Nat’l Book Awards to treat e-books as books (well… sort of)

The National Book Foundation has announced that e-books will be treated the same as other books in deciding the winners of the National Book Awards. Sounds wise, yes? So far, so good.

The rules also state that \”all e-books must be published in the United States.\” What does that mean, exactly? If a novelist sits in an Internet cafe in the United States while uploading her book to a web server, does that count? What if the author is a naturalized American citizen, born in Elbonia — and the web server is also in Elbonia, but there\’s a mirror in the US?

Of course, there\’s another catch…

The National Book Foundation has announced that e-books will be treated the same as other books in deciding the winners of the National Book Awards. Sounds wise, yes? So far, so good.

The rules also state that \”all e-books must be published in the United States.\” What does that mean, exactly? If a novelist sits in an Internet cafe in the United States while uploading her book to a web server, does that count? What if the author is a naturalized American citizen, born in Elbonia — and the web server is also in Elbonia, but there\’s a mirror in the US?

Of course, there\’s another catch…This contest is geared toward commercial publishers. You can\’t even be considered for the contest unless you pay them $100. (Sounds like something a spammer sent me last week.) The publisher must also agree to pay $1,000 if your book is picked as a finalist. And in that case, you\’re eligible for \”medallions\” (gold stickers, I imagine) to put on your book… at a cost of $175 per thousand.

And what if you self-publish? Well, you\’re still eligible… technically… maybe… if you also publish other people\’s books! Be sure to have a catalog of your publications handy to prove your status as a publisher.

Oh well. I still think Synchronized: A Novel of the Internet Era is one of the finest e-books ever. Too bad it\’s not eligible.