THE NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE BOOK AWARDS®
Media Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: JKSCommunications
Marissa DeCuir: 347.574.3136 | marissa@jkscommunications.com

SUBMISSIONS OPEN FOR 6^th ANNUAL NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE BOOK AWARDS
Deadline to enter is April 15, 2012; Winners & finalists receive national media and industry exposure

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 2011 – In its sixth year, the National Indie Excellence Book Awards has recognized some of the best literature in the new millennium published by small and independent presses and self published books. It has also catapulted independent and small publishers’ books into the national spotlight, allowing more readers to become aware of the exceptional work being published today without big marketing budgets. The awards honor the best books in over 100 categories. The National Indie Excellence Book Awards (indieexcellence.com) is now accepting submissions for 2012. Entries must be postmarked by April 15th and the winners and finalists – who receive national media and industry exposure – will be announced May 15.

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For Immediate Release                         Beverly Hills, CA

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The National Indie Excellence Book Awards Salutes the BEST of the BEST in 2011

Independent and self-published titles roar to the forefront of excellence in numerous genres

Beverly Hills, CA – In the pinnacle year of the self-published book , The National Indie Excellence Book Awards is ahead of the curve with the announcement of the 5th Annual National Indie Excellence Award Winners, Finalists and the recipients of the Sponsor’s Choice Prizes.

Today Ellen Reid, founder of The National Indie Excellence Book Awards, released the Winners and Finalists of this year’s contest www,indieexcellence.com said...

"Excellence is not easy to achieve and the book industry needs it more than ever...the NIEA salutes authors and publishers who make excellence a priority" said Reid

Competition for the top spots is fierce with prizes exceeding $12,000 in value and the priceless opportunity to have one-on-one coaching with inside industry experts including top media and PR consultants, marketing experts and others.

With a number self-published authors exceeding sales of 100,000 copies and six and seven figures in revenue, authors and small presses are flourishing and so is the quality of books across the board.

Next year's 2012 Award application deadline is April 30, 2012. For information and to enter, please visit: http://www.indieexcellence.com/

“The judges for this competition are industry leaders that take their responsibility very seriously. We had the best pool of submissions ever and it was not easy because of the excellent books we received in every category this year. I am constantly thrilled at the outstanding work we’re seeing,” Reid said.

BEA Buzzing About Indie Excellence Awards

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Beverly Hills, CA – The 5th annual National Indie Excellence Book Award™ winners and finalists were announced to coincide with Book Expo of America in New York. A number of the winners of this contest are making personal appearances during the BEA show May 24 – 26.

It was an especially challenging year for the NIEA team because of the substantial increase in competitive and excellent entries this year.

“Indie publishing has experienced a metamorphosis in the past year with the momentum for growth increasing. As a result, The National Indie Excellence Awards had phenomenal participation. Because so many books were outstanding, the judging was very difficult,” said Ellen Reid, Director of the Awards.

The Indie Excellence Awards are reserved for the “best of the best” in books published in various genres. The criteria for recognition are stringent and include overall excellence in presentation. This award celebrates the highest achievements in independent press and self-publishing, a sector of the industry that has grown exponentially in recent years.

For a complete list of the winners and finalists visit: http://www.indieexcellence.com/indie-results-2011.htm

The NIEA will be accepting submissions for its 6th annual awards contest starting June 1, 2011.

For more information, visit: http://www.indieexcellence.com/
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For Immediate Release                       Beverly Hills, California

Book Contest Rewards Excellence in Independent Publishing!

The 5th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards® announces a call for submissions. NIEA recognizes excellence in independent- and self-published books, a category that accounts for a rapidly growing segment of a publishing industry going through almost constant transformation.

Books published from 2008 to the present by self-published authors, small press, and independent publishers can be submitted for consideration in the categories of their choice.

Winners and Finalists will be announced nationally in mid May 2011.

All winners and finalists receive extensive media coverage and top award recipients are eligible to win prizes valued in excess of $12,000. These include sessions with outstanding media and PR consultants, marketing experts, and others in a position to assist authors and publishers in creating greater success with their books.

For information about the contest including how to submit books, please visit www.indieexcellence.com. The deadline for entries is April 10, 2011.

