The Big Picture
"Winning one IPPY award would have been great! But winning TWO IPPY awards has been AWESOME! My two awards combined with some good PR efforts and marketing has propelled both books to explode with interest and sales!
"What I have learned from all the exposure and growth—you need passion, commitment and focus and never take a rejection personally when it comes to promoting your book. Rejections are an important part of the growing process. With every rejection that I received came another opportunity that in most cases was better than what the rejection might have been. The results I experienced from winning the IPPY awards were tremendous. I had business opportunities presented to me that I would have never been exposed to.
"My resolution for next year is to continue the PR marketing effort with my two books, and taking what I now know and experienced start on my third book, which I know I can have great success at. Even though my first book was a narrative with a true story, what I have learned is to take my professional photography skills and combine it with my writing skills to create inspiring books that focus on a unique subject. I now know I have a skill and a platform of photography and writing that is unique and wanted. Coupling this with compelling new subject matter, I will be certainly entering my next book for consideration for a future IPPY.
"In conclusion I have successfully created my second career as an author and I will continue to forge new ground with my style and subject matter. It’s been a awesome ride so far! Thanks to the Jenkins Group!"
—Robert H. Miller
Author of Hidden Hell: Discovering My Father’s POW Diary
"It’s been a fantastic year of unexpected surprises and humbling experiences. Self-publishing this cookbook has not been an easy road but what an exciting journey! We've become a diverse duo, learning to juggle the roles of distributors, publicity, finance, printing and marketing. Yet despite the steep learning curves, we've managed to achieve what traditional publishers do. One Egg Is A Fortune has taken out six international awards in a few short months, in categories alongside renowned publishing houses and celebrity chefs. Attending award ceremonies is a real lift – an opportunity to appreciate the depth of the industry and the wonderful works of others, and to trade experiences with publishers and authors from around the world. We are truly grateful to IPPY and all other organizations that support independent publishing.
"Meeting inspiring individuals, sharing stories, speaking at fundraisers and being asked for advice on how to self-publish, selling books and chasing our goal to raise much-need funds for the aged are some of the real rewards. What’s next? We'll go back to the drawing board in the new year and reassess some of our strategies. We know we need to reach out in every possible direction, and return with our recent accolades to those who had initially dismissed us as first-time authors."
—Pnina Jacobson & Judy Kempler
Authors of One Egg Is A Fortune
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Feature
New Year's Resolutions, IPPY-Style
2012 IPPY Winners Share Their Secrets
It’s that time of year again, folks. Time to promise yourself you’ll get up and go to the gym each morning, eat fewer sweets, and clean out the garage. Not so fun. So we here at IP compiled a list of resolutions from our 2012 IPPY winners. From marketing to new books to digital initiatives, you people are making it happen. Congrats to all our winners and read on to see what great things we have to look forward to in 2013.
Book Awards
"My resolution is to enjoy being an author and IPPY award-winner, 'risked and rewarded.' I think it was Garrison Keillor who pointed out that people's dreams are not to 'write a book,' but to have written a book. The IPPY award is my reminder that I have accomplished one of my dreams! Many thanks!"
—Jim Stembridge
Author of Fifty State Capitols: The Architecture of Representative Government
"My New Year's resolution - definitely going to enter the IPPY's again next year with my new book...now that I've won a silver medal, I want a gold. :) I've learned to ignore all of the fear out there that Amazon is going to shut out Indie authors and that it is too late to succeed, and I'm just going to write books. My IPPY gave me credibility with the readers...so now I want a gold... :)"
—Carmen Caine
Author of The Bedeviled Heart
Going Digital
"As a book designer for books in print, my 2013 resolution doesn’t come without some discomfort. I plan to publish Apparently Sarah as an e-book to make it available on a wider scale, at a more affordable price, for its intended audience of young adults."
—Sue Balcer
Author/publisher of Apparently Sarah
"In 2013 we're taking our curious and lovable alien, Olly Oogleberry, digital with an ebook/app…."
—Lou Hughes, creator of Olly Oogleberry
Publicity, Marketing, and New Adventures
"I originally wrote my book The Empathic Brain for a major publishing house. I was finishing the editing process with my excellent editor, when I suddenly got an email saying that that publisher will get out of the book business, and that they therefore cannot bring my book to the market. Impatiently, I then rushed to self-publish the book. After publishing with Lightning source and Amazon (Kindle and CreateSpace), I then tried to send the book to various newspapers and magazines to have it reviewed. To my surprise the vast majority had no interest. I eventually found out one of the core reasons: The book had already been on the market, while the media wants their review to come out at the same time as the book! If I were to self-publish a book again, my resolution would be patience: I would send a PDF to newspapers and journalist when I'm finished with the copy editing, and set the release date twi month later to give the press a head's start."
—Christian Keysers, PhD
Author of The Empathic Brain
"My New Year's Resolution is to plan a South Korean Book Tour for my book, Unfinished Lives: Reviving the Memories of LGBTQ Hate Crimes Victims (Resource Publications 2011). After my receiving the IPPY Silver Medal, a Korean publisher, Alma, a division of Munhakdongne Publishing Group, decided to translate my book into Korean--only the second book on homosexuality to ever be published in that language."
—Stephen Sprinkle
Author of Unfinished lives: Reviving the Memories of LGBTQ Hate Crimes Victims
"My literary resolutions include the improved and continued marketing 101 Reasons To Leave New York.That includes the redesign of typography and art from cover to cover. It includes a push to retailers with this new look. And revised pitch and press kit with the positive press and awards that it has won. Then, maybe another book, too."
—Howard Jordan, Jr.
