Yippy, An IPPY! The Perks of Being an IPPY Winner
"When you receive the news of a win, your heart races and your pupils dilate. Your limbs feel as though they are detached and your breathing changes from fluid to chaotic. It is very difficult to jump out of your seat, find your nearest and dearest loved ones to share the news under these physical circumstances.
"For me, I squealed and then just sat there—staring at the screen. The words blurred and as I went to get out of the seat to go and find my husband, the weight on the arm rest pushed the seat backwards with such rapid propulsion, I could hear the wheels spin, just before I landed flat on my bottom. I struggled to get up, I struggled to squeal again, and as soon as I found Dave, I stood there, pointing back towards the office, muttering, “you gotta, should, have to, gotta see THIS!” and I tried to pull him along.
"I had won a Gold award for Best Non-Fiction Adult eBook for a book I only just managed to enter in time, having ordered a bound galley from the local printers as I waited for the slow boat from China to arrive! The hardcopy version was option one, the eBook entry was a second thought. I sent the book on a custom made USB, consistent branding and use of logo, and bundled the whole lot up and used express post to get it all there just in time!
"The Awards Director, Jim Barnes, brought two books with him to the ceremony...One from a winner who entered her book and won in the first year of the competition; therefore displaying a dedication to her field of expertise, to writing and to producing award winning books. The other—was my USB! eBooks were a category for the first time in the award's history.
"Once the award was announced, and presentation photos taken, I am pleased to say my breathing finally slowed to a normal rate, I had full control of my limbs and regained my ability to speak. I wasn’t anywhere near an office chair, but I did manage to remain upright... and commit to the exciting year ahead.
"For 2013, I plan to really re-invigorate the Child Writes brand with a new website (including an online shop), launch a self-paced correspondence program, train tutors to offer the program in schools and develop a serialised version of the book...all the while leaning heavily on the IPPY award, after all, it genuinely does open doors."
—Emma Mactaggart, IPPY Gold Medal Winner 2012
Author of Child Writes: Creating a Children’s Picture Book is Child’s Play (Boogie Books)
See past "IPPY Effect" articles:
The IPPY Effect IX: A Conversation with IPPY Award-Winning Novelist Tonya Plank
IPPY Effect VIII: A Conversation with 2009 Ippy Awards Gold Medalist Janet Horvath
IPPY Effect VII: A Conversation with IPPY Winner Steve Bergman (aka Samuel Shem
IPPY Effect VI: A Marketing Conversation with 2008 IPPY Winner Leo Shelton
IPPY Effect V: How Book Awards Garner Foreign Rights Sales
IPPY Effect IV: Turn Over Every Marketing Rock
IPPY Effect III: Wear Your Award Proudly
IPPY Effect II: Outstanding Book of the Year Winner SKYLIGHT PATHS: Awards Recognize Books that Explore Spirituality and Inspire Youth
IPPY Effect I: Book Awards Benefit Publishers in Many Ways
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The IPPY Effect 2013 Part 1
Sleeping Dragons: Memoirs of a First-Time Winner
Editor's Note: Mariam Kobras is the author of The Distant Shore, 2012 IPPY Award Bronze medal winner in Romance fiction.
It’s the end of the year, and it’s snowing. The world is quiet and calm, breathing softly during these last few days of 2012. Life has finally slowed down, after many busy months.
There’s an IPPY medal in my drawer. I keep it in the top drawer so I can take out and touch it, instead of hiding it away somewhere, or hanging it on the wall. I want to be able to take it out and hold it in my hands, feel the lovely, heavy weight, and recall that moment when my publisher handed it to me. I remember the gleam in her eyes very well: pride, and the satisfaction of seeing a writer she’d signed, being successful.
Signing me wasn’t an easy decision for Buddhapuss Ink, I’m certain of that. When they first contacted me, asking for my manuscript, they didn’t know I’m German, or that I live in Germany. It must have felt like a risky step for a small American publisher. But sign me they did, and in January of this year my first novel, The Distant Shore, was published. By then, I’d written and submitted the sequel, Under the Same Sun, and was busy writing the third volume of the trilogy.
Imagine this: I receive a box with my author’s copies of my first book, and in that box, on top of the books, are two new contracts! My publisher had that much faith in me, and was that pleased with the first book!
So there I was—the year had barely started—with one book published, and two more signed. Nothing could have made me want to write more than that.
Then, on a sunny Saturday morning, late in April, I got a call from my publisher informing me that I had won a medal.
I asked, “What’s an IPPY?”
Yes, there was the sound of someone nearly fainting on the other end of the phone. Heck, how was I to know? A first-time author in ripe middle age, a hausfrau—I knew less than nothing about winning awards. I’d have loved to be there for the award ceremony. My first award and I was far away, on the other side of the Atlantic.
In June, I submitted my third book, the final novel for the Stone Trilogy. In July, I traveled from Hamburg, Germany, to Edison, New Jersey, to visit my publisher and finally, pick up my IPPY medal!
May I just say, New Jersey in July is not a really good place to visit. I don’t think there’s any spot on Earth where it’s more humid, or more miserable, than New Jersey in late summer.
After returning home, I started work on a new project, novel #4, a prequel to the trilogy. My publisher is watching with interest which is a great feeling for me. It means security. It means being able to write while wearing the warm, comforting cloak of knowing that someone is waiting for you to finish a new book. To me, it’s motivation. My publisher is my best cheerleader.
In October, my second book, Under the Same Sun, was released.
So that is what happened this year for me, my first year of being a published author: three book deals signed, two books released, and one award won. I think I can call it a stellar year, one that will be very hard to top.
As for next year—I know exactly how it will start. My publisher has just informed me that we’ll begin the editing of book three of the trilogy, Song of the Storm, right after the holidays so it can be published in summer 2013. More or less in the same sentence they told me to get hopping with the new book. The exact words were, I believe, “Write, write, write!”
I promised to submit in spring. That will leave me enough time to start another novel, and maybe even finish that one, too, before the end of my second year.
Winning the IPPY Award has changed my life. I guess it changes every author’s life—suddenly you become very visible. It’s a bit as if you’ve been walking among sleeping dragons, and suddenly, noticing that medal in your hand, their eyes open and turn toward you. You’re no longer a scared human, sneaking through the resting horde, you’re a dragon, too. You’re one of those shining, powerful creatures: an author who, owning that medal, stands out.
* * * * *
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Mariam and her family lived in Brazil and Saudi Arabia before they decided to settle in Germany. She attended school there and studied American Literature and Psychology at Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen. Today she writes and lives in Hamburg, Germany, with her husband, two sons, and two cats.