The CHATELAINE Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Romantic Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The Chatelaine Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards ( The #CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best new books featuring romantic themes and adventures of the heart, historical love affairs, perhaps a little steamy romance, and stories that appeal especially to fans of affairs of the heart to compete in the Chatelaine Book Awards (the CIBAs).
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the Finalists positions. Semi-Finalists will be announced and recognized at the CAC21 banquet and ceremony. We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremonies April 21-25th, 2021 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. at the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2020 Chatelaine Book Awards LONG LIST to the 2020 SHORT LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 Semi-finalists.
Sara Stamey– Pause
Linda Stewart Henley –Estelle: A Novel
Lindy Miller –The Magic Ingredient
Alexandrea Weis –The Christmas Spirit
Mary Ting –When the Wind Chimes
Linda Lee Graham –A Thimbleful of Honor
F. E. Greene –Some Place Like Home
Gayle Woodson –After Kilimanjaro
Rebekah N. Bryan –Jenna with the Red Pen
Michael Aloysius O’Reilly –Romeo and Juliet Are Alive and Well in California
R.Harrington– Veronica
R.A.R. Clouston –Cry Savage Tears
Eileen Charbonneau –Mercies of the Fallen
Tammy Mannersly –Drawn to Him
Beverly Allie –Where the Monarchs Dance
Elizabeth Crowens –Dear Mom, The Killer is Among Us
Harper McDavid –Zapata
Carol Van Den Hende –Goodbye, Orchid: To Love Her, He Had to Leave Her
Gail Noble-Sanderson –The Lavender Bees of Meuse
Holly Brandon –Life in the Chastity Zone
Michelle Cox –A Child Lost
Tina Sloan –Chasing Cleopatra
Barb Warner Deane –The Whistle Stop Canteen
These titles are in the running for the Finalists of the 2020 Chatelaine Book Awards for Romantic Fiction.
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Chatelaine Book Awards for Romantic Fiction?
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
The 2020 CIBA FINALISTS will be announced at VCAC21, April 21 -24, 2021.
Which of these works will advance to the Finalists positions? The excitement continues to build!
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
The GERTRUDE WARNER Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of middle-grade readers, fiction and non-fiction, that compel children to read and explore. The Gertrude Warner Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs).
Named in honor of the author of the quintessential children’s series – The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Warner.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring stories of all shapes and sizes written to an audience between the ages of about eight to twelve. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Historical, Adventure we will put them to the test and choose the best Middle-Grade Books among them. (For Young Adult Fiction see our Dante Rossetti Awards, for Children’s Literature see our Little Peeps Awards.)
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2020 Chatelaine Book Awards LONG LIST to the 2020 SHORT LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 Semi-finalists.
These titles have reached the Semi-Finalists for the 2020 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Fiction
Catherine Grangaard –A Fairy’s Tails
Poem Schway –The Infinity Pendant
Ruthy Ballard –Frankie and the Gift of Fantasy
Laura Gerhardt Schonberg –Joker
Ben Gartner –The Eye of Ra
Gregory Saur –Best Shot Forward
Wendy Leighton-Porter –The Shadow of the Witchfinder
Ian C Douglas –The Particle Beast
Carolina Ugaz-Moran –Aline and the Blue Bottle
Jay Spenser –The Barn Owl Mystery
Jay Spenser –The Phantom Airplane Mystery
Tricia L McDonald –The Sally Squad: Pals to the Rescue
Carmela Dutra –Little Katie and the STEAM Team
Carmela Dutra –Little Katie Goes to the Moon
John Middleton –Dillion and The Skeleton Hall
William X. Adams –Alien Body
Catherine M. O’Connor –Throwing the World
Alison Rice –Chasing Snow
Frank Saraco –Life in the Grand Pause
Richard Groseclose –Henry Castlewaite and the Portrait of Doom
Kelly Oliver –Kassy O’Roarke, Cub Reporter
These titles are in the running for the Finalists of the 2020 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle Grade Fiction.
The 2020 CIBA FINALISTS will be announced at VCAC 21, April 22 – 24, 2021.
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Gertrude Warner Book Awards for Middle-Grade Readers?
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 Gertrude Warner Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is June 30th, 2021. The winners will be announced in April 2022.
