So you enter your book in a contest because–well, you know. You love winning. Raffles are OK but contests of skill, way better. There are numerous categories and you gravitate to one of the broadest and most competitive because–well, you know. It’s more fun to beat lots of people than just one or two.
You win. In your category, which is New Adult Non-Fiction. Every word of your category is capitalized because–well, you know. It’s a contest. So then you like, wanna tell people, but you’re embarrassed to brag about it. You think about putting this sticker on the cover of your book, but is that kind of shlocky? If it’s not a Pulitzer? And how many entrants were there, anyway? You’d just like to know, for your own edification. Unless it was a pretty big number, in which case you’ll find a way to work it into conversations. If not, you’ll just put the sticker on the cover. So you call and ask the contest people. They’re like, congratulations! How many submissions? Over 1,000. But we’re not supposed to say.