Deadline for entry: November 30, 2009

The Santa Fe Trail Creative Arts Guild, dba Creative Arts Council, is accepting applications for the 2010 Annual Self Published Fiction Book Awards. The competition is open to self-published fictional books that were published or revised and reprinted between 2000 and 2009. All book submissions must be published in English.

The grand-prize winner will receive $500 and a personalized plaque. Entrants to previous contests are welcome to submit again. The first place winner will receive $100 and a notable award certificate.

For information about the guidelines visit:

http://www.creativeartscouncil.org/bookcontest.html

Deadline for entry: November 25, 2009.

The 2009 London Book Festival has issued a call for entries for its annual program celebrating books that deserve greater recognition from the international publishing community. The festival will consider self-published entries in general non-fiction, fiction, poetry, children’s books, science fiction, comics, eBooks, romance,  photography/art, audio/spoken word, biography/autobiography, teenage, music and wild card. The publication date must be on or after January 1, 2001, and entries can be in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian.

The entry fee is $50. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book. Entrants pay all shipping and handling costs. Entries must be classified with a particular category.

The 2009 London Book Festival will consider published, self-published and independent publisher non-fiction, poetry, photography/art, fiction, children’s books, teenage, how-to, audio/spoken word, comics, e-books, wild card (anything goes!), science fiction, romance and biography/autobiography works.

A panel of judges will determine the winners based on the following criteria:

1. The story-telling ability of the author;
2. The potential of the work to win wider recognition from the international publishing community.
3. Entries can be in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese or Italian. Books published from Jan. 1, 2001 forward are eligible. Our grand prize for the 2009 London Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 and a flight to London OR a flight to Los Angeles – your choice!

For a complete list of rules and additional information, visit the complete list of guidelines at: The 2009 London Book Festival.

Deadline for entry: October 25, 2009

The 2009 Nashville Book Festival has issued a call for entries for its annual program celebrating the best in regional, national and international literature. The festival will consider entries in general non-fiction, fiction, biography/autobiography, children’s books, cookbooks, eBooks, how-tos, genre-based, compilations/anthologies, spiritual, photography/art, teenage /young adult, music and wild cards. The publication date must be on or after January 1, 2001, and entries must be in English.

The grand prize for the 2009 Nashville Book Festival winner is $1,500 and a flight to Nashville for the gala award ceremony. Submitted works will be judged by a panel of publishing industry experts according to the author’s ability to tell a story and unique use of marketing tactics to reach a wider audience.

The entry fee is $50. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book. Entrants pay all shipping and handling costs. Entries must be classified with a particular category.

For a complete list of rules and additional information, visit the complete list of guidelines at: The 2009 Nashville Book Festival.

Deadline for entry: March 20, 2010

The 2010 Independent Publisher national and regional Book Awards (“IPPYs”) is accepting entries for this year’s best independently published titles. Entries will be accepted until March 20, 2010, for books with 2009 and 2010 copyrights or that were released in 2009 and early 2010.

The “IPPY” 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.

Awards go to gold, silver, and bronze medalists in 65 national categories and to gold, silver, and bronze medalists for Best Regional Fiction and Best Regional Non-fiction in 10 North American regions.

Early-bird entry fee is $75 per title, per category. The entry fee changes to $85 closer to the final deadline. You can add a regional entry for only $45 per title, per category. Categories include (but are not limited to) popular fiction, graphic novel, transportation, biography, and best book marketing.

Download an entry form or learn more about the IPPYs by visiting: http://www.independentpublisher.com

Deadline for entry: November 25, 2009.

The 2009 DIY Book Festival has issued a call for entries for its annual program. Entrants must be independently published and in English. The publication date must be on or after Jan 1, 2005. The Grand prize for the DIY Book Festival winner is $1,500 and a flight to Los Angeles for the award ceremony.

Authors can compete in the categories of nonfiction, fiction, children’s, comics, how-to, zines, poetry, fan-fiction, and many more.

Submitted works will be judged by a panel of industry experts according to the author’s ability to tell a story and their use of guerrilla marketing tactics. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book. Entrants pay all shipping and handling costs. Entries must be classified with a particular category.

For a complete list of rules and additional information, visit the complete list of guidelines at: www.DIYconvention.com

Deadline for entry: October 1, 2009

The 2010 Mom’s Choice Awards is accepting applications for the 2010 Mom’s Choice Awards. This competition honors authors for their effort to creat family-quality books. The Mom’s Choice seal helps families and educators navigate through products and create educated decisions.The competition is open to books that have a copyright date between 2007-2010.

Honorees in the Mom’s Choice Awards receive marketing packages including product reviews on Amazon.com, BN.com, and Entro®, the Mom’s Choice Awards magazine. Winners also receive an awards certificate and a supply of embossed seals.

For information about the guidelines visit:

http://www.momschoiceawards.com/enter.php

SAVE THE DATE: August 10, 2009 • 7 pm

African Voices and Imagenation Film Festival present an evening of music, poetry and film.

Harlem jazz sensation Bill Saxton and poet Autum Ashante will perform before the screenings!

