s your turn. As explained above, it’s now time nominate your favorite small business books (and other resources) for this year’s awards.
To be eligible, books must have been published between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2015. And you have until April 27, 2016, 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT to make those nominations.
Books may include the following topics:
- Marketing
- Social Media
- Management
- Economics
- Technology
- Startup
- Motivation
- Resource (a catchall category including people, companies, tools and apps supporting authors of small business books)
Nominate your selection(s) here:
What Comes Next
After nominations are complete, voting will begin. Voting starts March 11, 2016, and ends April 28, 2016, at Noon (Pacific). You can vote for as many titles as you like, however, you are only permitted to vote once for any title or resource.
Nominees at the top with overall votes in each category when community voting is completely will be named Small Business Book Awards Community Choice winners.
Finally a set of Overall and Category Winners will be chosen by a specially assembled panel of expert of judges. These selections will be based on excellence and merit.
Winners in both groups will have the right to display special Small Business Book Awards badges and stickers on their books, websites, brochures and elsewhere.
Quality and Integrity
Of course, the measure of any award or other recognition is the integrity of the process used to recipients of that honor.
Small Business Trends continues to work towards improving the selection process for the Small Business Book Awards. That included the establishment two years ago of a panel of expert judges to add merit considerations to the award process.
It has also included ongoing improvement of technology used to robust security process that disqualifies vote buying. For example, Small Business Trends uses technology that ensures all of votes are legitimate and no ballot stuffing is occurring.
By Small Business Owners
In explaining what makes the Small Business Book Awards so special, Small Business Trends book editor Ivana Taylor explains:
“I can’t speak for other awards, but as the manager for the Small Business Book Awards, I can tell you that my favorite part of this process is the community element. This is truly a business book awards by small business owners for small business owners. Most of the nominated books will never see the New York Times best seller list. But they are often an important ingredient in helping small businesses become best sellers.”
Book Photo Via Shutterstock
This article, "Nominations Open: 8th Annual Small Business Book Awards!" was first published on Small Business Trends
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