Tag: FAPA award winner 2020

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Pirates of the Asteroids awarded Silver President’s Medal from FAPA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Pat Stanford, Committee Chairperson

Florida Authors and Publishers Association

President’s Book Awards Program

850-519-3745

pat.stanford@myfapa.org

www.myFAPA.org

Local Author Receives National Recognition

Lake Buena Vista, FL (8/1/2020) – The Annual 2020 Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s BookAwards recognized Pirates of the Asteroids by Eric Martell, in the category of Adult Science Fiction, as a Silver medal winner. Eric Martell’s Cyber-Witch: The Origins of Magic was awarded the same prize in 2018.

Hosted by the Florida Authors and Publishers Association, this prestigious national award is open to books published between 2018 and 2020. The judges for this national competition are librarians, educators, and publishing professionals.

“The FAPA President’s Book Award exists to promote excellence in the publishing industry by recognizing talented contemporary authors who put both heart and soul into their work. FAPA is proud to be a champion of authors and publishers going the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect,” said Patti Jefferson, Past President of FAPA.

Pirates of the Asteroids is a science fiction story, published by Second Initiative Press, which tells the story of the inception of the asteroid belt community’s move for independence from a corrupt Earth government and sets up their struggle for freedom, detailedi in the follow up story: The Belter Revolution.

Due to CoVID-19, medalists were informed via email and a recorded presentation of the “ceremony”.

“We are proud to announce this year’s winners who truly embody the excellence this award was created to celebrate. Their works are representative of creative storytelling, bold concepts, and innovative ideas which make the President’s Book Awards so well respected by librarians and those in the publishing industry. We salute all of our winners for their fine work.” said FAPA’s President, Pat Standford.

The Florida Authors & Publishers Association is an organization for authors, publishers, illustrators, editors, printers, and other professionals involved in the publishing industry. It focuses on providing the highest quality of information, resources, and professional development to members and others interested in the writing and publishing profession.

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Authors Are Either Good At Self-Motivation (or Crazy)

When you finally finish writing a book, you go through an entire gamut of emotions: Pride, Relief, Fear, Joy, but most of all, the feeling that you accomplished something quite difficult.
The main problem first-time authors encounter is that Pride of Accomplishment quickly morphs into Pride in the Product. What’s that mean? You begin to believe that the book you have written is the best, most well-written, most fascinating story that ever impacted a lucky reader’s imagination.
That feeling is probably the Crazy part. It’s crazy because you can reach a point where you cannot tolerate criticism. That can even extend to close friends and family. That’s the reason why authors are often dreaded guests at parties. They can turn into complete bores, expounding for hours on the beauty of their creation. Yuck!
Sound familiar? If you are an author, I can pretty much guarantee you suffered from this–at least a little. If not, you’re exceptional.
In an ideal world, readers’ responses will confirm the author’s feeling of pride. You know–5-star reviews, lots of sales, speaking tours that sell out, movie offers, lots of money…..Yeah, right:-(
In the real world, sales come slowly. Marketing is difficult, even if you have a great book, there are millions of others all competing for your prospective reader. How do you stand out? You wrote a book, which was hard, but now you have to be a marketer, too? WTH? If you’re like me, you just want to write another book.
I’ve written enough novels to have lost the exhilarating feeling when I type, “The End.” I like good reviews, but when sales come slowly, staying enthusiastic is a challenge.
Sometimes, however, you get another form of confirmation that you are doing a good job. I just got word from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association that my space opera novel, “Pirates of the Asteroids,” is a finalist for the 2020 President’s Award in the adult sci-fi category. Pirates is the first novel in The Belter Series — covering the early settlement of the asteroid belt and the beginning of the Belter society. The Belter Revolution is the follow-up novel that takes the characters farther along their course.
Will there be a third novel? Depends on sales. I like the characters, but I can’t justify writing stories that no one else enjoys. However, I think that anyone who enjoys military-related, dystopian-setting stories set in space, with a little romance, revenge, and great space battles, will enjoy these two.
BTW: They’re for sale on Kindle at $0.99 for the duration of the COVID mess. I lowered the prices of all my books to help self-isolating readers, and that includes my best selling “Heart of Fire Time of Ice” Time Equation Novel.
If you read one of my stories and like it, give me a review — preferably a good one, but be honest and review it as you think it deserves. Remember, you’re fighting author craziness.


Namaste,
Eric

Pirates of the Asteroids: The Belter Series Book 1

The Belter Revolution: The Belter Series Book 2

Heart of Fire Time of Ice: A Time Equation Novel Book 1 (1st of a series with the 4th book to be released in July)

Cyber-Witch: Cyber-Magic Series Book 1 – Previous FAPA President’s Award Winner (2017)