ENnies: Publisher feedback and suggestions sought on the future of the ENnies

[thalmin]

I would like to see an (Avery Label friendly) pdf of the Ennies to mark/highlight/point to the award winners and nominies in my store. Also a list of same, complete with an explanation of what the Ennies are, to place near the cash register. I know I could do this myself, but I would need a good image of the awards. More stores would probably do this if the layout was there to just download.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Incidentally, it occurs to me that a question needs to be asked. The impression I get from this thread is that publishers perceive that the ENnies don't benefit them (and thus they have no motivation to offer support for them); conversely, I have indicated that the ENnies don't benefit me.

So, we have publishers saying "If you want us to participate, here are the problems..."; on the other hand, you have me saying "If you want the ENnies to continue, here are the problems..." Both of us (me / publishers) are operating from a standpoint that the other is the one who wants the ENnies to continue.

The question, then, is do the ENnies benefit anyone? Does anyone have an interest in keeping them going? Is there a point to this discussion?

Well, a very similar discussion has been going on with the Origins awards for years, so I don't know how quickly the ENnies questions can be resolved.

Personally, I'd say drop the physical award and just give out certificates or something that can be made with a common printer. And, if there isn't one already, provide the winners with an electronic "ENnies 2005 award winner" symbol to put on their products and website. That's really where the long-term publisher benefit is, it seems to me.

I don't have a preference one way or another on shipping. We ship all our orders ourselves (no fulfillment companies or anyone else - except the post office - increasing the price), so six small boxes isn't much different than one giant heavy box.

Additional: Well, except that one of the judges is fairly local to us, so I can drive the books to him myself, instead of shipping. That's the biggest help, actually, but hardly any other publisher will have that advantage.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

That said, I do often find myself wanting to jump in when Green Ronin is painted as big monolithic force in these sorts of discussions, as if we have unlimited resources or legions of fans and lackeys or something.

LOL We get that a lot, too. Small companies with a handful of workers who put out dozens of products a year seem a lot bigger than they really are.

ANY extra cost can hurt the bottom line. I think that charging publishers an entry fee per book in addition to shipping would force a lot of us to drop out, even if we don't want to.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Ennies Website?

Would a website for the Ennies that would house all of the information on the awards and the companies be out of the question? I think that would be the best way to get the awards in the public eye.

Also, having better images of the awards for the website (i.e. not saying "award text area") would be better for publishers as well.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Additional: Well, except that one of the judges is fairly local to us, so I can drive the books to him myself, instead of shipping. That's the biggest help, actually, but hardly any other publisher will have that advantage.

Hey, hey, I resemble that judge!