About indieBRAG

The term “indie” refers to self-published books and B.R.A.G. is an acronym for Book Readers Appreciation Group. The name “indieBRAG” and the B.R.A.G. logos are trademarks of indieBRAG, LLC. The B.R.A.G. Medallion is a certification trademark owned and controlled by indieBRAG, LLC.

The book nomination form can be found under the SUBMIT YOUR BOOK tab on our website.

We take great care to protect the privacy of authors who nominate their books for our consideration. For further details please refer to our website PRIVACY POLICY for how we handle all personal and non-personal information.

The fee covers ebook acquisition and administrative costs, and the expense of maintaining our website.

In Addition, if your book is selected as a B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree:

• We will travel to select book conferences and events to publicize the website which features your book
• You will have admission to the private B.R.A.G.Medallion Authors Group on Facebook.
• You will be able to put information about your book sales and promotions on our Sales & Promotions We will advertise and promote this page throughout all social media.
• We will feature your book on the website homepage when appropriate. We do features for holidays, special occasions and appropriate events (e.g. Black History Month, Earth Day, World Book Night).
• We feature books in a specific genre on the home page monthly– January is Literary Fiction Month; February is Romance Month.

We only consider work that is commercially available in a digital (ebook) format.

Please read the ABOUT US/HOW WE DO IT section of our website.

Other than the process described in the ABOUT US/HOW WE DO IT section of our website, all other aspects of our process are confidential.

We currently have over two hundred readers, both individuals and members of book clubs, located throughout the United States and in ten other countries around the globe. They are people who are passionate about reading, and who love to help us discover new and talented self-published authors. The vast majority are ordinary members of the general reading public. We do not require that they be literary experts, professional editors, or book reviewers and bloggers, although some may happen to be that.

As soon as a decision is reached on whether or not a book will be awarded a B.R.A.G.Medallion, the author will be notified by email accordingly. This notification will include a summary report showing the ratings that were used to make the final decision (see sample report). This decision is final and no feedback will be provided beyond the decision and the summary report.

Due to the large number of nominations we receive each week, and our commitment to give each book the consideration it deserves, our review process may take up to six months: however, our target is to complete it within four months.

On average, only 20-25% of the books we consider are awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion.

If a book is awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion, the author will be able to use it on their website and/or book cover to inform their readers that the book has been so honored. In addition, we will work with the author to help him or her gain the attention and recognition they deserve across all major forms of social media; however, the primary responsibility for this must rest with the author.

We cannot guarantee that there will be any significant increase in the sales of a book after it is awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion, or as a result of the help we provide the author in promoting their book through social media. However, we have received anecdotal feedback from many of our authors who are pleased with the results.

The B.R.A.G. Medallion only applies to the specific book that received the award.

If your book does not pass the initial screening process, the processing fee will be refunded in full.  If, however, it passes the initial screening but is not chosen to receive a B.R.A.G. Medallion the fee will not be refunded.

We do not make public the titles of any books or the names of their authors that have been reviewed but were not selected to receive a Medallion.

We only consider books that are nominated by the author or their designated representative (e.g., family member, agent or publicist).

You may apply under the BECOME A READER tab on our website.

You must be 18 years of age or older and have at least graduated from high school. You must also have an ebook reader or be able to download ebooks onto your computer, tablet or smartphone.

We take great care to protect the privacy of our readers. For further details please refer to our website PRIVACY POLICY for how we handle all personal and non-personal information.

You may read as many or as few books as you like. All that is required is that you finish any given book within four weeks.

When you are ready to read a book, we will suggest several titles within your preferred genre(s). You will then be able to sample these books for free at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com. Once you have chosen a book that you would like to read we will gift it to you.

After you finish reading a book, a link that we will provide to you will take you to the relevant section of our website where you will recommend whether or not the book deserves to be awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion. To do this you will need to complete a summary report in which you will rate each book across a list of relevant literary criteria (see sample report).

Absolutely not. One critical element of our process is that authors do not know the names of people who read and evaluate their book. This permits our readers to make unbiased decisions.

In order to maintain the integrity of our program, you may not have any contact with the author of a book while you are reading it for us, or have a vested interest in the book, or receive the book directly from the author.

You can say that you are an indieBRAG reader; however, you may not tell anyone what books you have read for indieBRAG including the authors.

Yes, you are certainly free to write a review and you can even mention the fact that the book was awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion as long as you do not say that you read the book for indieBRAG.