The MARK TWAIN Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Humor and Satire Fiction. The Mark Twain Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
The 2020 Mark Twain Book Awards for Satire Fiction, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards is the first year that this division is offered as a book awards competition division in the CIBAs.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring satire, humor, political ideology, parody, fantasy, and allegory or fable. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. The best will advance. Which titles will be declared as winners of the prestigious Somerset Book Awards? (For contemporary and literary fiction see our Somerset Book Awards.)
I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: “Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.” — Mark Twain
Twain’s prediction was accurate; he died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910, in Stormfield, (Twain’s mansion where he lived from 1908 until his death) one day after the comet’s closest approach to Earth.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2020 Chatelaine Book Awards LONG LIST to the 2020 SHORT LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 SEMI-FINALISTS.
The 22 divisions of the 2020 CIBAs’Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at theApril 25th, 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place at the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in LIVE virtually Bellingham, Wash.
These titles have advanced to the Semi-Finalists for the 2020 Mark Twain Book Awards for Satire and Humor Fiction
Charlie Suisman –Arnold Falls
Steven Mayfield –Treasure of the Blue Whale
St John Karp –Quake City
Lenore Rowntree –Cluck
J.P. Kenna –Toward A Terrible Freedom
Wayne Edmiston –UNfatally Dead: to thaw or not to thaw?
Haris Orkin –You Only Live Once
Elizabeth Crowens –Dear Bernie, I’m Glad You’re Dead
Alex J. Tremari –Dragoncast
Michael Aloysius O’Reilly –The Billionaire’s Daughter
Elizabeth Crowens –Dear Mom, The Killer is Among Us
Ivy Cayden –Everything All At Once (Book 1, Chorduroys and Too Many Boys™)
Erik Segall –Not Yet
Anastasia Fox –Trout Fishing in the Cretaceous
K.N. Salustro –Cause of Death: ???
Conon Parks –Some Kind of Ending
Beth Wareham and Jason Davis –Hair Club Burning
Adam Cliff –Exposure
David B. Seaburn –Gavin Goode
Matt Tompkins –Odsburg
Lou Dischler –Too Pretty for a Hit Man
Good Luck to All!
These titles are in the running for the Finalists of the 2020 Mark Twain Book Awards for Satire and Humor Fiction.
The 2020 CIBA FINALISTS will be announced during VCAC21 – April 22 – 24, 2021.
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
The SOMERSET Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Literary and Contemporary Fiction. The Somerset Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring contemporary stories, literary themes, adventure, magical realism, or women and family themes. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. The best will advance. Which titles will be declared as winners of the prestigious Somerset Book Awards?
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2020 Somerset Book Awards LONG LIST to the 2020 SHORT LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 SEMI-FINALISTS.
Congratulations to the following titles who have advanced to the 2020 SOMERSET Book Awards SEMI-FINALISTS!
Susan Dobson –Boomerang
Sara Stamey –Pause
R Barber Anderson –Jumeau
Gregory Erich Phillips –A Season in Lights
Candi Sary –Magdalena
Kathleen Reid –Sunrise in Florence
T P Graf –As the Daisies Bloom
Patrick M. Garry –The Donor
Katherine Johnson –Grit & Granite
Jennifer Gold –Keep Me Afloat
Catherine Hamilton –Victoria’s War
Pierce Koslosky Jr. –A Week at Surfside Beach
John Danenbarger –Entanglement: Quantum and Otherwise
Julie Weary –Knowing Marjorie Thane
Dan V. Jackson –Rainbow Bridge
Kathleen M. Rodgers –The Flying Cutterbucks
Abbe Rolnick –Founding Stones
Liana Gardner –Speak No Evil
Susan Wingate –How the Deer Moon Hungers
Lainey Cameron –The Exit Strategy
Barbara Linn Probst –Queen of the Owls
Judy Keeslar Santamaria– Jetty Cat Palace Cafe
Joanne Kukanza Easley –Sweet Jane
NOTE: Some titles have been transferred to the Mark Twain Book Awards for Satire, Allegory, Humor, and Alternative Histories (non-SciFi).
These titles are in the running for the Finalists of the 2020 Somerset Book Awards for Contemporary and Literary Fiction.
The 2020 CIBA FINALISTS will be announced at VCAC 21, April 22 – 24, 2021.
