Last week we got this welcome email about the Lulu Blooker award:
Dear Evslin,
It is my pleasure to inform you that your book "hackoff.com" has been selected for the short-list of titles being considered in the fiction category for the Lulu Blooker Prize. Only five of the titles submitted in this category have made the short-list, and you are in excellent company. The response to the world’s first literary prize for books based on blogs has been enthusiastic and widespread. Winners will be announced on April 3, 2006. This is an exciting time!
IMPORTANT NOTE: Having shared the good news, I must request that you keep this notification to yourself for a short time longer. The news about the short-list is embargoed until we formally announce it to the media on March 6, 2006. In other words, please don’t blog it!
…
Congratulations again on making a bit of literary history. Please don’t hesitate to call or email with questions.
Regards,
Had to respect the embargo but now can bloast (boast on a blog) about it.
This Blooker prize is a good idea (in my biased view). There are all kinds of prizes for books published by traditional publishers. Prizes are one way that people choose what to read. Self-published books aren’t eligible for most of the traditional prizes. Lulu is a printer and distributor of self-published books (they did the galleys for hackoff.com but not the hardcover edition). They are wisely helping to build a market for self-published books including prizes open to “blooks” whether printed by Lulu or not.
This is a big week for hackoff.com. The printers are done! I’m flying to the bindery in Grand Rapids Wednesday to sign books for people who won signed copies in our contest or preordered from Amazon or 800ceoread. (BTW, there’s still time to preorder and get a signed copy at no extra cost). From there the books get shipped out to the resellers and should be sent to readers by the advertised publication date of March 15.
But you can still read or listen to hackoff.com free online or through RSS or email subscription. Just go to www.hackoff.com to get started. That site is also being redesigned to make it easier both for newbies and returneees. Comments welcome.