I got to be involved in a really cool project last year. And look what’s come of it.

This year, P.A. Baines is on the Indie Book Award finalist list in both the Religious and Sci-Fi categories. What is this, you ask? Basically, it’s the Sundance Film Festival of publishing.

The term ‘indie’ traditionally refers to independent art — music, film, literature or anything that fits under the broad banner of culture — created outside of the mainstream and without corporate financing. -Catherine Andrews, CNN.com

Or, in the words of the awards site, “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.”

That would include Splashdown Books. How much fun is that? Well, let me tell you.

The contest gives away a total of over $10,000 in category and overall prizes. Then it throws a banquet. Then it sends out a press release which is professionally channeled to a bucketload of media outlets. Then the category winners get a reading from a top New York agency for potential assistance with things like distribution, foreign rights, film rights, and other subsidiary rights. Then it puts the top books in a catalogue which it sends out to the tune of thousands of copies, and it also promotes them on its website for a year.

As you can see from the photo, finalists may not get cash prizes, but they do get materially acknowledged. I found myself tagged on Facebook when the above photo was released by Grace Bridges, and it made my week.

Now, to business: more information and a sample chapter of P.A. Baines’s book. If you haven’t before, I really encourage you to take a look. Alpha Redemption was my favourite editing job of 2010, hands down. I am so proud to have been offered a role in bringing it to life.

Bless you, Paul, and may many more recognitions follow in your career.