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Somerset Book Awards for Contemporary and Literary Fiction?
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 Somerset Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is November 30th, 2021. The winners will be announced in April 2022.
AIOSEO (All In One Search Engine Optimization) is a profoundly popular tool for marketing. Now you don’t have to respond to the daily emails offering you the First Page of Google, and you can instead feel confident you are doing the best you can.
Disclaimer:
One important thing to consider is that this article is written in early 2021. If the date is considerably later, then it is out of date.
Technology grows and changes rapidly, and we must always rise to meet it. This article won’t look too deeply at categories and tags, because those should just be already listed on your website. If you’re interested in learning more about tags, click here for our article, by Kiffer Brown on using hashtags, which follow a similar rule.
KEY TIP: Always click save when working on anything, especially after adding images. Don’t count on the program to autosave things for your website. Save your draft work early and often.
AIOSEO – More than Alphabet Soup – All In One Search Engine Optimization — will help you drive more traffic to your website.
More Web Traffic = More Book Sales
We will be using WordPress as our example, and you can see our initial AIOSEO score on a new article below:
If you pay a web service, like WordPress, for your website, they should have a help system that you should be able to email if you have additional questions to address. Let’s dive in!
We know what AIOSEO Stands for. What Does it Do?
The AIOSEO looks at how search engines will read your website. Yup, they are reading your website to try and guess how the website will be read by humans. A human programmed a search engine to try to read a website like a human in order to determine if the website will be easy for actual humans to read. If that feels circular to you, you are not alone.
We all have a lot of time in front of computers in our future
Here are things that help your website seem more readable:
Headings every few paragraphs
A Post Title of 60 Characters or slightly fewer.
Meta Description of 160 Characters or fewer
A Focus Keyphrase that appears everywhere
Less than 10% of the piece should be in passive voice
No more than 25% of sentences should be over 20 words
Paragraphs should be no more than 120 words
Images and Videos should be included
External and Internal Links should be included
Wow! That’s a lot! When do we know that we’ve done enough?
Sites like WordPress give you your AIOSEO score to see. The score is out of 100, and most website score between 60-80, so that’s a good place to aim. Obviously some of these won’t be reasonable for your website to accommodate depending on the material you promote.
For example, as a website with a lot of reviews, we have more passive voice in our reviews. Why? We don’t want to give away who is responsible for the action in the book! Passive voice avoids answer who is responsible for an action, and allows us to provide excellent, spoiler-free reviews.
Let’s break down some of those bullet points together.
Headings
See the word “Headings” immediately above this sentence? That’s a heading! Usually websites offer the opportunity to choose between Paragraphs, Headings, and Quote Text. A heading lets your reader know you are moving to a new subject. They are an excellent way to signal a change in subject, and lets the reader find the information they want to locate right away.
Within a section, you can use multiple headings, usually in the form of “Heading 1” “Heading 2” and so on to create subheadings within a section. You can see what our Heading dropdown menu on WordPress looks like below.
From here, we’ll move to looking at the keyphrase and title.
Focus Keyphrase is essential for AIOSEO
This is the main idea of your post. For this post you are reading our keyphrase is AIOSEO. You want it to be ubiquitous throughout your post. This is where it should show up:
Title
Post Title
Meta Description
The First Paragraph
Tags
Alternative Text
This is how the Focus Key phrase appears for us
Remember, these will appear differently to everyone based on a number of factors that we can’t predict, so take your time looking for them or Google what you’re looking for and the name of the website you’re using.
Post Title
See how above the “Post Title” is a “Snippet Preview” to see how your post will appear in a web search? That’s a great way to really see what it looks like. And in the bottom right corner you can see that it only uses 38 out of the 60 recommended characters.
Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about Alternative Text, it just needs a little more explanation than a quick screenshot.
Alternative Text adds a couple AIOSEO points
Generally, if you click “edit” on an image, one of the categories that pops up will be alternative text or “ALT text.” ALT text is what a screen reader will read out when it comes across an image on your webpage. This helps anyone who has issues seeing the webpage or even people who can see the webpage fine and simply prefer to have text read to them. Simple and direct is usually best with ALT text.