"Awards that recognize excellence support more than sales for the independent and self-publishing authors and small presses who win them; they make our entire industry look good. The National Indie Excellence Awards® does us all a great service."

- Dan Poynter, author of The Self Publishing Manual and 100 other books

"I think contests - and awards - are great, especially for writers. I only won one in my life - but it changed the course of my life. When I was 21 I won a creative writing contest at college. Wow! I was a writer and never looked back."

- Barnaby Conrad, Author of 30 books, including Matador, La Fiesta Brava, The Encyclopedia of Bullfighting, and How to Fight a Bull.

Media interested in reviewing the award winning books please reply and indicate your category of interest.

Contact: Ellen Reid 310-862-2574 ellen@indieexcellence.com

Barnaby Conrad is the author of over 35 books. A New York Times Best- Selling Author, his novel Matador sold over 3 million copies and was on the Best-Seller list for 53 weeks! Artist-author Barnaby Conrad was born in San Francisco, California.

WHY ENTER BOOK AWARDS?

Reprinted from Jim Barnes, Independent Publisher.com

Entering your book titles in awards programs -- and winning -- brings credibility, publicity, prestige, and personal satisfaction. It can extend your publicity campaign, get you a whole new round of attention from the press, and open new doors with distributors and vendors.

See the recent BeneathTheCover.com blog entry from book PR expert Nettie Hartsock, Your Book Can't Win an Award if You Don't Enter:

Awards do influence reviewers and buyers. A 1999 Cookbook category IPPY finalist was discovered this way, and 187,000 copies were sold to a pharmaceutical company. A cookbook winner in our inaugural 1997 contest has reordered stickers continually and the book keeps on selling, thanks in part to the gold seal on the cover.

"Our winning of a gold medal in the 2008 competition has greatly helped book sales. We sold nearly 2500 copies of Wild Alberta at the Crossroads last year and had to order a reprint of 1500. When we show retailers the gold medal they are always impressed and invariably order some books."

- Robin White, NatureWatch Partners

"Winning the silver award last year (Useppa, a Passage in Time, 2007) improved our ability to market the book in a multitude of ways. It gave us credentials that we used in our public relations and marketing; it made a real difference in our ability to get book signings and presentation opportunities; it enabled us to get radio and TV interviews; and often people selected to purchase the book because of the silver award medallion sticker. We actually had a couple of people return the book because their book did not have the medallion sticker. It also made the author and the artist feel appreciated and honored, and gave us a reason to celebrate their success!"

- Chris Ludwig, Passages Press

"The fact is award stickers help to convince buyers to purchase. I've seen this happen with librarians -- when faced with two competing titles and a limited acquisition budget the librarians will take the one that won an award, any award, over the title that doesn't have an award to its credit. I'm confident that this same phenomena works for bookstore patrons browsing the shelves as well."

- Jim Cox, Midwest Book Review

TNBBC's The Next Best Book Blog

Reading and reviewing Indies, searching endlessly for the next best book

Tis the season for Indie Book Awards! First, the Golden Goose Awards, now The National Indie Excellence Book Awards... can you handle all of this indie book love?

NIEA was recently brought to my attention by Marissa, Senior Publicist of JKSCommunications, a literary publicity firm founded in 2000 that offers services such as book trailer production, press kits, and media packages to their clients. Find out more here.

Since her company is involved in the awards, I thought I would let her give you all the juicy details...

Hello Next Best Book blog readers!

I had the pleasure of hearing Lori's comments at the Book Blogger Convention earlier this year. She stood up and -- so passionately -- discussed Indie books and their importance. I couldn't have agreed with her more. So when the literary publicity firm I work for, JKSCommunications, got behind the National Indie Excellence Book Awards, I just had to write Lori again.

Like Lori, and like you guys, JKSCommunications is constantly on the search for Indie greatness. With more than 800,000 books published every year in the U.S., it's not that easy to do. JKS alone gets requests every day from authors or publishers wanting book promotion. But we read every book before we agree to publicize it. We want to be a true fan of the author's work. We want to really believe in the book like they do.

