Why Should I Vote for the Indies Choice Book Awards? A Q&A with ABA’s COO Joy Dallanegra-Sanger

ABA is thrilled to bring back the ABA Indies Choice Book Awards this year! But what sets the Indies Choice Book Awards apart from all the other book awards out there?

ABA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Joy Dallanegra-Sanger sat down with Bookselling This Week to talk about relaunching the Indies Choice Book Award and why it’s so important to indies and the larger book industry.

Bookselling This Week: What sets the Indies Choice Book Awards apart from all the other book awards out there?

Joy Dallanegra-Sanger: First of all, thousands of booksellers get to vote on it.

The other thing is that the nominees are all from the Indie Next List, the Kids’ Indie Next List, or the Indies Introduce debut program.

They are books that booksellers had already voted on and supported, and now they’re given the opportunity to look at all of the books that made the list for the year and select the ones that they think are the best and that the entire bookselling community loves.

We’ve done the Indies Choice Book Awards in the past — it was discontinued because of COVID and because of the changes with BookExpo — but this is the first time that there’s a monetary award.

It’s also the first time in a long time where our membership has grown so significantly. There’s so many more booksellers who are eligible to vote for these books.

BTW: That leads into my other question, which is about the history of the awards. Some of our members may remember previous iterations of the Indies Choice Book Awards. Are there any other notable differences with this relaunch?

JDS: In the past, there was the initial round of voting, and then there was a committee.

Like most awards, there was a committee who selected the final titles.

But this time, it is purely based on whichever book gets the most votes!

Another difference is the timing. Previously, the winners were announced at BookExpo later in the year. We’ve moved the awards up because we want to be able to celebrate the books while they’re still fresh in people’s minds.

For the first time, we’re giving money as part of the prize. ABA is a nonprofit. We’re a trade organization. We don’t have the kind of money that others have, but we want to recognize the work of these writers. This is something that really shows that we value what they’ve done.

We’ve been working for years to show publishers, booksellers, and readers the value of the Indie Next List. Our booksellers, in many of our surveys, say it’s of the benefits of ABA that they value most highly. By creating prizes for it, we can make it even more important.

BTW: Can I ask what prompted the relaunch of these awards?

JDS: It really has been a few things.

One, we’re trying to market what our community does for writers and figuring out ways to highlight the Indie Next List. That’s why we’ve done things like create a free e-newsletter for the Indie Next List that stores can sign up for.

So, this is another way to feature the Indie Next List and Indies Introduce.

It’s exciting, because Indies Introduce is much younger than the Indie Next List, but that program has really grown. When we first started that program, I would hear from publishers that “nothing’s really happening.” But now, before we announce the next Indies Introduce season, people start asking ahead of time.

What I find the most deeply satisfying and exciting is when I walk into bookstores, and see some of those authors’ second and third books stacked on front tables and know that they were once an Indies Introduce debut author. That just makes me understand the true value of independent booksellers. They are on the front lines, and they are the ones who are curating the books that are out there. That’s pretty exciting when you think about it!

Because the Indies Choice Book Awards now includes Indies Introduce titles as well as Indie Next List picks, it’s a little broader than it used to be.

BTW: Is there anything else that you feel it was important to mention?

JDS: Please vote!

I want as many booksellers as possible to vote! I know there’s so much going on and there are so many titles to choose from, but the more booksellers who vote, the more meaningful this award will be.

I want booksellers to know how much influence they have. This award is entirely based on votes, so your vote really counts!

If you have not already voted for the Indies Choice Book Awards, you can submit your vote now!