This looks like the award time of the year. Last week we got the Ben Franklin Award Finalist lists, now we have the Bay Area Independent Publishers Associaion (BAIPA) 2011 Book Awards.

From the official announcement:

The 2011 BAIPA book award judging sheets have all been received. We’re a little late due to unfortunate circumstances where major snow storms earlier this year delayed some judges receipt of their books — and one judge had a last minute, unplanned but lengthy business trip at the most critical time. Your program coordinator has been busy tabulating results, and can now announce the following winners:

Several of the books featured on The Book Designer appeared on the list. Here they are with their categories and a link to the original articles:

Exotic Life, Best Women’s Adventure Memoir, Lisa Alpine (interior design)
Project Focus: Exotic Life by Lisa Alpine

Opening the Gates of the Heart, Best Fine Art Photograhy Book, Carolyn CJ Jones (book design)
Self-Publishing Case Study: Inspirational Photography Book

The Andrew Street Mob, Best Cultural History, Brain Marais (book design)
Self-Publishing Case Study: Personal Memoir

Congratulations to all the winners, a job well done, and thanks to all of you for letting me play a part in making your books a reality.

Mark Coker of Smashwords to Speak at Upcoming BAIPA Meeting

This weekend the monthly BAIPA meeting will feature guest speaker Mark Coker of Smashwords. The meetings take place in San Rafael. You can get more information on the BAIPA website. This meeting will take place on May 14, 2011. Here’s what we’ll hear:

The Seven Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success
Starting with an overview of the latest ebook marketing data, Mark will provide guidance on how to produce, publish, and distribute ebooks. It will include a summary of the best practices based on Smashwords’ most successful, best-selling authors. Mark will also provide the latest details on improvements made to “the meatgrinder”—the software that turns your word processing file into multiple electronic book formats.

I’m hoping to get some time to talk to Mark while he’s in town for the interview. Smashwords, as many readers know, publishes over 18,000 indie authors by distributing their works to Apple’s iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and Amazon.

Ed: If you’ve got a specific question you’d like me to ask Mark, leave it in the comments and I’ll add it to my list.

And if you want to get your book into e-book formats on your own, and get it up for sale, I have good news. It’s easier than ever. One reason is the availability of tools like Joanna Penn‘s great step-by-step, guided tour guide to e-book publishing. If you have books in print but not for sale as e-books, this course will lead you by the hand to get it done. Highly recommended. I’m an affiliate because I think more people should get this done. For more info, click here: Joanna Penn’s Author 2.0 E-Book Publishing.

Photo by Abhijit Tembhekar