AURELIA awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion!

AURELIA BRAG MedallionYou know when there’s a 90% chance against, but you do succeed?
Well, that.
Book 4 in the Roma Nova series, AURELIA, has just been awarded the B.R.A.G. Medallion.

The what?
In the large sea of self/independently published work, there is a lot of flotsam and jetsam and, sadly, a good proportion of it that isn’t worth picking up. How to tell?  Well, indieBRAG, a privately held organisation, has brought together a large group of readers, both individuals and members of book clubs, located throughout the United States, Canada, and the European Union to address this.

Their mission is to recognise quality on the part of authors who self-publish both print and digital books, principally fiction. They are looking for ‘a good, quality read’ that’s commercially and widely available.

So how do they do it?
BRAG_goldlogoAfter the initial selection process to screen out the obvious ‘no’ candidates of the unedited first draft kind, Indie BRAG choose ten members from their reader group to evaluate and  judge the merits of each book based on their list of criteria (plot, characters, dialogue, writing style, copy editing, cover/interior layout). The single most important criterion they ask their readers to use in judging a book is whether or not they would recommend it to their best friend.

And all ten have to agree!

Once a book meets this standard of quality, they award it the B.R.A.G. MedallionTM. IndieBRAG have gained considerable traction now as a gatekeeper and because of the flood of demand, they are evolving their structure. Read more here

Alison and Geri CloustonYou can gather how passionate IndieBRAG is about quality in my interview with Geri Clouston, their president. And I had the pleasure of meeting Geri in person at the Historical Novel Society conference in Denver this year when we were both members of an expert panel on self-publishing.

So, yes, the bubbly’s out again tonight…

Roma Nova books

 

And here are the other B.R.A.G. Medallion holders INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO.

 

 

 

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, PERFIDITASSUCCESSIO and AURELIA

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