The Guardian Launches Monthly Self-Pub Book Prize

Shelf Awareness

The Guardian newspaper and Legend Times, an independent publishing group, have announced the Guardian Legend Self-Published Book of the Month, a new writing competition in which the winning self-published novel each month will be selected by a panel of industry judges and reviewed in the Guardian. The judges are the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, Legend Press's commissioning editor Lauren Parsons, as well as authors Stuart Evers and Polly Courtney. The first round of submissions began yesterday.

"The phenomenon of self-publishing over the last couple of years has become too big for any of us to ignore," said Claire Armitstead, literary editor of the Guardian. "We've showcased some of the proven stars on the Guardian Books website. We're confident that our partnership with Legend Times, who lead the way in industry innovation, will give us a chance to find the brightest and the best in this dynamic new sector."

"We're slightly nervous as we prepare to open the flood gates," Tom Chalmers, managing director of Legend Times, told the Guardian. "But everything will be read. Even if there are 1,000 submissions, that will be fine--we already get several hundred manuscripts a month, so we're experienced at dealing with a deluge."