The Indie Revolution Award, Presented by Indieguana: Year One Is Open for Entries
There are a lot of great indie books that never find their readers. Not because the writing isn’t there. Not because the story doesn’t deserve an audience. But because discovery is hard, and most of the machinery built around publishing was designed for a different kind of book.
Awards can help. A well-placed badge or a shortlist mention gives a book a credibility signal it can carry into new conversations. We believe in that. But for most indie authors, recognition alone doesn’t move the needle enough — because the award announcement goes out, and then what? The platform behind it isn’t built to keep working for your book after the moment passes.
That’s the gap we wanted to close.
Introducing the Indie Revolution Award
We’re proud to announce the first annual Indie Revolution Award, presented by Indieguana.
Indieguana is a book discovery platform built specifically for indie authors and the readers who love their work. We’re not a workaround or a consolation prize for authors who couldn’t get traction elsewhere — we’re a dedicated home for independently published books across every genre, with tools built around the realities of indie publishing.
The Indie Revolution Award covers every genre on the platform. Our genre taxonomy is built from the ground up for indie fiction and nonfiction, so your book isn’t forced into a category that doesn’t fit. Beyond genre categories, we’ve added five special awards that reflect the full picture of what makes indie publishing remarkable:
- Fan Favorite — the book your readers can’t stop talking about
- Most Anticipated — the next book everyone is waiting for
- Best Cover Design — because covers matter, and indie authors are doing stunning work
- Best Series — for the authors building worlds readers keep coming back to
- Best Debut — because first books deserve to be celebrated
What Makes This Different
There are great awards out there doing important work for indie publishing. We wanted to build something that adds a new dimension to that recognition — a platform that keeps working for you after the announcement.
When you win the Indie Revolution Award, you get more than a badge. You get featured placement on a live reader platform, newsletter promotion to our community of readers actively looking for indie books, and — for winners — a FREE Online Launch Party on your next book.
That last one deserves a little explanation. An Indieguana Launch Party is a dedicated event page on the platform with live Discord chat during your launch, shareable promotional graphics you can use across your own channels, reader engagement tools built around the launch window, and platform-wide promotion. It’s designed to give your next book a real runway from day one. The retail value is $99, and winners receive it at no cost.
The award is also timed deliberately. Winners are announced in November, which means you get six or more weeks of prime book-buying season with active promotion behind you. That’s not an accident — we built the calendar around what actually benefits authors.
How It Works
The entry process is straightforward, and we kept it that way on purpose.
- Add your book to Indieguana — it’s free at indieguana.com
- Complete your listing — cover image, blurb, genre, publication status
- Share with your readers and ask them to shelf your book on Indieguana
- At the close of the entry window on August 1, shelving counts determine the top 5 books in each category
- Our editorial panel reads and reviews those top 5 and selects the winner
A Note on Transparency
We’d rather be honest with you upfront than oversell this.
Year one of the Indie Revolution Award is free to enter — no reading fee, no submission cost. Our editorial panel is small. We can’t read every book on the platform, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. That’s exactly why we use shelving as the first filter: if your readers are already engaging with your book, it rises naturally to the top. The panel focuses its energy where reader interest has already been demonstrated.
Starting in 2027, there will be a modest entry and reading fee to sustain the award and the editorial work behind it. This year is a beta — and that means authors who enter now are the founding class of the Indie Revolution Award. You’re getting the most favorable terms this award will ever offer: legitimate recognition, real platform benefits, and no cost to enter. Your participation also helps establish the award’s credibility for every author who comes after you. That matters.
We think that’s a fair trade, and we wanted you to know about it from the start.
Timeline
- Now through August 1 — Entry window open
- August 1 — Entries close; shelving snapshot taken
- August through October — Panel reads and deliberates
- Late October — Shortlist announced; nominees notified directly
- Early to mid-November — Winners announced
- November through December — Winners promoted across the platform and newsletter during the holiday season
What Winners Receive
- A permanent 2026 Indie Revolution Award Winner badge on their book page and author profile on Indieguana
- Featured placement in the Indieguana author directory and book archive
- A dedicated spotlight feature in the Indieguana newsletter
- A FREE Online Launch Party on their next book — a $99 value, including a dedicated event page, live Discord chat during the launch, shareable promotional graphics, and platform-wide promotion (more info about these coming next month!)
- I can’t afford to give away thousands of physical stickers (yet), but I will give winners the option of ordering holographic badges for their books at cost.
What Nominees Receive
Making the shortlist means something, and we wanted to make sure it shows.
- A 2026 Indie Revolution Award — Shortlisted badge on their book page and author profile
- A listing on the official awards page
- A feature in the awards section of the Indieguana newsletter
How to Enter
Go to indieguana.com, create a free account, and add your book. Complete your listing — cover, blurb, genre, status — and then share with your readers and ask them to shelf your book on the platform. That’s it.
The entry window closes August 1, 2026. There are no extensions.
This Is Year One
We hope the Indie Revolution Award becomes a fixture in indie publishing — something authors aspire to, something readers trust, something that actually moves books into the hands of people who will love them.
The authors who enter now are part of building that. Your books, your readers, your willingness to show up in year one — that’s what gives this award its foundation.
Whether you win or not, your book belongs on a platform where readers can find it. And that’s true long after November.
The Indie Revolution Award is presented by Indieguana. Learn more and add your book at indieguana.com.