I'm An Award-Winning Author!

It costs money to enter book awards, so I've only entered a few. Is it bad to say I don't even really remember which ones? Entering Readers' Favorite in April was definitely a spur-of-the-moment decision. But, oh my goodness!!! It was SO worth it ^.^

I decided it was worth the $100 entry fee when Martin Hospitality received a 5-star review from Readers' Favorite that I didn't know was complimentary for entering. Needless to say that review made me very happy! You can read it here. And I thought no more about it.

Then on October 1, an e-mail announcing the winners of the 2017 Readers' Favorite Awards hit my inbox about the same time crazy-excited Hangouts messages appeared from Ivy Rose. She sent me this screenshot:

Martin Hospitality won Honorable Mention in the Christian Fiction category!! Yes, there are 140+ categories and therefore a lot of winners. But that made it really hard for me to choose a category! And this is a worldwide competition. One of the most popular there is. So I am beyond thrilled that I made the cut!!

Here's another picture of the announcement ... it's so surreal. You can view all the official winners here.

My primary reward is that I now have two shiny badges that I can share and even put on my gorgeous firstborn book if I feel like it :)

                             

Another perk is that I'm invited to mail them 3 of my books for them to display and potentially sell at their booth at the ginormous Miami Book Fair International ... the largest book fair in the nation. So that's super exciting and I'm mailing them today! I'll take all the exposure I can get. Which means I want to figure out how much press release is complimentary and how much is part of their services for a small fee. At a minimum, my Google rankings should go up!

So I want to thank you all for your tremendous support and excitement. Between Martin Hospitality winning this award, and the drafting of Matinee Regulars going unbelievably well, I feel like my writing career has taken a huge leap lately! And you guys are one of my greatest resources. Please know that I do not take you for granted ;)

Honestly, I don't even know what else to say except ... celebrate with me?! Besides all the loving words you guys will put in the comments (because you're awesome like that), if you feel led to share about this on your social media accounts, please tag me @abitheauthor so I can enjoy them and share them with my followers!!! You guys are the best. It's literally enough that you're just here for me to share this news with because otherwise, I would've exploded! ^.^