And that's exactly why we also believe so much in the Indie Excellence awards. The professionalism of the way its run, and the caliber of books chosen as winners, proves why it's been so successful at helping catapult independent and small publishers' books into the national spotlight since they started in 2007. The awards honor the best books in over 100 categories, giving multiple opportunities for a book to win.

NIEA provides national media and industry exposure for all winners and finalists, and the Sponsor’s Choice Awards make NIEA even more special. JKSCommunications is one of the sponsors, offering a 7-stop Virtual Book Tour and electronic press kit development to one of the winners. We're beyond excited to work on this! There are so many other great prizes from NIEA's Sponsor's Choice Awards (selected from the winners and finalists in all contest categories), including:

*Planned Television Arts  customized media campaign
*Event Management Services print publicity campaign
*Radio TV Interview Report  3 free half-page ads
*Star Power Publicity System, choice of a 1-day live course or Webinar, two 15-minute Fast Start Group Consulting sessions, and the Jill Lublin Home Study System
*Alex Carroll copy of the deluxe Radio Publicity Millionaire Program
*Brilliant Mobile a Mobile Website and a QR2MOBI Code to promote your platform and more
*Dan Poynter’s Para Promotion Campaign book promotion package

Want to enter your superb Indie book? Wait no longer! NIEA is now accepting submissions for 2012. Entries must be postmarked by April 15, and the winners and finalists will be announced May 15. Please send one copy of your book per category entered. Books with publication dates of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 are eligible. Books published anywhere in the world may be submitted, as long as they are in English and can be purchased on and offline in the United States. For more information, category listings and entry forms please check out the NIEA website:  www.IndieExcellence.com.

Please feel free to write me at marissa@jkscommunications.com if you have any questions!

Thank you Lori for helping us spread the word about such a great opportunity for Indie authors!

A Book Award Adds Value to Your Book
by Sarah Bolme

It's book award application time! Book awards bring exposure to books. Exposure generates sales. Sales mean more money in your pocket. Pursuing those book awards that allow publishers or authors to nominate their own titles can be a worthwhile activity for your book marketing efforts.

While entering a book award contest is not a guaranteed win for your entry fee, it certainly more than pays off if your book is picked for an award. Some book award programs publish the runners-up as well as the award winners. If your book falls into either of these categories, you receive a marketing gem.

Book awards, like book reviews, can be harnessed to promote your title in endless ways. One benefit of a book award over a book review is that an award warrants press coverage. Newspapers, magazines, and newsletters like to highlight authors and books that have won awards. Another benefit of a book award is that consumers tend to want to read books that have won an award. An award tells a consumer that a book is worth the money to purchase and time spent to read it. An award signals booksellers to purchase the book for their stores as book awards almost always guarantee sales.

When a book award is bestowed, the award should be used repeatedly in your marketing campaign. In addition to alerting the press about a book award, any book award received should be posted on your website, printed on all your marketing materials, used in advertisements, and added to your book’s cover on subsequent print runs. Also, make sure that you let your distributors know about the award and send an announcement to those publishers associations and discussion groups where you are a member.

Award Winning Author Teaches Children About Acceptance and Tolerance in Her Newest Children’s Book

Ballad of the Rag Man, written entirely in rhyming verse, was a recent finalist in the Indie Excellence Book Awards

Sandy Nathan, national award-winning author of Stepping Off The Edge and Numenon, describes her experiences as an independently published author and the value of the National Indie Excellence Awards®.

Please feel free to add your Winner or Finalist Sticker on your website, on Facebook, etc.!

Copy and paste code your web page.

<a href="http://www.indieexcellence.com/indie-results-2011.htm" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.indieexcellence.com/IEx_goldoval_winner72.png" width="320" height="150" border="0"></a>

<a href="http://www.indieexcellence.com/indie-results-2011.htm" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.indieexcellence.com/IEx_goldoval_winner72s.png" width="160" height="750" border="0"></a>

<a href="http://www.indieexcellence.com/indie-results-2011.htm" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.indieexcellence.com/IEx_goldoval_finalist72.png" width="320" height="150" border="0"></a>

<a href="http://www.indieexcellence.com/indie-results-2011.htm" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.indieexcellence.com/IEx_goldoval_finalist72s.png" width="160" height="75" border="0"></a>