Internal and External Links add a few AIOSEO points
Internal links are simply links that go to somewhere else within your website. External Links go somewhere outside your website. We always recommend making sure your Links “Open a New Tab” rather than navigating away from the website you are on.
That top box is the ticket!
Opening to a new tab fulfills both your readers need to not lose their place in what they’re reading, and it fulfills your need to keep them on your website!
Thinking of screen readers again, remember to make it clear what is and isn’t a link, by stating exactly what the link leads to, and then hyperlinking it.
Probably the second one. Now imagine you are using a screen reader. Would you rather have a computer voice attempt to read that full URL to you (h t t p: w w w…), or would you rather a direct description of where the link will go followed by the words “Click Here”?
Most people recommend the hyperlink as opposed to the full URL. If you really want to use a full URL, you can always consider using a custom tiny URL by going to the Tiny URL creation website here.
One Last Note: #Hashtags
Everyone loves the Hashtag, or as we like to call it, the octothorpe. When using Hashtags, we recommend capitalizing every individual word. For example #chanticleerauthorsconference would be #ChanticleerAuthorsConference or for Twitter #CAC21 #SeriousAuthors
Octothorpe aka Hashtag aka pound symbol has 8 points
The capitalization won’t make much of a difference to the computer that analyzes your work, but it will make a huge difference in terms of whether your hashtags will actually be accessible and readable by a large audience.
So How Did We Do?
We looked at this post a couple of times before posting. Here’s how our score looked.
Here is a look at our AIOSO score throughout the writing of this article:
Text and Title Only: 58
After Adding Headings: 68
Adjusting Post Title and Meta Description to appropriate word count: 79
Adding AIOSEO as the Focus Keyphrase: 89
Adding an image with the alt text AIOSEO: 90
When we finish with adding our links, the score raises to 95! Tightening up language as suggested by the AIOSEO brings us all the way to 96!
Update from 10/24/24: We’re now at 98!
The increase in score is likely due to us always purchasing the latest p0ssible services to promote our authors.
Before you hit publish on your site, check out the AIOSEO score.
Remember, between 60-80 is considered pretty good!
Good luck, and happy posting!
If you are interested in participating in a Hands On AIOSEO Workshop, please send us an email to Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com
Writer’s Toolbox
Thank you for reading this Chanticleer Writer’s Toolbox article.
The GLOBAL THRILLERS Book Awards recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Lab Lit and Global Thrillers. The GLOBAL THRILLERS Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Novel Book Awards and Writing Competitions. (The CIBAs)
Chanticleer Book Reviews is looking for the best books featuring suspense, thrilling stories that put the balance of world power or that will end the world as we know it. We include with Global Thrillers the Lab Lit genre. Lab Lit is when Fiction Meets Real Science and Research or stories that are based on real science and research up to a certain “what if” point.
The Short Listers’ works will compete for the Semi-Finalists positions. Semi-Finalists will compete for FINALISTS positions.
The CIBA Finalists will be announced at VCAC 21, April 22 – 24, 2021.
The 23 divisions of the 2020 CIBAs’Grand Prize Winners and the Five First Place Category Position award winners will be announced at the June 5th, 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards Annual Awards Gala,which takes place after the Chanticleer Authors Conference that will be held in virtually Bellingham, Wash.
The 2020 Semi-Finalists for the Global Thriller Book Awards
Congratulations to the 2020 GLOBAL THRILLER Book Awards Semi-Finalists
Matt Andrus –UFO
Lynn Yvonne Moon –The Agency – Tablet of Destinies
Avanti Centrae –Kiss of the Cobra – An M2 Action Thriller
Courtney Leigh Pahlke –Life Force Preserve; West End William
Rafael Amadeus Hines –Bishop’s Law
Marc McGuire –Missions
Domenick Venezia –Do No Harm
William Maz –A Cure for the Living
William Maz –The Bucharest Dossier
Erik Foge –One Way Roads
David Tunno –Intrepid Spirit
Tony Irvin –Waking the Sleepers
James G. Skinner –Samaritan Drug Lords
Randall Krzak –Colombian Betrayal
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 GLOBAL THRILLER Book Awards writing competition. The deadline for submissions is October 21st, 2021. Please click here for more information.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at Info@ChantiReviews.com.
