NEW YORK, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group has named the best indie books of 2011.

The books are winners of the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest non-profit book awards program worldwide, judged by leaders in the indie book publishing industry to identify indie books that deserve to reach a wider audience.

"We like to think of our awards program as the 'Sundance' of the book publishing world," says Catherine Goulet, Chair of the 2011 book awards program.

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

According to Goulet, "Like other independent artists, many indie book publishers face challenges that the industry giants don't experience. They typically have to work a lot harder to get their best books into retail stores and ultimately into the hands of readers."

"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 Bowker, publisher of the Books in Print database, preliminary data for 2010 shows more than three million new titles were published last year alone. Of these, over 2.7 million were "non-traditionally" published books, including print-on-demand and self-published titles -- an increase of 269% over 2009.

To help Indie authors and publishers reach a wider audience, the top 60 books in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards will be reviewed by New York literary agent Marilyn Allen of 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.

Marilyn Allen has worked as an executive and/or directed sales and marketing teams with Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Books and Avon Books. Ms. Allen has worked with many best-selling authors, including Stephen King, Ken Follett, Barbara Kingsolver, John Gray, Mary Higgins Clark, and many more.

The top prize winning books in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards are:

Top Non-Fiction Books

First Place Winner ($1,500 Prize)

Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth, by Larry J. Schweiger (Fulcrum Publishing)

Second Place Winner ($750 Prize)

Touching: Poems of Love, Longing, and Desire, edited by Sari Friedman and D. Patrick Miller (Fearless Books)

Third Place Winner ($500 Prize)

Serve to Lead®: Your Transformational 21st Century Leadership System, by James M. Strock (Serve to Lead Press)

Top Fiction Books

First Place Winner ($1,500 Prize)

Carny: A Novel in Stories, by James Hitt (Aberdeen Bay Press)

Second Place Winner ($750 Prize)

The DeValera Deception, by Michael McMenamin & Patrick McMenamin (Enigma Books)

Third Place Winner ($500 Prize)

I Can Only Give You Everything, by Bradford Tatum (self-published)

Top Design Book ($250 Prize)

Wisconsin's Own: Twenty Remarkable Homes, by M. Caren Connolly and Louis Wasserman, photographs by Zane Williams (Wisconsin Historical Society Press).

In addition to the grand prize winners, top indie books were named as winners and finalists in 60 publishing categories ranging from Action/Adventure to Young Adult. A complete list of 2011 winners and finalists is available at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards website at http://www.indiebookawards.com.

2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Entries are now being accepted for the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. The awards program is open to fiction and nonfiction books from independent authors and publishers worldwide released in 2011 or 2012 or with a copyright date of 2011 or 2012. Visit the Next Generation Indie Book Awards website at http://www.indiebookawards.com for more information.

Contact:
Catherine Goulet
[email protected]

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SOURCE Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group