Awesome Indies Books (#AIbk) is an independent book publishers’ and self–publishers’ accreditation, review and book listing site. The books listed on this website have passed a stringent review process and have been Awesome Indies approved (AIA) by our highly qualified reviewers as being the same, or of a higher, standard of craftsmanship as a mainstream published book. Our books are the awesome indie books. Only roughly 40% of books submitted to us for accreditation meet our clearly laid out criteria. Another 10% meet the criteria after revising their books to some degree; usually this involves another proofread and very often a line edit.

Even books where their authors say they have been ‘professionally edited’ do not always meet the criteria because the reviewers look at all levels of editing. It’s isn’t a matter of having no typos; AI approval requires a high level of editing at all levels—developmental/structural editing, line editing, copyediting and proofreading. Although the reviewers try to review submissions as objectively as possible—like a tutor marking an assignment or a publisher looking for their next book—where it isn’t clear which side of the accreditation line a certain book lies, subjectivity does, of course, enter in to some degree. At this point you could say that we have a ‘house style’, one that favors books that hold attention and have a strong voice and good craftsmanship. We like books that fall outside of the box, but only if they’re well executed.

In the early days of the Awesome Indies only one opinion was required, but that allowed too much subjectivity and variation depending on which reviewer reviewed the book. Now AI approval requires at least two—and often three—opinions from qualified reviewers, so any new additions to the Awesome Indies Books website are guaranteed to be excellent examples of a well-crafted book.

But why does the Awesome Indies accreditation badge have the extra A on it, as in AIA? AIA means Awesome Indies Approved. There is an organisation called the American Institute of Architects who use that anagram, and when it has ‘Editing’ or ‘Publishing’ after it, as in AIA Editing and AIA Publishing, it means Awesome Independent Authors, but when you see it in a gold or silver circle on a book cover or on an author’s website, it’s the Awesome Indies Badge of Approval. It has nothing to do with architects. If it’s a pure gold symbol, not the one with black lettering, it is the Awesome Indies Seal of Excellence.

The AIA Seal of Excellence is awarded to books where one of our reviewers thinks the book is outstanding enough to nominate it for a Seal, a second reviewer has agreed, and a sample has been checked by a senior editor. Only books that excite our reviewers get a Seal of Excellence. To see these books select Seal of Excellence Recipients from the Book Categories drop down box.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Any questions?

If you enjoyed this post and would like to read more, please subscribe to the blog and receive posts via email. (Sign up form in the right side bar.)