When Life Hands You Lemons…

Gayle Zinda, lung cancer survivor, motivational speaker, and author of Pink Lemonade: Freshly Squeezed Insights to Stir your Faith brings her tenacious spirit of hope and faith to thousands of cancer victims and their families.  She was a two-time medalist at the 2007 IPPY Awards for Pink Lemonade, earning a silver medal in the Inspirational/Spiritual category as well as another silver in the Best Book Marketing-Print division.  Gayle’s organization, Pink Lemonade Presentations, has an uplifting mission: “To help people realize that life’s lemons can be made into lemonade when stirred with faith!”  The inspirational people of Pink Lemonade Presentations travel the country in the festive “Motorvator”, speaking at events, spreading awareness and encouragement on the topic of cancer.    

 

 

 

 

 

“Pink Lemonade is a special treasure. Every page shines with warmth, sacrifice and compassion. Gayle Zinda is a great teacher and a source of personal enlightenment. Gayle’s decision to share her story and personal struggles will ultimately enrich us all. On behalf of the Lung Cancer community, we are so grateful for Gayle’s message of hope. We will follow Gayle’s advice and make lemonade out of lemons every day.”                                                                            

      -Laurie Fenton Ambrose, President and CEO, Lung Cancer Alliance

 

 

 

Learn more at http://www.lemonmotivators.com/index.html

From an IPPY judge’s POV

“I do not discriminate. I don’t care if you’re self-published or published by a publishing house. I don’t care if you’re published by a well-known house or one I’ve never heard of…I only care if you’ve written a book that knocks my socks off.”   –Nina L. Diamond, IPPY judge

 

Have you IPPY contestants ever wondered what goes on in the heads of our judges?  In their opinion, what separates a good book from a dud?  Here is your chance, from the point of view of experienced judge Nina L. Diamond, to find out.  Her article is featured in our online magazine, Independent Publisher.  http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=972  

“Bad Decisions” Earns Gold

“The stories portray just about every emotion: terrible loss and profound love, loneliness, rage and disappointment, woven with thoughts so intimate and well considered that one almost feels embarrassed reading them. … These are mature, deeply satisfying stories…” –The Globe and Mail Book Review  

The Hour of Bad Decisions by Russell Wangersky won a gold medal at the 2007 IPPY Awards in the Short Story Fiction category.  A winner of multiple awards, The Hour of Bad Decisions follows several characters as they are faced with dramatic situations.  Their bad decisions lead to personal regret and pain, changing them forever.  This book portrays the consequences of mistakes that are so inevitably human.   

   

  http://www.russellwangersky.com/hourofbaddecisions.htm    

Cupcakes, Anyone?

Imagine a book containing more cupcakes than there are days in the year.  Chocolate, strawberry, confetti, spice, low fat… lavender-honey.  From the traditional to the exotic, 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly has more than you can dream of.  The name says it all for this pink-covered book that earned Connolly a bronze medal at the 2007 IPPYs in the Cookbooks category.  I’ll bet your mouth is already watering…  

 

http://iheartcuppycakes.wordpress.com/2007/12/10/cupcake-challenge-2/

“Hormone Jungle” a Wild Success

We recently heard from Emily Gorovsky of Maupin House Publishing.  She told us about the success of Maupin House’s IPPY-medalist poet, Brod Bagert, after he won a gold medal in 2007 in the Education/Academic/Teaching category for his book, Hormone Jungle: Coming of Age in Middle School.  Emily writes,   

“As a small, family-owned publisher, it really felt good to be recognized by an association that supports the indies. But even more importantly, we were thrilled for the opportunity to share Brod Bagert’s work with a wider audience. He is a talented poet and a wonderful person who genuinely enjoys bringing poetry to life by performing it for children. Coincidentally, Hormone Jungle also won the Association of Educational Publishers’ 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award. It’s been quite a year for Brod and for us…and that gold IPPY sticker looks pretty nice on the book cover!”  

 

 

 

 

 

Brod Bagert grew up in New Orleans, and has been writing poetry his whole life.  He loves to travel, entertaining audiences with his poems.  To learn more about Brod and Hormone Jungle, please visit      http://www.brodbagert.com/index.html  

 

“Artic Lace” a Bronze Medalist

Donna Druchunas’ one-of-a-kind knitting manual, Arctic Lace, earned her a bronze medal at the 2007 IPPYs in the How-To (Crafts/Hobby) category.  

