The Perils of Judging Book Prizes

[@Ali-AvidReader]

This is a fascinating insight Eric. I’m a BookTube Prize judge for the first time this year and am looking forward to being a part of that.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

That's great! Hope it's a positive judging process and that you discover lots of great new books!

[@josmith5992]

This was so interesting Eric! My one experience of judging was the first year of the Booktube prize and I found that for a slow reader like me, it took up too much of my reading time, made worse by having to read books I wouldn’t have normally picked up, and then my favorite out of the books didn’t go through the first round. I imagine both of these things, especially the latter are things judges also have to contend with for the big prizes and you just deal with it. Thankfully I didn’t have any stroppy authors to worry about upsetting 😬.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yeah, it can make it a somewhat disheartening experience. I think it all depends on the group of judges and selection of books.

[@paulinanowak8625]

I'm very surprised to hear there is no (or next to nothing) financial compensation for the judges, especially given the time commitment. I would imagine most participants have regular jobs and other responsibilities to attend to as well. It doesn't seem fair.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yeah, I don't think it is fair and it also means that judges will not feel inclined to take the process as professionally as they might if they were being compensated for dedicating so much time to it. I also reckon many judges don't realise how much time all that reading will take when they sign up to the process.

[@30secondsflat]

Thanks for your perspective Eric! I recently was asked to judge a literary grant, and while a great experience, oh my, was it more work and dedication than I anticipated!

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yeah, it can take a lot of time and when many judges agree to be a part of the process I think many don't realise how much dedication it will take.

[@booksaremysociallife]

I was once a young adult guest judge for a Caribbean YA book prize. There were over 50 submissions that the main judges had to go through, but I was only required to read the longlist of 10. Most of the books were very short and easy to read (duh, they were YA), but I found that I STILL struggled. I had to ask them for extra time before deliberations. It was rewarding but difficult work, I can only imagine how hard it is to judge adult prizes where you're reading over a hundred submissions.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

That's so cool you got to do that. But yeah, it's a massive commitment which is why some judges seem to take a half-arsed approach to it sometimes because I reckon a lot don't realist how much time it will take when they initially agree to participate.

[@annmyhre]

This was interesting to listen to, thanks. I am a happy reader and love lists, I really love lists. So just to see any list, say like the Booker, is enough for me. And on that, I read all the books last year shortlisted on the Booker, and even if I have the highest regards of your book tips, which is another kind of list I suppose, I didn't agree with you on James, and it would be so awful to sit in a jury and see that my favorite book didn't win if I had to advocate for it. Like a personal shortcoming of sort, like it was my fault.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Thanks, yeah I reckon most judges might respectfully disagree with each other but realise that reading is subjective so it usually seems to be about compromise and finding a book that most of the judges agree on.

[@alexiarichardson651]

There was a, to my mind, appalling incident at last year's Deutscher Buchpreis, which is a prominent German literary award, when a shortlisted author stood up and basically had a temper tantrum because he didn't win. He shouted about being in financial difficulties and how he "deserved" the prize, also because his book is extremely long. Sadly his outburst got more attention than the actual winner, a woman. For that reason I'm not naming him here but you can find him easily online. I can safely say I will never read his work now. The winner was Martina Hefter . It doesn't look she has been translated into English so far but it may well be that the prize has brought her to the attention of English publishers.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Wow, I’ve not heard of that incident before!

[@neetupd8510]

I'm participating as a judge in this year's book tube prize.... It's my first time and I'm very excited!😊

[@EricKarlAnderson]

That's fantastic! Hope you have a good time and read some new favourites.

[@neetupd8510]

@@EricKarlAnderson Thank you!☺️

[@dqan7372]

Interesting to hear your experiences. From a practical stance I would have to judge something like the BookTube Prize with a relatively small group of books to judge at a time. I can also see myself being quite a stickler about the rules, so if someone wants me to pick a lesser known author or one that pushes certain ideas, that would need to be part of the rule set; otherwise those issues will be far down on my list of criteria to think about, if they're there at all. I can see how a scaled checklist sounds fair, but it's a system that needs a reboot--perhaps with limited bonus points [This book scores a 7 for characterization out of a possible 5 pts!] Otherwise the results can be a little 'meh', like a 4 star Hollywood film that does everything quite well but excels at nothing -- glistening but ultimately forgettable.

[@vivhodge1611]

I saw your review of ‘The Fertile Earth’ by Ruthvika Rao, I have always enjoyed books about India, this did not disappoint , it was wonderful, throughly recommend it.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

That’s great to hear! So glad you enjoyed it.

[@MMjones6459]

For judging, do you think it impacts further reading if you have a selection you really don't want to even finish?

[@EricKarlAnderson]

It certainly makes the process more of a slog but, from my experience, it just makes me eager to get back to reading what I pick rather than what has been submitted.

[@spinecollector9931]

Yes I’d for sure still love to be involved with book prizes. Probably not at this moment in my life, I just had baby #2 lol but maybe 5 yrs from now sure! Idk if you mentioned it, so forgive me if I’m asking a question that’s been answered but how does one go about getting to be a book judger person? you said for many you were just brought on by a friend or because you knew someone…but what if you don’t particularly “know” anyone in the book world? How does an outsider get to be in?

[@thomaswoodfill3195]

No, I would not want to be a judge. Absolutely not. Though, I loved hearing about your experiences on being a judge with book awards

[@ΛΕΜΟΝΙΑΤΑΣΟΥΛΑ]

I am terrible at maths, too. I would probably have made the same mistake too. I remember this story, I think you have mentioned it in an older video of yours. By the way your remark about the figures not adding up was such a Virgo thing to say.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Haha, I guess I am a Virgo through and through.

[@clarepotter7584]

Only if I could speed up my reading!