Sandy Nathan's YOUR SHELF LIFE

On May 2, 2012, awards for the the last few categories of the 2012 IPPY (Independent Publisher) Awards were announced. Did your book receive an award in the 2012 IPPYs? Mine didn’t, either. I’ve been entering the IPPYs for years. This was the first time I didn’t win something. Kinda shocking.

I know, it hurts to have your masterpiece spurned. It doesn’t hurt half as much as getting a one star review, though. That’s like a crossbow bolt to the heart, except you don’t get to die. You get to read those words savaging your beloved baby forever, or as long as your book’s Amazon page lasts. So losing in the IPPYs isn’t that bad.

You feel better already, don’t you?
This is an article about surviving not winning in book contests. Usually I write about how to win book contests. One of the things I say in those articles is that you can do everything I say about “winning” and still lose. I just proved that it can happen to anyone.

I awakened this morning to find an email from Amazon in my inbox. I was shocked to discover that it was about my new book, Lady Grace. They were promoting my book! For free! I didn’t even know about it!

I must have hit some critical mass for Amazon to notice me. I wanted to share the event with the entire universe, or as much as I could reach. So here it is, the text of Amazon’s pitch: (Unfortunately, the wonderful Amazon logo didn’t copy. Neither did the cool hot links, buy button going to Lady Grace, or any of that.) But here it is: proof that Amazon cares.

Lady Grace: A Thrilling Adventure Wrapped in the Embrace of Epic Love. In the absence of official links from Amazon, I’ll give you the cover here. It was in the Buy button on the actual email.

From: Amazon.com
Subject: Now available: “Lady Grace: A Thrilling Adventure Wrapped in the Embrace of Epic Love” by Sandy Nathan on Amazon.com
Date: April 15, 2012 2:21:27 AM PDT
To: Barry Nathan

(The Amazon Logo appeared here.)

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Customers who have purchased or rated books by Sandy Nathan might like to know that Lady Grace: A Thrilling Adventure Wrapped in the Embrace of Epic Love is now available. You can order yours for just $15.95 by following the link below.

Lady Grace, Book II of Tales from Earth’s End will be officially launched on May 1, 2012. We at Vilasa Press think you’ll be as pleased with the book as we are. We’re

planning gala launch activities, including free books and who knows what. We’ll be announcing the details here. Information about the book follows. You can also read more on Sandy Nathan’s website.