IndieReader, the ultimate consumer guide to discovering and sharing the latest and greatest in independently published works–which includes titles that are published both by the authors and by smaller publishing houses–has held its IndieReader Discovery Awards for several years now as a mechanism to take the top tier of these worthy books to the next level. The IRDAs have a built-in process to grant access to the winning books to literary agents and publishers, while offering the books the recognition and reach they deserve.
Sponsored in part by the Association of Independent Authors, CreateSpace, and Kirkus, this year’s IRDAs were presented at BookExpo America by IndieReader president Amy Edelman and bestselling author Melissa Foster. Foster, whose thirty-plus indie books have sold over one million copies and have landed on both the New York Times and USA Today bestsellers’ lists, is also the founder of two sites for indie authors, World Literary Cafe and Fostering Success.
“While writing a great book is the first step, getting it in front of the right people—be they readers or agents or traditional publishers—is also a critical part of making an indie book a success,” Edelman explained in a release on this year’s presentation. “To that end, judges on the IRDA panel included publishers, PR professionals, top industry bloggers and more. Top winners will have their titles submitted to top New York literary agents Dystal & Goderich for representation consideration. Judging was based on the quality of writing and the originality of the story.”
One of the increasingly frustrating aspects of the current publishing revolution is also the very thing that provides authors with a satisfying writing and publishing experience, and that’s the need for the once-rigid rules of genre and categories to be thrown out. To that end, the IRDA awards offer a wide range of categorical subsets in the judging and presentations.
“There is a first, second and third place winner in each of the fiction and non-fiction categories, in addition to 27 titles in 24 sub-categories. Each book has received at least a 4-5 star rating (out of 5 stars) to earn the IRDA win.”
The first place title for fiction went to Finding Flipper Frank by Patrick M. Garry, while the first place non-fiction title was Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Career Coach by Lisa Quast. Melt: There’s No Place Like Home by Selene Castrovilla and Deadly Lies by Chris Patchell earned second and third place for fiction, respectively, while Saving Mona Lisa by Gerri Channel and The Angkor Guidebook by Andrew Booth earned second and third place for non-fiction, respectively. For a complete list of this year’s winning titles, check out the IndieReader announcement of this year’s honorees.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.