Jesse Ball, “A Cure for Suicide”
Pantheon Books/Penguin Random House
Bill Clegg, “Did You Ever Have a Family”
Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Karen E. Bender, “Refund”
Soft Skull/Counterpoint Press
Angela Flournoy, “The Turner House”
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Lauren Groff, “Fates and Furies”
Riverhead Books/Penguin Random House
Adam Johnson, “Fortune Smiles”
Random House/Penguin Random House
T. Geronimo Johnson, “Welcome to Braggsville”
William Morrow/HarperCollins
Edith Pearlman, “Honeydew”
Little, Brown/Hachette Book Group
Hanya Yanagihara, “A Little Life”
Doubleday/Penguin Random House
Nell Zink, “Mislaid”
The Ecco Press/HarperCollins
Surely some Indie writer somewhere penned a tome that should have found its way onto the list. But wait, there's a catch: Indie publishers are eligible IF they have published the works of other authors. The full eligibility text is here:
"WHO CAN SUBMIT BOOKS?
Each April, the Foundation sends the official National Book Awards guidelines and entry forms to the publishers in its master database. Those publishers who do not receive the materials automatically can call or email the Foundation to request a copy. Authors cannot submit their books themselves; they must have their publishers contact us directly. However, the guidelines are always available for informational purposes here:www.nationalbook.org/nbaentry.html.
In order to be eligible for the Award, a book must be written by an American citizen and published by an American publisher between December 1 of the previous year and November 30 of the current year. Self-published books are only eligible if the author/publisher publishes the work of other authors in addition to his own. Books published through services such as iUniverse are not eligible for the Award."
Did any Indie writers make it onto the long longlist? Or even the long long longlist?
Are there other Indies out there who, with me, would like to form a publishing co-op with an eye toward entering the NBA next year?
Just saying.