San Francisco Book Festival Issues 2025 Call For Entries

SAN FRANCISCO _ The 2025 San Francisco Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual program celebrating the best books of the spring season.

The San Francisco Book Festival will consider non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, compilations/anthologies, young adult, how-to, cookbooks, science fiction, business, history, wild card, gay, photography/art, poetry, unpublished, technology and spiritual/religious works. There is no date of publication restriction.

Submitted works will be judged by a panel of industry experts using the following criteria:

1) General excellence and the author’s passion for telling a good story.
2) The potential of the work to reach a wider audience.

ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.

• General Non-fiction
• General Fiction
• Children’s books
• How-to
• Spiritual
• Photography/Art
• Gay
• Poetry
• History
• Young adult
• Biography/Autobiography
• Compilations/Anthologies
• Best Unpublished Short Story
• Cookbooks
• Science Fiction
• Business
• Technology
• Wild Card


In addition to honoring the top selections in the above categories, The San Francisco Book Festival will award the following chosen from submissions:

  1. Author of the Year- Honors the outstanding book of the competition.
  2. Book Design of the Year – Honors outstanding and innovative design.
  3. Publisher of the Year- Honors the top publisher based on materials displaying excellence in marketing and promotional materials, as determined by our judges.

FESTIVAL RULES: San Francisco Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.

NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: We will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries on our web site (sanfranciscobookfestival.com). Because of the anticipated high volume of entries, we can only respond to e-mail inquiries.

Deadline submissions in each category must be received by the close of business on May  25, 2025. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail and on the web site. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions at our meetings.

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at sanfranciscobookfestival.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you.  Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee of $50 in the form of a check, money order or PayPal online payment in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee.

Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC. We’re sorry, but entries must be mailed and cannot be delivered in person or by messenger services to the JM Northern Media offices.

Entry packages MUST include:

1) One copy of the book;
2) A copy of your official entry form or a reasonable facsimile;
3) The entry fee or receipt for online payment;
4) Any press/marketing materials you wish to send. Marketing is used as a tie-breaking consideration by our judges.

Entries should be mailed to:

JM Northern Media LLC
attn: San Francisco Book Festival
7095 Hollywood Boulevard
Suite 864
Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
Phone: 323-665-8080

E-book entries are welcome. You can enter an e-book in three ways:

  1. Send as a .pdf to our e-mail address labeled as 2025 E-book Entry in the subject line. Please attach copies of your PayPal receipt and entry form to the email.
  2. Click here to use our Book Uploader  to send a copy of your work. We accept most e-book formats. Then send an e-mail to us labeled as 2025 E-Book Entry with PayPal receipt and entry form attached.
  3. Send an e-mail to us indicating that you have sent the book, attaching your PayPal receipt and entry form.  We accept most e-book formats.

AWARDS: The San Francisco Book Festival selection committee reserves the right to determine the eligibility  of any project.

CONTACT:
SanFranciscoBKFest@yahoo.com 323-665-8080

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