New York, U.S.A. - Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group has named the best indie books of 2012. The books are winners of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, a non-profit awards program 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 2012 Next Generation Indie 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 much harder to get their best books 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, more than three million new titles were published in 2010. Of these, over 2.7 million were “non-traditionally” published books, including print-on-demand and self-published titles. These statistics do not even take into account the number of e-books published.

To help Indie authors and publishers reach a wider audience, the top 60 books in the 2012 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 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards are:

Top Non-Fiction Books

First Place Winner ($1,500 Prize)

Inner Visions: Grassroots Stories of Truth and Hope, by Jan Thrope (Orange Frazer Press)

Second Place Winner ($750 Prize)

Put the Needle on the Record: The 1980s at 45 Revolutions Per Minute, by Matthew Chojnacki (Schiffer Publishing)

Third Place Winner ($500 Prize)

Strategy for Good: Business Giving Strategies for the 21st Century, by Susan A. Hyatt, M.S. (GoodWorks Publishing)

Top Fiction Books

First Place Winner ($1,500 Prize)

The Parsifal Pursuit, by Michael McMenamin and Patrick McMenamin (Enigma Books)

Second Place Winner ($750 Prize)

A Little Leg Work, by Royce Leville (Rippple Books)

Third Place Winner ($500 Prize)

Walter’s Muse, by Jean Davies Okimoto (Endicott and Hugh Books)

Other Winners

A prize of $250 was also awarded for Best Design to The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North, by Beverley Gray, designer Anna Comfort (Aroma Borealis 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 2012 winners and finalists is available at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards website.

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