From Edie: Discover how Christian authors can gain recognition, prizes, and publicity by entering the CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards 2025–2026. Showcase your book marketing today!
Book Marketing Awards for Christian Authors: Why You Should Enter CAN 2025–2026
by Susan U. Neal @SusanNealYoga
As Christian authors, we know that writing the book is only half the journey—getting it into readers' hands is the other half. That’s where marketing comes in. If we don’t market our books, how will the people who need it ever find it?
To recognize writers who have marketed their books, the Christian Authors Network (CAN) hosts the CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards every year from September 1 through December 1. These awards recognize the marketing efforts of both fiction and nonfiction Christian authors—whether traditionally or independently published.
The grand prize is a $1995 publicity packet with Jones Literary, a Christian publicity firm in Nashville, Tennessee. A previous winner had this comment about the publicity package:
“Winning first place in the CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards was truly a thrill, but the extra prize of getting a free publicity package from Jones Literary was hugely helpful to me as an author and speaker. Initially, I had a long interview with the agency's owner, Jason Jones, who has a long history of doing publicity for Christian figures. He then determined what might help me best, which included the creation of a press release and a two-page media kit I am using to approach media for podcast, radio, and television interviews. I also had an hour-long mock interview with a woman on his team who herself was a Moody radio host for many years. Then his team also provided me with a long list of media contacts I could use to set up interviews. The whole experience was professional and confidence-building. I highly recommend Jones Literary's publicity services.”
~Janet McHenry, author of Praying Personalities: Finding Your Natural Prayer Style
But that's not all! Three first-place winners will receive:
- A publicity packet that includes a book announcement (cover, description, and buy button) sent to:
- 15,000 Christian readers
- 1,400 Christian retailers
- 300 book review bloggers
- 400 Christian media outlets
- Promotion on the CAN blog and featured on several member blogs
- Celebrate Lit’s Social Media Building Giveaway Share Promo
- A trophy and certificate awarded at the Blue Lake Christian Writers Conference in March 2026.
Choose Your Award Category
If you enter the awards, what category would you choose? There are three to choose from for both fiction and nonfiction:
- Online Presentation: website, blog, newsletter, memes, social media posts, email marketing—anything you published online to promote your book.
- Physical Media: print materials such as bookmarks, flyers, postcards, posters, pamphlets, greeting cards, direct mail campaigns, etc.
- Broadcasting: TV, radio, podcast, vlog, video, YouTube, speaking engagements—anything audio or video.
You don’t need a year-long campaign to enter the CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards. As long as your campaign ran at any point between January 1 and December 1, 2025, it’s eligible.
Judging is based on what truly matters:
- 35% on creativity and innovation
- 35% on reader engagement
- 20% on marketing investment
- Only 10% on return, like sales or revenue
That means your brilliant ideas and ability to connect with readers are far more important than big budgets or high sales numbers.
So don’t be intimidated! If you created something meaningful, fresh, and engaging, your campaign has every chance to win. The CAN Marketing Awards are about honoring your heart-driven efforts to spread your message—and we want to celebrate your unique approach.
Winning Marketing Campaigns
Over the past several years, a wide variety of winners have used unique marketing strategies to win.
- Janet McHenry won the grand prize in 2025 by creating an online praying personality quiz. She also appeared on loads of podcasts to promote her book, Praying Personalities. Do you market based on your personality (guest blogs and articles for introverts and interviews for extroverts)?
- Karen Brough won the 2024 grand prize through launching her book, I Can't Believe They're Gone via a crowdfunding Kickstarter program. She succeeded in her goal to create a marketing campaign for an introvert. Have you ever thought of doing a crowd funding book launch?
- Allen Brokken won the grand prize in 2023 with his Amazon ad campaigns to drive sales and reach a wider audience for his Towers of Light series. Do you use Amazon ads?
- Grace Fox won first place for visual media by developing bookmarks, greeting cards, notepads, stickers, and coloring pages that she handed out at in-person events for her book, Fresh Hope for Today. What creative physical media products could you develop?
- Julia Fikse won first place for online presentation for her book, Dear Food, I Love You. I Hate You. Don't Leave Me! through building her Substack newsletter to over 6000 subscribers. Have you used Substack?
- Allen Taylor won first place in physical media by hosting I Am Not the King book signings at Kroger and Harris Teeter grocery stores. Did you know these grocery stores allow authors to perform book signings?
- Jenny Leavitt won first place in broadcasting through posting over forty YouTube videos and 30 media interview about her book, GodPrints: Finding Evidence of God in the Shattered Pieces of Life. Do you use YouTube to market your book?
- Carissa Lovvorn won first place for her book, Seeds for Sharing in broadcast media through booking dozens of radio, podcast, and television interviews by attending the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention with Christian Indie Publishing Association (CIPA). While attending NRB, she met the founder of Operation Care International and was invited to speak at their Christmas event. Have you ever attended NRB?
You can obtain a year’s worth of interviews through attending the three-day NRB event. Learn how you can attend with CAN/CIPA at https://christianpublishers.net/trade-shows/.
Each of these authors used the creative gifts God gave them to spread their message. Does this list of creative marketing techniques stimulate your marketing ideas? What creative efforts have you used to market your books?
Your books reflect the message God has entrusted to you. By entering the CAN Excellence in Marketing Awards you invite His light to shine through your story reaching more readers in life-changing ways.
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