Author of 101 Reasons to Leave New York
Writing
"I have learned that the pressure to market a recently published book (important as it is) should not take precedence over writing the next book. I have learned that marketing approaches that work for one genre may be a waste of time for another. And I have learned that my quality of life is inversely related to how much time I spend online. I therefore resolve this year that I will write 1,000 words a day, stop roaming the internet during daylight hours, and focus on reaching out to readers in the real world."
—Glen C. Strathy
Author of Dancing on the Inside
"In 2013, I want to try to expand my reach, see what I've really been saying for 40 years as a writer, refine my vision, and come up with more of it. I also want to get closer to my readers: they're wonderful. I love hearing from them, because for them to connect with me in this period of increasing audience passivity shows a genuine connection to my work and message which is basically—as Joseph Conrad said so beautifully—that 'the human heart is big enough to contain the entire world.' So what I want to do is go out in those places in the world, fearlessly, where my heart is. To see young people finding their own identity and place, and people my age still growing, evolving, and learning. I want to capture the curiosity of the world, and to do that I need to stay in touch with my own curiosity which is what writing must always be about: capturing the writer's curiosity and the readers. So what I want to do is 'network' more with my readers and other writers, but not just in a 'social network' way—what has become the shallowness of Facebook, etc.—but in a real way, face-to-face, and fact-to-fact. And I hope this year brings that."
—Perry Brass
Author of King of Angels
"Entering the IPPYs was a great experience and I would definitely do it again. The award helped me get the attention of movie studios, and I am currently working on the script for Oxford Messed Up! I have several writing-related New Year's Resolutions, including finishing and submitting my current novel, Parent Over Shoulder to the IPPY awards, and doing more reading for pleasure. Much of what I read is research and curriculum and I would love to dedicate time to reading more from authors I love and as well as discovering new ones!"
-- Andrea Kayne Kaufman
Author of Oxford Messed Up
"The Chicano Studies Research Center Press at UCLA is still thrilled that our very first entry in the IPPY Awards, the exhibition catalog L.A. Xicano, was honored in 2012 with a gold medal! The entire editorial staff took turns wearing the medal around the office. In the year ahead, the CSRC Press plans to release three new monographs in our A Ver: Revisioning Art History series: Rafael Ferrer, Pepón Osorio, and Ricardo Valverde. These publications will bring us to a milestone mark of 10 books in this series—a series that has regularly won awards, but not yet an IPPY. Will 2013 be the year?"
—Chicano Studies Research Center Press
Publisher of L.A. Xicano
"I was awarded an IPPY in 2012 in the South Regional Best Fiction category as the co-author of Peculiar, Texas. In the coming year, I have resolved to complete my solo efforts—no reliance on my co-author sister to flesh out characters and give the story a twist. If the Lord wills and my resolve stays strong, I will complete the fourth book in a series that is a new genre for me - Inspirational Fiction. The people who populate the Ozark hills of Cates Creek finally will have their struggles shared and their stories told. I have submitted the first two books for consideration in the 2013 IPPY awards. Looking far ahead to 2014, my resolution for the Cates Creek series will be to find a way to market more effectively to the reader who enjoys a compelling story with an uplifting message."
—K. Lana Givens
Author of Peculiar, Texas
"In 2013, I resolve to do what I've done every year since I began this fine folly – write brilliantly and with courage. In specific terms, I hope to:
- Bring out my new book, Our Love Could Light The World.
- Find a home for my first novel, Pen's Road.
- Finish my second novel, Faith
- Stop obsessing about my author rank at Amazon!
- And keep getting my name out there in the hopes that one day, a whole lot of people will want to read the works of Anne Leigh Parrish.
In 2013 I also resolve to look back with pride at my accomplishments, and find them worthy, never lacking."
—Anne Leigh Parrish
Author of All The Roads That Lead From Home
"I am going to be writing a second book called Seducing Happiness and now after the hard work of self publishing, I finally have a publisher. It's been a challenging journey the past two years, but the reputation I got from the book, the media attention and the awards the book has won, including the IPPY award, have allowed me to leverage it towards a TED talk. TED talks have such credibility and international reputation that I am now working on developing powerful seminars on how to use the Power of Seduction in our personal life and in business, to gain impactful results. I am constantly leveraging from one thing to the other to make things bigger."
—Chen Lizra
Author of My Seductive Cuba: A Unique Travel Guide
"In 2013 I will:
- Write more short, related articles to be posted on other's blogs.
- Get the ebook up on Ipad. (It's already in print, and on Kindle and Nook.)
- Present one or two workshops or readings per month.
- Vary the location of presentations to cover more of the state/region.
- Send bi-monthly newsletters to full mailing list.
- Streamline my accounting system.
- Finish Book #2. Layout game plan for publication and marketing in 2014."
—Judy Bridges
Author of Shut Up & Write!
"1. Improve the craft of writing: for me, this means work on plot development and structure.
2. Learn the conventions of script writing—just for fun.
3. Try to keep up with the rapid changes in the publishing world. Digital publishing has revolutionized the dissemination of the written word in a way that hasn’t been seen in ages, maybe since the invention of the Gutenberg press. It’s an exciting time to be an author.
4. Continue the never-ending process of figuring out how to produce writing in the face of the necessary tasks and joys of real life, such as work, family, and health.
5. Round out the three partial novels I have going in my head and on my screen, and publish one—just one. That’s my big goal for the coming year. (If I think it will suit, I’ll enter that book for a 2014 IPPY!)"
—Karen M. Cox
Author of Find Wonder in All Things
"I have discovered I have no aptitude whatsoever for self-promotion. I'm currently working on a new novel but am stuck at the mid-point. However, should I break through this stalemate, I feel it is marketable in the mainstream publishing industry. Hope springs eternal!"
—Kathrin King Segal
Author of We Were Stardust