When awards consultant Melissa Sones called me to say Breathe. Write. Breathe. was a winner in the Outstanding Creator Awards, Summer 2024; I expected to hear about a one-category win.
But this is an interesting literary and arts awards contest, where the awards committee chooses the categories you’ll be entered into. And, so, Breathe. Write. Breathe. won not one but SIX book awards!
Outstanding Creator Awards
- Breathe. Write. Breathe. is the first-place winner in Outstanding Creator Award for Books About Writing!
- I’m especially proud of the Outstanding Creator Award for “Best Quote” / “Best Passage” — one of five books chosen for this honor. Here’s the quote they chose:
“All individuals are profoundly creative because we all have dreams.”
- Breathe. Write. Breathe. won third place in Outstanding Creator Award for Self-Help & How-to Books.
- Breathe. Write. Breathe. also won third place in Outstanding Creator Award for Spirituality.
- Breathe. Write. Breathe. won Honorable Mention in “Best Research.”
- Breathe. Write. Breathe. also won Honorable Mention in Outstanding Creator Award for “Best Idea” / “Best Concept” for the concept of “Qigong Bouncing,” for which I can only humbly accept on behalf of the hundreds or thousands of Qigong Masters who mastered and taught this practice, passing it down throughout the centuries. I express my gratitude to them and especially to Leah Franklin, who first taught me this practice and to Qigong Master Robert Peng, who taught me the version I use in my own practice and which I teach in a simplified form in the book Breathe. Write. Breathe.
Living Now Book Awards
7. Breathe. Write. Breathe. also won the Silver Living Now Book Award in the competitive “How-to” category. And, as a second time winner (previously for The Joy of Writing Journal), they’ve asked me to speak at the awards ceremony, sharing how to tap into your creativity and intuition to reach readers and develop promotion strategies, rather than trying cookie cutter advice from marketing gurus.
2024 New York Book Festival Awards
8. Breathe. Write. Breathe. also won Honorable Mention in the competitive “How to” category at the 2024 New York Book Festival Awards this summer! I was delighted to see that the book that won top honors in this festival is by Bring Your Book to Life® Program graduate Maria C. Palmer (with Ruthie Robbins): On the Rocks: The Primadonna Story (Koehler Books) which chronicles the real-life journey of restaurateur Joseph Costanzo Jr. during his rise to success in the 1990s as the owner of the highly acclaimed Primadonna Restaurant, and his other roles as radio host, columnist, and aspiring politician.
6 Ways to Leverage Your Book Awards
The next step is to leverage those awards. Here are some of the things I’m doing, which you can do as well:
- Show the awards in any book images (on social media, in newsletters, on web pages, in email signature, etc.)
- Write a press release announcing the award, but be sure to include information that will help readers of the particular publication, such as including a tip list or quotations that will be of interest to the audience of each media outlet.
Photo by Emily HomonoffMention the awards when pitching to podcasts, TV, etc.
- Mention the awards in your bio on your website, in social media profiles, etc.
- Purchase awards seals and offer to place them on copies of the book sold in bookstores. Also place them on any books you are selling at libraries, workshops and other events.
- Highlight the awards at the top of the Amazon book description: Check out my new Amazon description here. While you’re there, please consider writing a book review! Having somewhere around 100 reviews triggers the Amazon algorithm, helping more readers discover your book. You’ll be helping me and future readers!
Here’s a post from last year with more ways my clients and I are leveraging book awards.
7 Tips for Writing an Award-Winning Book
Here are just a few tips to help you write an award-worthy book:
- Know Your Readers: In general with prescriptive nonfiction (How to, self-help, business, etc.) the more clear you are about who your readers are and what they want, the more your book will resonate with them and help them.
- Engage Your Readers with the Right Features: Identify features that give your readers an experience rather than just telling them what to do. I did this with the practices and prompts in the book. And I used videos and audios via QR codes to make the practices easy and fun to do (with me!).
- Take Your Time: A rushed book doesn’t usually have the nuance that makes a book exceptional. Taking time will let the ideas deepen and expand. I know my book is far better due to the time i put in (8 years, on and off, taking time off to write and publish and promote another book in between – you don’t have to do that part!).
- Take Time Away: Give yourself time to put the writing down and come back to the book fresh. That time away can clear your head and open you to new ideas.
- Tighten: Don’t be afraid to shorten the book. In my case, with the help of my developmental editor, I cut well over a third of the book! That way, readers got my absolute best!
- Get Feedback: Find beta readers in your target market and get their feedback. Here’s a post about what to ask them and how to get the most benefit from having beta readers.
- Hire an Editor: Breathe. Write. Breathe. benefited from multiple rounds of editing – both self editing and working with editors on developmental editing and line-editing. Make sure any editor you hire is experienced in your genre. Also, doing some self-editing before you send your work can help you get the most out of the editing they do.
Hire an Editor: Breathe. Write. Breathe. benefited from multiple rounds of editing – both Get my free report, 7 Questions to Ask an Editor Before You Hire Yours.
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