Arctic Lace introduces knitting fanatics to the lace-knitting techniques of native Alaskan women.  These native knitters utilized an unlikely material for their work: qiviut.  Qiviut is the luxuriously soft down of musk oxen, an excellent material with which to knit clothing.  Arctic Lace includes fifteen knitting projects, as well as engaging historical information and anecdotes.  This easy-to-follow book captures the beauty of the “lost art” of native Alaskan qiviut knitting.  Fellow author Annie Modesitt deems Arctic Lace “a celebration of our collective knitting heritage”.       

Find out more at http://www.sheeptoshawl.com/arcticlace.html  

 

“Loyalty’s Haven” Wraps Up Trilogy with Gold

Third time’s a charm.

J. Robert Whittle’s third book of his Victoria Chronicles, titled Loyalty’s Haven, earned him a gold medal at the 2007 IPPY awards in the Canada-West Best Regional Fiction category.   

Based in Pacific Northwest Canada, the books of the Victoria Chronicles take place in the early 1900’s and although categorized as fiction, are quite historically accurate.  Loyalty’s Haven is the final book in Whittle’s trilogy.  It plunges readers into the life of Nancy and the Brown family, and their experiences during the aftermath of World War I and the Spanish Influenza Epidemic.  Reviewer Dana Blozis raves, “Loyalty’s Haven is even more riveting than the first two installments … followers of the lifelong romance between Dan and Nancy will love (it)…. once again, he has written a magnificent and compelling epic…”   

 The author writes,

“I take my medal to all our shows (we sell our books at markets, craft shows, teacher’s conferences, etc.) and this award has certainly increased sales by giving my books more credibility in the minds of potential readers. Thank you, Jenkins Group, for developing such a wonderful platform for independent publishers.”

 http://www.jrobertwhittle.com/victoria.html  

 

 

“Vintage Whine” Double Gold

Patty Fedeli of North Bay, Ontario turned her popular newspaper column into two IPPY-winning books.  Vintage Whine earned a gold medal at the 2006 IPPYs in the Humor category, and a year later, More Vintage Whine accomplished the exact same feat.  Patty says her life “has not been the same since”.  She writes,    

“One award got people talking.  Two awards convinced everybody in my home town that I was funny.  Today, if I walked into the Emergency Room of my local hospital carrying a severed limb, the staff would burst into hysterical gales of laughter.  I am indebted to the judges of the Independent Publisher Book Awards for that. 

I am also grateful for the credibility those little gold stickers have added to my books.  My local newspaper did a very comprehensive story about the first IPPY that convinced even my former teachers to re-evaluate what I was doing.  I know that was the bump that helped make each book such a success.” 

 Patty donates all the proceeds of More Vintage Whine to her local North Bay Literacy Council.  She is a great example of someone who uses personal success to give back to her community. 

Find Out “How It’s Done”

 “…being involved with an older man is not all poetry and chardonnay…”

This is what Grace Passedge, the main character of How It’s Done by Christine Kole MacLean, eventually discovers.  How it’s Done earned MacLean a gold medal at the 2007 IPPY awards in the Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction category.  

Eighteen-year-old Grace is suffocated by her domineering father, and when she meets Michael Irving, a young, attractive college professor, she is enchanted.  They begin secretly dating, and Grace experiences a sense of freedom she has never felt before.  Gradually, however, she realizes that having a relationship with an older man isn’t as simple as she anticipated.    

Fellow author Han Nolan says of How it’s Done, “This story, told with honesty and heart, held me in my seat to the very end.  I have discovered a new favorite writer in Christine MacLean.” 

 

http://christinekolemaclean.com/howitsdone.html

A Scandalous Subject

 

 Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2,000-year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse by Thomas P. Doyle, A.W.R. Sipe, and Patrick J. Wall earned the authors a gold medal at the 2007 IPPYs in the Religion category.   

The book is an account of the troubling issue of sexual abuse and scandal in the Catholic Church that spans from its early history to present day.  Tragically, sexual abuse of both minors and adults is a prominent and internal difficulty of the Catholic Church.  Containing numerous documents, both official and unofficial, Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes confronts the problem as well as the Church’s struggle to bring it to a halt. 

The three authors are highly knowledgeable on the subject.  Thomas P. Doyle interviewed around 2,000 victims of sexual abuse by a clergy member in the U.S.  A.W.R. Sipe engaged in a 25-year study of “sexuality and celibacy in the American priesthood”.  Patrick J. Wall, a previous monk and priest, acts as a consultant in U.S. clerical sexual abuse cases.      

To learn more about Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes, please visit     http://www.bonusbooks.com/bookpage.asp?BookID=1304