New book competition

I came across something called the People's Book Prize (www.peoplesbookprize.com) recently – a new literary competition that lets readers vote for their favourite titles. There are three categories (fiction, non-fiction and children's) and the winners are to be announced in July 2010.

Of course, in one sense, sales figures already tell us which books are most popular with readers.

But this competition does do something different in that it offers a slightly more level playing field. Plenty of independent publishers have registered their books, and publishers with huge marketing budgets will have no greater visibility than those with no budget at all.

Perhaps this will give the chance for talented, but perhaps less well-known, authors to shine through?