I found a professional looking ad for Global Recognition --- which has since been taken down -- and assumed it was for books. Well, not really. But in my opinion, I believe it was cleverly designed to fool new authors or writers.
I clicked on the link and was taken to their website. I attempted to get information about who they were, who owned this, maybe who the judges were, etc. I'll cut to the chase. All ownership of the company as well as the website is hidden. That's the first red flag.
I went over to Google Gemini to see if AI could find out who they were. Well, what they found out was that this website and honors is not reputable at all.
Then Gemini shifted into suggesting a few very reputable places to submit my books to and the submission costs were more than reasonable. I have a video below where I go into a little more detail about my search, if you're interested in it. I'll post a screen shot from the AI suggestion below so you have the information.
Then AI focused on giving me all the submission information on the first two: Writer's Digest Self-Published Awards and IPPY (Independent Publishers Awards), which I curated into a two-page chart which I will post below.
I also curated all the information about the first two suggested places and because we are starting a new year, I decided that this would be a good goal for 2026.
If you would like to print these out in larger PDF format, click here to go to Google Docs and print out an 8.5" x 11" chart. You need to print in Landscape.
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John Walsh is a successful funeral director with a loving family but he has a weakness for other women. The modern world thinks cheating is a victimless crime, but is it?
