How a Booky is awarded.
A short, honest walkthrough of what happens between the moment you submit your book and the moment your permanent award page goes live.
You submit your book.
Upload the whole manuscript as a .docx, .pdf, or .epub. Provide the basic metadata — title, author name, genre, and a real ASIN or ISBN of a published book. We don't judge unpublished manuscripts; we judge books that already exist in the world. Our judges read the opening of the book for evaluation; you don't need to extract anything yourself.
Manuscripts are stored encrypted and deleted within 90 days unless you opt in to retention. We never train models on your work.
(Optional) Free honest screen.
Want to know whether your book would qualify before you pay? Drop your manuscript into the free screen widget on the home page. We read the opening, project scores across the 10 craft axes, and email you the result — usually in minutes. No card required.
If your book qualifies, the email links you straight to checkout. If it doesn't, you get an honest decline and three observations about what we noticed — at no charge.
You choose a tier.
Booky Award ($39 per book) or Author Bundle ($129 per book). Submitting more than one book? Volume discounts scale linearly from 0% off at 1 book to 50% off at 100 books, applied automatically at checkout.
Each entry is one book. Buy a pack and submit them one at a time as you have manuscripts ready — no expiry pressure.
Your book is routed to its specialist judge.
Genre determines the judge. A romance manuscript goes to Vivienne Park. A thriller goes to Marcus Thorne. A literary novel goes to Eleanor Whitcombe. Spec-fic goes to Aiyana Reyes. Non-fiction and memoir go to Arthur Beaumont. Each judge reads with the rubric of their craft.
You can see exactly which judge evaluated your book on the permanent award page. We name them.
Full evaluation runs.
The specialist judge reads the manuscript end-to-end and scores all ten axes from 0 to 100. For your top one or two axes, the judge writes the reasoning and pulls supporting passages directly from your book. This becomes the body of your award page.
A book never wins on a single axis below 75. If something is genuinely strong, the rubric finds it.
Your category is selected.
From a closed bank of around 200 human-curated award names, we choose the category that fits the axis your book scored highest on — and the specifics of your book within that axis. "Best Dialogue Booky." "Most Memorable Protagonist Booky." "Best Slow Burn Booky." "Most Cinematic Booky." Specific, honest, shareable.
No "Best Book of the Year" trophies handed out by the dozen. Every Booky names what your book actually does well.
Your assets ship.
Your permanent award page goes live at /winners/<your-book>. Your PDF certificate, PNG award badge, and embeddable HTML snippet are emailed to you and made available in your dashboard. If you bought the Bundle, your press release, 8-graphic social pack, 30-second AI-narrated audio reel, and award-badge cover variant follow within 5 business days.
You own your award page forever. Link it on your author bio, retail listings, social profile, agent submission — anywhere.
Got more questions?
Submission requirements, the screen, the refund, AI judging, manuscript privacy — answered in the FAQ.
Read the FAQ →