2022 Indie Book Award Winners Announced

WASHINGTON, May 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group (IBPPG) has named the best indie books of 2022.

The books are winners of the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest international book awards program for independent publishers and self-published authors. The winners and finalists will be honored Friday, June 24 at a gala event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, coinciding with the American Library Association Annual Conference.

Organizers of this year's gala hope to livestream some or all of the awards ceremony portion of the event on Facebook, commencing at approximately 5:40 pm Eastern Time at https://www.facebook.com/NextGenerationIndieBookAwards. Videos of the 2020 and 2021 events have been viewed more than 100,000 times. 

This year's Gold Sponsors are MindStir Media, an award-winning self-publishing company that helps people from all walks of life self-publish, distribute, and market their books and IAP Career College, which offers online certificate courses in more than 100 career fields including book editing and book publishing. Outskirts Press, an award-winning independent book publisher which provides services for self-publishing authors, returns as a Silver Sponsor of this year's awards.

2022 is the 15th year of the largest international book awards program. The awards are judged by leaders of the indie book publishing industry, including many with long careers at major publishing houses. Their love of a great read and experience in the publishing arena identify books deserving a wider audience.

In an article at CNN.com titled If it's cool, creative, and different, it's indie, journalist Catherine Andrews wrote: "The term 'indie' traditionally refers to independent art – music, film, literature or anything that fits under the broad banner of culture – created outside of the mainstream and without corporate financing." That definition remains true for book publishing.

Independent book publishing companies are independent of the major conglomerates dominating the book publishing industry. Indies include small presses, larger independent publishers, university presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.

According to Catherine Goulet, Founder and Co-Chair of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, "Like other independent artists, many indie book publishers face challenges that the industry giants don't experience. The indies have to work much harder to get their best books into readers' hands."

"Authors and publishers who compete in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards are serious about promoting their books," adds Goulet. "They aim to stand out from the crowd of millions of books in print."

According to the most recent (October 2019) report by Bowker, publisher of the Books in Print database, the number of titles self-published in the United States grew to over 1.6 million in 2018, an increase of 40% over the previous year. "This trend is likely to continue as the quality of many self-published works now rivals that of traditionally published titles," according to the report.

Worldwide, as of 2022, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates more than 2.7 million books are now being published in a single year. 

To help indie authors and publishers reach a wider audience, the top 80+ books in the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards will be reviewed by New York literary agent Marilyn Allen of Allen Literary Agency (formerly the Allen O'Shea Literary Agency), or one of Ms. Allen's co-agents, for possible representation in areas such as: distribution, foreign rights, film rights, and other rights.

The top prize-winning books in the 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards are:

First Place Winner ($1,500 Prize) 
The Naked Truth About Breast Cancer, by Jane Marshall, Illustrated by Harriet Sheffer (Publish Central)

Second Place Winner ($750 Prize) 
Textures: The History and Art of Black Hair, edited by Tameka Ellington and Joseph L. Underwood (Hirmer Publishers)

Third Place Winner ($500 Prize) 
Sneaker Law: All You Need to Know About the Sneaker Business, by Kenneth Anand and Jared Goldstein (Sneaker Law LLC)

Honorable Mention ($250 Prize) 
Fishes of the Orinoco in the Wild, by Ivan Mikolji (Independent Publisher Network)

First Place Winner ($1,500 Prize) 
The ForestGirls, with the World Always, by Sissel Waage, Illustrated by Ana-Maria Cosma (Lulu Press)

Second Place Winner ($750 Prize) 
My Stories Have No Endings, by Gayle Gonsalves (Yellow Bell Publications)

Third Place Winner ($500 Prize) 
Threads West Series: Books 1-4, by Reid Lance Rosenthal (Sastrugi Press)

Top books were named as winners and finalists in over 80 publishing categories ranging from Action/Adventure to Young Author.

A complete list of 2022 winners and finalists is available at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards website at indiebookawards.com.

Organizers hope to livestream some or all of the awards ceremony portion of the event on Facebook commencing at approximately 5:40 pm Eastern Time on Friday, June 24. Visit https://www.facebook.com/NextGenerationIndieBookAwards.

Marilyn Allen has over 25 years of sales and marketing experience, including serving as Senior Vice President, Associate Publisher, and Director of Marketing for Harper Collins and directing sales and marketing teams for Simon & Schuster, Penguin Books and Avon Books. 

Entries are now being accepted for the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The awards are open to books released in 2021, 2022, or 2023 from independent authors and publishers worldwide. Visit https://indiebookawards.com for information.

Next Generation Indie Book Awards is affiliated with Next Generation Indie Film Awards, a not-for-profit awards program for film. To learn more visit https://indiefilmawards.co.

MEDIA CONTACT: Marilyn Allen 203-820-5967

SOURCE Next Generation Indie Book Awards