It's Book Award Season!

Spring means award season for the previous year's books, and this year we're beyond thrilled, and so very proud of our finalists and winners!

These indie book awards are a great way for authors to get their books in front of other book lovers, libraries, universities, and buyers. They get opportunities for placement in catalogs and at international conferences. The award adds to the perceived value and proves the excellent quality of the books. And, everyone loves to bling up their covers with gold stickers. We support these indie award outlets, and they support us! You never, ever know what the competition will look like, and when your books place in multiple competitions it magnifies the effect of — "I see their books are everywhere!" — which, to me, is branding success.

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The Foreword Book-of-the-Year Award winners will be announced at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, on June 25. Thousands of books are entered each year, and a panel of over 120 librarians and booksellers take part in the judging, narrowing it down to a group of finalists and winners that represent the best books, all independently published.

YOUNG JANE AUSTEN by Lisa Pliscou is a finalist in "Biography," REFLECTIONS OF A LOVE SUPREME, the second book from our imprint Tom Ingrassia, is a finalist in "Music," and EMILIA-ROMAGNA, ITALY, by Imprints Matt Walker and Zeneba Bowers, is a finalist in "Travel." Cheering them on!

It's the 20th Anniversary of the IPPYS, the Independent Publisher Book Awards which honor the year's best independently published titles from around the world. The IPPYS are intended to bring increased recognition to the thousands of exemplary independent, university, and self-published titles published each year. 

I was over the moon to learn our imprint Robin Gregory's book THE IMPROBABLY WONDER OF MOOJIE LITTLEMAN won the GOLD in "Cover Design"! And YOUNG JANE AUSTEN won SILVER in "Biography."

 

The Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest not-for-profit book awards program for indie authors and independent publishers, now in its ninth year, was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books (and they are in Lake Oswego, Oregon, which automatically makes them awesome), gave us three wonderful FINALIST awards. 

MILLENNIAL MOMS was a finalist in "Marketing & PR," and, so happy that WITNESS TO SPIRIT and YOUNG JANE AUSTEN were both finalists in "Overall Book Design" — yes, we took TWO finalist spots!!

And, the National Indie Excellence Awards, a champion of self-publishers and small & independent presses that go the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect, gave Robert Staffanson and his memoir WITNESS TO SPIRIT: MY LIFE WITH COWBOYS, MOZART & INDIANS the WIN in "Biography"! I was so excited to tell the author; at 94 this means the world to him—that his story, and his legacy, is being read and well-received. MILLENNIAL MOMS also WON in "Marketing," and YOUNG JANE AUSTEN was a finalist in "Biography - Historical" and, just as thrilling as the others if not more, THE EVERYWHERE ORACLE was a Finalist in "Poetry"!

 

 

We also had two NIEA Imprint wins and a finalist! (The "Imprint Program," if you don't already know, is our incredible consulting program that has produced award-winning books for 9 years.) RADIANT HEALTH by dermatologist Alan Dattner, MD won in "Alternative Medicine" and REFLECTIONS won in "Music" with EMILIA-ROMAGNA taking a finalist in "Travel."

 

 

Cheers to our incredible authors. Congratulations all!