The Problem with Literary Awards

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Right before Christmas, a small press in England launched an emergency fundraiser: they needed to raise 40,000 pounds by the end of the year or they would go out of business. The emergency? They had published Ducks, Newburyport, the Booker-nominated, buzzy book of the fall, a 1,000 place plus one sentence debut novel by Lucy Ellman. 

The book had been hard to find just a few weeks earlier, backordered because of huge, sudden demand after the Booker nod. Taking place in Ohio, it had been a sensation on both sides of the pond. 

So why was the press who was reaping these sought-after publisher rewards suddenly needing cash? Because it had been nominated for the Booker. 

Once they got the extraordinary news, they were told the requireme…