Review/Awards
Book Submission

Step 1: Are you sure your book is ready?

Is your book published?
- If you submit your book to us before it’s published (as indicated on your book’s Amazon page), we will:
  - Immediately reject your submission
  - At MWSA's discretion, deduct $5 from your submission fee refund to cover online transaction fees
  - Allow resubmission of your book if the publication date falls within our annual submission window.
Is your book really ready for evaluation?
- MWSA’s system will evaluate your book against industry-standard criteria, including punctuation, usage, grammar, and spelling.
  - If your book has too many errors, a low grammar score will “torpedo” your chance of winning an award.
  - You only get one submission for your book, so make sure it’s your best.
- We strongly urge you to get a professional editor if you haven’t already.
- If you’re not sure, try using our Beta Readers program to line up a few MWSA members to give it an honest look.
Does it meet our requirements?
- Please re-read the “What Can You Submit” section of our main awards page.
Is the submission window open?
- We only accept books during our submission window: January 15 to March 15 each year.

Is your membership up-to-date?
- A full member (lifetime, 1-, 2-, or 3-year member)
  - Associate members and non-members are not eligible to submit books.
- Dues current
Have you taken the time to familiarize yourself with our program?
- We strongly recommend that you spend a few minutes perusing the details on the pages listed on the left of this page. It’s better to avoid surprises by knowing exactly what to expect before you submit your book.
- Required Pages
  - When submitting a book for review and/or award consideration, authors must affirm that they've read all the information on this page and our main awards page.
  - eBook procedures (only if you’re submitting this format)
- Recommended Pages
  - Our review and awards system
  - The Review and Awards section of our “Now What” page
    - This section has information about each stage of the review process—from submitting your book, through review posting, to notification of finalists, all the way to suggested actions after you receive your MWSA award.
  - Award types and packets
  - Ethical guidelines

The cost of the program is $75
- Your submission isn’t complete until you’ve made the online payment
- Opting to send a check will delay your submission
The ONLY way to submit a book is our online submission & purchase form.
- We do not accept submissions via letter, phone, or email.
- The submission form is visible/available only when our submission window is open (Jan 15—March 15 each year).

Make sure you double-check your submission
- Provide a working link to a website (normally Amazon.com) where your book can be purchased. If you’re unfamiliar with links and URLs for your book, read our article on how to use your Amazon link. Click here to read that article.
- Resolve any author name issues
  - If your book has more than one author, tell us which author is the MWSA member.
  - If you use a pen name, use your real name as a point of contact when submitting your book.
Once we receive all the required information, we will add your book to the current season’s page and send you the link.

Updated 6/2/2026