One of my books, Great News Town, is highlighted in the current issue of Writers Digest Magazine. It is one of eight Honorable Mentions in Genre Fiction in the Self-Published Book Awards.I was informed of the award last October but I wasn't really excited until just now when I opened my copy of the magazine and read about this year's winners.
The Grand Prize .went to former Minnesota State Senator Ember Reichgott Junge, a pioneer of charter schools. Her book, Zero Chance of Passage, was decades in the making. Junge authored the country's first charter school law in 1991. To celebrate the 20th anniversary, she wanted to document charter schools and set the history straight. She used self-publishing to have control of the process. That is indeed an impressive project, with an impressive staff and sales of more than 7,000 copies. It sets the bar high.
A contest is only as good as the competition, and recognition only as good as the organization making the honor. I've read Writers Digest Magazine for years. It has long been a leader in developing the writing craft. That's part of the reason I decided to enter this contest. Some of the contests available to self-published authors are scams.
More than 2,500 entered the Writers Digest contest this year, so the 46 honorees represent only a small fraction of the competition. Genre Fiction is a formidable category including all the most popular books -- romances, fantasy, science-fiction, mysteries, thrillers.To be among a handful of honorees in that field is indeed an honor.
If you haven't had a chance to read Great News Town yet, you might want to check out the serialized version , which has been publishing weekly on the internet for almost two years. Click on the link and you can read the 10 latest episodes. Spoiler alert! The serial is just about to reach its exciting conclusion. You may not want to buy the book after you know the ending, but I am betting you'll want to buy the second book in the series, One Shoe Off. The third book, Full Moon Friday, will be released in June.
Great News Town was inspired by a real series of murders which happened in Joliet, Illinois, in 1983. For more details on the background check out this site.