The CHAUCER Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in pre-1750s Historical Fiction. The CHAUCER Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
The Chaucer Book Awards competition is named for Geoffrey Chaucer the author of the legendary Canterbury Tales. The work is considered to be one of the greatest works in the English language. It was among the first non-secular books written in Middle English to be printed in 1483.
Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking for the best books featuring Pre-1750s Historical Fiction, including pre-history, ancient history, Classical, world history (non-western culture), Dark Ages and Medieval Europe, Renaissance, Elizabethan, Tudor, 1600s, we will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2020 LONG LIST to the SHORT LIST and have now progressed to the 2020 SEMI-FINALISTS.
These titles are in the running for the Finalist positions of the 2020 CHAUCER Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction.Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
James Hutson-Wiley –The Travels of ibn Thomas
Patrick E. Craig –The Mennonite Queen
Regan Walker –Summer Warrior
N.L. Holmes –Bird in a Snare
Thoren Syndergaard –Ripley of Valor
Seven Jane –The Isle of Gold
Edward Rickford –The Bend of the River: Book Two in the Tenochtitlan Trilogy
Helena P. Schrader –The Emperor Strikes Back
Dave & Steve Curliss –To Give Thanks – Our Pilgrim Ancestors
Brook Allen –Antonius: Son of Rome
Sherry V. Ostroff –Caledonia
Amy Wolf –A Woman of the Road and Sea
Marilyn Pemberton –Song of the Nightingale: a Tale of Two Castrati
Wendy J. Dunn –Falling Pomegranate Seeds: The Duty of Daughters
Denis Olasehinde Akinmolasire –The Mission to End Slavery
Janet Wertman –The Path to Somerset
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Chaucer Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction?
The 2020 CIBA FINALISTS will be announced at VCAC21 – April 21 – 24, 2021.
The 2020 CIBA Finalists for all divisions will be announced at VCAC21 with the First Place and Grand Prize winners announced on Sunday, April 25, 2021.
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 CHAUCER Book Awards for pre-1750s Historical Fiction. The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2021. The 2021 winners will be announced in April 2022.
As always, please contact us at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!
We are eager to welcome Chelsea Bennett from LuLu press to VCAC21!
Session Presentation: How Direct Sales Should be Part of Your Marketing Plan: Sell Direct and Make More Money
Panel Presentation: Multi-Channel Marketing Platforms for E-pubs with Simone-Pierre Marion, Bookchain.
We’re so looking forward to benefiting from Chelsea’s unique background and expert experience to help guide authors along their self-publishing journey at #VCAC21
Chelsea Bennett, LuLu
Chelsea Bennet is The Brand Engagement Manager for Lulu.com and is constantly researching and developing new resources for self-published authors. Her areas of expertise include self-publishing, Print-on-Demand technology, building an author brand, direct sales and marketing for self-published authors and entrepreneurs. When not thinking about self-publishing, Chelsea can be found playing disc golf with her husband or having in-depth conversations about the universe with her cat, Batman. Stop by and say hello!
Whatever you choose to create, however you choose to create it, Lulu is here to help with book printing available in five languages and in over 225 countries and territories. Whether you are creating a gift, a book to sell on Amazon, a manual for your office, a portfolio, or any other kind of book for any purpose, Lulu encourages you to create something.
Click here for more information about the 2021 Chanticleer Authors Conference and Int’l Book Awards Banquet and Ceremony.
The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Western, Pioneer, & Civil War Historical Fiction and First Nation Novels. The Laramie Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring, the wild west, pioneering, Civil War, North American History, and First Nation Novels. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. The best will advance. Which titles will be declared as winners of the prestigious Laramie Book Awards?
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2020 Chatelaine Book Awards LONG LIST to the 2020 SHORT LIST and now have progressed to the 2020 Semi-finalists.
Congratulations to the following titles who have advanced to the 2020 Laramie Book Awards SEMI-FINALISTS!
