Award for Arctic Lace

While I've been otherwise occupied, Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas, a book that Nomad Press (that's me and my daughter) published last fall, has advanced in the 2007 Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) competition from semifinalist to finalist to bronze award winner in the How-to (Crafts/Hobby) category (#46).

This broad category includes all sorts of crafts and hobbies. The winners' group this year includes scrapbooking, flower design, beading, and sewing, plus two knitting books: Donna's Arctic Lace and Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby (from XRX Books). We're in excellent company.

The category's gold and silver winners come from significantly larger presses (The Apron Book from Andrews McMeel and Bead Style from Creative Homeowner).

Here's the idea guiding the IPPYs and the criteria for entries: "The Independent Publisher Book Awards were conceived as a broad-based, unaffiliated awards program open to all members of the independent publishing industry, and are open to authors and publishers worldwide who produce books written in English and intended for the North American market. We define 'independent' as 1) independently owned and operated; 2) operated by a foundation or university; or 3) longtime independents that became incorporated but operate autonomously and publish fewer than 50 titles a year."

In an economy where most books are published by five international conglomerates, these are awards for those still going it "alone," although "alone" covers the gamut from a one-person operation to a well-established company with a large staff.

Here's an article by one of the IPPY judges from a past year.

If you'd like, you can visit Donna's blog and congratulate her! This is a big deal. There's a party in New York City next Friday night during BookExpo that I'll be able to attend to represent the book, but we'll need to give Donna her cheers through internet channels.

We're carrying on the tradition.

Comments

[Kristi aka Fiber Fool]

A very well deserved congrats to both you and Donna!

[AlisonH]

Cool! Congratulations to you and Donna!

[LynnH]

Oh, this is such wonderful news! Some joy with the sorrow... just like the rest of life. Yippee for you all. I'm on my way to Donna's site.

[Leslie]

Brava!

[Deborah Robson]

Thanks for the congratulations! I'll probably be dressing up for the awards presentation--black slacks instead of black jeans. Something about New York inspires a black wardrobe. When I was here in April, it occurred to me to wonder why the stores stock any other colors (although I admit that I see a lot of accent colors . . . like beige, white, and gray). Deb