SINCE winning the Indie Author Legacy Award in the United States six years ago, Crystal Daye has been on a mission to share the validation she felt with other Christian authors around the Caribbean.

As CEO of her company, Dayelight Publishers, Daye has been responsible for helping more than 500 authors publish their books.

“In 2016 I wrote my first book that became an Amazon best-seller in 48 hours, I did a lot of promotion. In 2018 I was informed that my book was a finalist of the Indie Author Legacy Award in Baltimore, Maryland. I attended the award [ceremony] and I won and I bawled. It felt so amazing that my literary work was being celebrated internationally,” Daye told the Jamaica Observer.

“After working with clients at DayeLight Publishers for many years, I wanted to bring that honour, celebration, and recognition to Jamaican [and] Caribbean faith-based and impact-driven authors,” added Daye.

She said many of the region’s faith-based and impact-driven authors have even gone on to becoming Amazon best-sellers, life coaches, and global speakers. They have also gone on to launch impactful ministries and profitable businesses by building on their books.

This led her to create the Kingdom Indie Award which began in 2022 and was meant to celebrate independent authors who want to impact lives through their literary creations.

According to Daye, Dayelight Publishers wants to recognise and honour faith-based writers who are dedicated to inspiring lives, preserving godly literature, building communities, growing faith, transforming businesses, building generational wealth, influencing careers, and impacting the kingdom.

The categories recognised under the Kingdom Indie Award include Top Self-Help Book and General Non-fiction, Top Teen and Young Adult Book, Top Poetry Book, Best Ministry Resources and Top Fiction Book.

The process of this award begins with the nominations of books published on
Amazon and Kindle for the respective categories. The entries are then short-listed by the judges based on the book’s cover and book reviews.

Afterwards, the authors are in a race against time to promote their books enough to receive the most votes in their category.

“Honestly, the competition has been amazing. I think the biggest thing I would desire is more publicity for the authors and winners. I honestly believe Jamaican and Caribbean authors are doing an amazing job and putting out exceptional literary works/books. I wish the world will recognise our authors as amazing as any First World author. I know books leave a legacy beyond us,” said Daye, who is also an international speaker and host of The DayeLight Show and the Ambitious Jesus Girl podcasts.