You’ve written a book – perhaps it’s your first book, and to your surprise you’ve won an award. What does it feel like, what does it mean? In the wake of this year’s Man Booker prize, won by first-time novelist, Aravind Adiga, we investigate.
“It’s about profile and recognition,” explains literary agent, Lucy Luck. “It depends on the prize of course, but for a book to be awarded a prize means that a number of people have read it and have agreed that they think it’s the best in that field. This is a huge amount of recognition and brings confidence to a writer. A prize is one step further than a publisher or a bookseller responding to a book$$s$$ it means that the book is recognised in the public sphere.”
For first-time writers the experience must be particularly significant, as Luck confirms: “It’s a huge moment for a first writer, or for someone who hasn’t had a huge amount of recognition, suddenly to be pulled out of the many very good books published every year and for someone to say that we, four people, thought this was one of the best books published this year.”
There are many benefits to winning a prize. “When a book wins a prize it means that the general public feel the book has been endorsed – and the more recognisable the prize the bigger the endorsement, so they’re willing to take a chance and read the book,” says Luck. In short, sales usually increase – sometimes by significant amounts – and this can apply even before the final decision, when the book is simply longlisted or shortlisted for the award.
Kate Summerscale, who won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction 2008, for her book The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House, says about her experience: “Yes, it definitely sold brilliantly over the summer. I won the prize in mid-July and sales certainly picked up after that.”
She attributes part of the increase to the earlier introduction of the trade paperback (a consequence of winning), but also acknowledges the role of the media: “It’s not only the prize but also the coverage the prize gets. The coverage was amazing for this one. It was fantastic publicity for the book.”
Prize-listed authors, therefore, can gain tremendously from the opportunity. So can sponsors, from the publicity involved, and booksellers, from the increase in sales. And the publisher benefits, too.
Tindal Street Press, a small independent publisher, can claim two books on the Man Booker longlist in the last two years (Girl in a Blue Dress by Gaynor Arnold, 2008 and What was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn – 2007). This is quite an achievement for a company that publishes just six or so books per year. As editor Luke Brown notes, “You can see the press coverage has picked it up, and they’re asking how we’ve done that, and so we’ve become a publisher with a reputation for punching above our weight in this respect.”
This sort of achievement can lead to a higher profile, and greater interest in the publisher from booksellers and literary agencies. Brown also explains that sometimes, where submissions for an award are limited, an author based with a smaller publisher can benefit by not having to compete with a lot of established, high profile names for a place on the submission list.
Brown also agrees on the financial benefits for authors of being listed: “It has an immediate effect upon sales, because it’s huge publicity and it establishes the author’s name – in both critical terms and in sales terms.” This impact can also extend into the future, as booksellers and others show greater interest in the author, now prize-listed or prize-winning. “Re Catherine O’Flynn for example,” says Brown, “One would imagine her second book will be hotly anticipated.”
But what about the experience itself? Kate Summerscale takes us through her memories: “On the night, when they announced who the winner was, it was a complete shock. It was very exciting but you do feel quite exposed. A lot of people said to me afterwards, because they saw the ceremony on television, ‘You looked absolutely stunned’. And then there were lots of interviews straight afterwards$$s$$ I remember it in a slightly dazed way, I can’t remember any details.”
Kate Summerscale had won an award before, for The Queen of Whale Cay, a book she wrote some years before in her spare time, continuing to work both during and after writing it.
“With the Somerset Maugham award, it was a huge thing for me at the time,” she says. “I won that for my first book and it was a quirky book, and it felt very validating and amazing for it to be considered.”
The Samuel Johnson Prize had a slightly different impact, as for this book, Summerscale had left her job. “The book was selling well anyway before the prize so I’d already felt the sense of relief that I hadn’t taken a completely wrong turning, but the prize certainly made me feel more assured about going ahead and planning another book and envisaging a career as a writer, as opposed to just a single book.” She goes on to explain further, “I did get a contract and an advance before I left my job$$s$$ it wasn’t a complete leap in the dark. I knew I could manage for the duration of the book itself – that I would be able to fund myself through it – but I didn’t know what would happen after that.”
So are there any drawbacks to prizes and the prize-winning process? Well, some might argue that in a competitive world where there are many excellent books and not enough demand, prize-winning highlights certain books at the expense of others. The flagging up of listed or winning titles may lead people to read books they haven’t thought about before, but does it add to their reading quota, or in a time-pressured world, simply substitute a listed book for something else?
What about the influence on the first-time writer, particularly the fiction author? Does it put pressure on their creative ability, making them fear that they won’t be able to deliver to this standard next time, or constrain them in some way, forcing them to stick to their ‘winning formula’?
Whatever your opinion, it seems that it shouldn’t. Asked why she felt her book had been awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize, Kate Summerscale said, “I really don’t know. The judges seemed to like it being a good read, having a strong narrative momentum, but a different set of judges would have admired something else in a different book. I don’t think you can anticipate these things at all.”
She goes on to say about prizes in general, “Whatever book wins the prize, it’s not the best book, it’s the book [that] that group of people liked best at that moment.”
And that seems to be the clue. It can be a fantastic opportunity for authors and a lot of people in the industry benefit. For those starting out as writers it’s endorsement and is incredibly encouraging. But as Summerscale says, “It’s best to treat these kinds of things as unexpected blessings, as bonuses, not as something to work towards or to take too seriously. It’s your own estimate of what you’re doing that matters.”