FEATURED FILMS

Title	Nappy Heads
Length	3:00 Min
Category	Experimental
Cast	Dian Marie Bridge, Sedina Fiati, Kyra Pretzer
Crew	Producer/Director/Writer: Sabrina Moella
Description	Nappy Heads is a short and vibrant tribute to the Afro hair. Shot on Super 8 in the streets of Toronto, it portrays dozens of women, men and children who all agreed to shake their nappy heads‚ in front of the camera. Afros, dreadlocks, cornrows‚ all types of hairstyles are represented.

Title	Spent
Length	15:00 Min
Category	Narrative
Crew	Director: Boris Schaarschmidt, Producer/Writer: Phyllis Toben Bancroft
Description	Cheryl has realized the American Girl Shop until you drop‚ fantasy and has done just that. Now this ambitious real estate agent is desperate to sell a house in order to stay afloat.

Title	The Mattress Hustle
Length	19:50 Min
Category	Narrative
Cast	Antonio Garcia Jr., Jason Grant, Peter Lester,, Corine McGlown, Niketta Scott
Crew	Director: Susan Watson Turner, Producer/Writer: Vanessa Turner
Description	“The Mattress Hustle” follows a young couple’s antics as they transition from entry-level jobs to the careers of their dreams. Dreams do not come without sacrifice and both give up their posh-high rent NYC apartment living for a retreat to parent’s digs plagued with young siblings and no privacy. Eros ultimately rules and inspires their solution to “being together” but not without hilarious situations that involve getting to know their neighbors’ habits and pets just a bit too well! However, all is well that ends well and they land in new careers paths – still madly in love.

The Reel Sisters Film of the Diaspora Festival & Lecture Series is annual film festival showcasing films written, directed or produced by women of color. Reel Sisters 2009 will be held from Sept. 26-27, 2009 at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus.

For information visit www.reelsisters.org or call 212 865-2982.

Atymony

Bill Saxton. Jazzline 1994, Audio CD, $1.95

Momma Said

Rl Tha Gifted 1 Feat. Baron & Autumn Ashante (Primary Contributor). Markd Music Productions 2009, MP3 Download, $0.99

54 year old author, E. Lynn Harris died yesterday while on tour, promoting his 11th novel, “Basketball Jones”, which involved an NBA player and his gay lover. Harris was an openly gay American author, best known for his depictions of African American men on the down-low or in the closet.

Harris was initially unable to land a book deal with a reputable publishing house for his first work, Invisible Life, so he self-published it through a vanity publisher and sold copies from his car trunk. Since then, five of his novels have achieved New York Times bestseller status.

Alongside fiction, Harris had also penned a personal memoir, What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?

Find more info about E. Lynn Harris at his official website.

Invisible Life

E. Lynn Harris. Doubleday 1999, Hardcover, 272 pages, $9.93

Just As I Am

E. Lynn Harris. Doubleday 2000, Hardcover, 384 pages, $11.99

And This Too Shall Pass

E. Lynn Harris. Anchor 1997, Paperback, 368 pages, $4.97

If This World Were Mine

E. Lynn Harris. Anchor 1998, Paperback, 336 pages, $6.50

Abide With Me

E. Lynn Harris. Anchor 2000, Paperback, 349 pages, $4.41

Not a Day Goes By

E. Lynn Harris. Anchor 2004, Paperback, 288 pages, $4.96

Got to be Real

E. Lynn Harris. NAL Trade 2000, Paperback, 384 pages, $0.99

Any Way the Wind Blows

E. Lynn Harris. Anchor 2002, Paperback, 368 pages, $3.07

A Love of My Own

E. Lynn Harris. Anchor 2003, Paperback, 400 pages, $4.59

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted

E. Lynn Harris. Anchor 2004, Paperback, 288 pages, $7.25

African Books Collective (ABC) is a non-profit Oxford-based, worldwide marketing and distribution outlet for over 1,000 titles from Africa – scholarly, literature and children’s books. It is founded, owned and governed by a group of African publishers, and its participants are 116 independent and autonomous African publishers from 19 countries.

Support from funding agencies is received for development of publishing capacity in Africa; and resource materials are published for the African book and publishing communities.

Michigan State University Press is ABC’s N. American partner, handling marketing and distribution in the US and Canada. MSUP has a university press mission. The scholarly publishing arm of Michigan State University, it helps to carry out the institution’s land-grant mission through the publication of research and intellectual inquiry that make significant contributions to scholarship in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

To read more about this project or to just buy some books, visit their site at:

http://www.africanbookscollective.com

July 18, 2009 – University Club, San Francisco

INSTOCK, a conference for book self publishers, will include panels covering a variety of publishing and publicity topics. Panelists will include self publishers, marketing professionals, and executives from the traditional publishing industry.

Panels will address:

• Marketing your book
• Selecting a POD or printing house
• Finding your audience
• Publicity tactics
• Pricing your product

… and more.

Panelists will include successful self publishers, marketing pros, executives from the traditional publishing industry and others who will get you thinking strategically about your books.

For more information visit:
http://www.instockconference.com/