Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Ready to Build Your Summer Reading List? Check Out IPPY Award-Winners for 2012



All of us at Buddhapuss Ink LLC are proud to have one of our books - The Distant Shore by Mariam Kobras - on the IPPY Awards List!


Following is the official Press Release from the Independent Publisher Book Awards: 


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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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(May 8, 2012 - Traverse City, MI)  Summer's almost here and it's time to stock up on award-winning books to read. Need some suggestions? The winners of the 16 th Annual Independent Publisher Book Awards have been announced and will be celebrated on June 4th during the annual BookExpo America publishing convention in New York. Conducted each year to honor the year's best independently published books, the "IPPY" awards recognize excellence in a broad range of subjects and reward authors and publishers who "take chances and break new ground."
Independent publishers are extremely diverse, in both style and geography. This year's IPPY competition attracted 5,200 entries, and the 372 medalists represent 44 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, seven Canadian provinces, and ten countries overseas. Launched in 1996 as the first unaffiliated awards program open exclusively to independent, university, and self-published titles, the IPPY Awards contest rewards winners in 74 national, 22 regional, and five e-book categories with gold, silver and bronze medallions and foil seals for their book covers.

See complete results for the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards at http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1534

"Independent publishers are growing in number, and the quality of their work is increasing," says awards director Jim Barnes. "One element driving the high rate of excellence is participation from university presses. This year, 29 medalists came from university presses and 9 came from museums. Their elevated level of writing, editing, design and production raises the bar and inspires us all."

University presses are known for tackling controversial topics and complex social issues. For example, Arab Detroit 9/11 (Wayne State University Press) explores how the lives of Arab Americans have changed in the "terror decade," Sovereign Erotics (The University of Arizona Press) is an anthology of voices from the Native American GLBT community, and In This Timeless Time (University of North Carolina Press) tells the stories of Texas prison inmates on Death Row.
Looking for something a bit lighter? Popular topics like country music, wine, and 60's counter-culture are covered by these fiction winners: Murder on Music Row (John F. Blair, Publisher) by Stuart Dill, Vertical (sequel to Sideways, from Loose Gravel Press), by Rex Pickett, and We Were Stardust (Bucket List Books), by Kathrin King Segal. IPPY Awards also went to six mouth-watering cookbooks, one of which is Off the Menu: Staff Meals from America's Top Restaurants (Welcome Books) and five intimate biographies, one being House of Cash: The Legacies of My Father, Johnny Cash (Insight Editions), by John Carter Cash.
So many books, such a perfect time...to start reading an IPPY Award-winning book today!
The IPPY Awards are presented by IndependentPublisher.com, "THE Voice of Independent Publishing" operated by publishing services firm Jenkins Group of Traverse City, Michigan. Members of the media are invited to attend the IPPY Awards celebration on Monday night before BookExpo America.
For more details about the Awards, to attend the event, or to interview recipients, please contact:

Jim Barnes, Managing Editor & Awards Director
IndependentPublisher.com / Jenkins Group
IPPY Awards on Facebook

Ph: 1.800.644.0133 x1011

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Distant Shore Wins the 2012 IPPY Bronze Medal



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 2, 2012

Buddhapuss Ink LLC, a NJ based book publisher, announced today that Mariam Kobras, of Hamburg, Germany, won the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards’ Bronze Medal in Romance for her book: The Distant Shore: Book I of the Stone Trilogy. Kobras said she was “beyond over-the-moon” with the news. The Distant Shore, which released in January, sold out on Amazon in a matter of hours. “Winning this award for her first book is recognition of just how talented a writer she is.” said Buddhapuss Ink Publisher, MaryChris Bradley. “She conveys feelings and emotions in one page that take other authors’ chapters. Her command of the English language, and its nuances, is extraordinary. In January we signed a new contract for the next two books in the Stone Trilogy. We extend our hearty congratulations to Mariam for this well-deserved award! ”

The Distant Shore, a contemporary romance with a light twist of suspense, is the story of Jonathon Stone, a rock superstar and Naomi Carlsson, the girl he loved and lost. The story centers on their reunion sixteen years later and takes place in locales from a small fishing village in Norway to LA and New York City. But life in the fast lane comes with its own brand of danger and it isn’t long before their life together is threatened by a jealous fan.  “The storyline for The Distant Shore was inspired by my fascination with the limitations fame can impose on people.” stated Kobras. “The book explores the value of love in a world where money and a front-page photo are sometimes more important than a person's soul.”

Kobras, was born in Frankfurt, Germany. She lived in Brazil and Saudi Arabia with her parents as a child before they decided to settle in Germany. She attended school there and studied American Literature and Psychology at Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen. Today she lives and writes in Hamburg, Germany, with her husband, two sons and two cats.

BUDDHAPUSS INK LLC is based in Edison, NJ. Founded in 2009, it is led by Publisher, MaryChris Bradley, a 28 year veteran in the book industry. “Our company mission is to ‘Put our readers first’ and we are committed to finding and growing new authors at a time when the major houses seem to have turned their backs on writers without an already well-established track record. “ Bradley can be contacted at Publisher@BuddhapussInk.com. “Of course, you can always find us on Facebook, and twitter too.”
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