Fred Dickey –Days of Hope, Miles of Misery
David Fitz-Gerald –She Sees Ghosts? The Story of a Woman Who Rescues Lost Souls
DL Fowler –The Turn
JR Collins –Legend of Swell Branch
Eileen Charbonneau –Mercies of the Fallen
James Kahn –Matamoros
Gerry Robinson –The Cheyenne Story
J. Palma –The Chaffee Sisters
J.C. Graves –Death is a Sharpshooter
J.B. Richard –Jesse
Terry D. Heflin –Scarlet Hem
Mike Shellenbergar –Quail Creek Ranch
Mike Shellenbergar –Refuge
T.K. Conklin –Promise of Spring
Rebecca Dwight Bruff –Trouble the Water, a Novel
E. Alan Fleischauer –Hunted
Daniel Greene –Northern Wolf
Barbara Salvatore –Magghie
These titles are in the running for the Finalists of the 2020 Laramie Book Awards for Western, Pioneer, & Civil War Historical Fiction and First Nation Novels Fiction.
All CIBA Finalists will be announced at VCAC 21 April 21 – 24, 2021.
Which of these works will move forward in the judging rounds for the 2020 Laramie Book Awards for Western/Pioneer Fiction Fiction?
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.
The Semi-Finalists’ works will compete for the First Place Winner positions, and then all will be recognized in the evenings at VCAC21 April 22-24th from 6-8 p.m. PST.
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 23 CIBA divisions Finalists. We will announce the 1st Place Category Winners and Grand Prize Division Winners the CIBAs Ceremonies June 5th, 2021 virtually (Free) and LIVE at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 Laramie Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is July 31st, 2021. The winners will be announced in April 2022.
Content and happy in a village nestled deep within the forest, eighteen-year-old Cecilia never realized a bigger world existed in Cecilia (The Cecilia Series Book 1) by Sandra L. Rostirolla.
After the Great War, Cecilia’s great ancestor led a small group of followers far away from the destruction left behind. For many years, they lived underground away from the poisonous air until it was safe to begin life above ground again. Now, generations later, Cecilia lives an idyllic life with her mother and two older brothers. One day, a group of dark riders decimates her village, killing every female and old person and taking prisoner all of the males old enough to join their ranks or serve as slaves for Vitus, a city Cecilia never knew existed.
After narrowly escaping the riders, Cecilia is visited by Siersha, the Goddess of Light. Cecilia now has a deep drive to save her brothers though she knows nothing of the world beyond her forest. Not long into her journey, Cecilia is attacked by Amalardh, a professional killer sent to find the lone survivor of the village massacre. When Cecilia saves Amalardh from a horrible accident, he can’t bring himself to kill the beautiful, innocent girl. He agrees to take her to Vitus to find her brothers. However, as the two become closer, it is clear Siersha has a purpose for them both unfolding from an ancient prophecy that must be fulfilled by the Flower Princess and the Wolf.
As the Dark Shadow named Eifa moves across the land, Cecilia and Amalardh know they must defeat the darkness before it annihilates the tiny shred of human goodness left in the world. But with an army of dark riders and the sadistic rulers of Vitus, the two will face a greater evil than they know.
A central theme of the novel is resilience.
Cecilia is an untested, completely innocent girl with no knowledge of evil. In fact, her greatest “sin” is her refusal to kiss Leighton, a boy with a hard crush on his former friend. Because Cecilia loves and respects the connection between all living things – and loves to tell stories of the myths and legends of her people, the village girls gather to listen to her stories about the Flower Princess and the Wolf while she braids their hair.
To Cecilia, the stories of the brave warrior princess are just beloved fairy tales until her initial visit from Siersha. At first, she resists Siersha’s urging to take the challenge of returning light to the world of men. However, when she sees the villagers’ bodies and that of her mother’s, she knows she cannot hide. That is when her resilience truly begins.
After burying the dead, Cecilia begins a journey she couldn’t have fathomed before the killings. She often questions her ability to accomplish such an enormous task, but she digs deep within herself to find the strength to go on each time. Even when confronted by Amalardh, the Dark Shadow of the Senators of Vitus, Cecilia refuses to give in to the darkness. When she begins to see the connection between herself, Amalardh, and the fairy tale she loves, she believes in her purpose. Through her resilience, Cecilia convinces Amalardh as well. Each group Cecilia meets questions her belief, but she never gives up and eventually convinces strangers to believe in her purpose as well. Cecilia rises to become the warrior princess, who, without her resilience, her incredible journey, both literal and metaphorical, could never have happened.
The love story between Amalardh and Cecilia is another beautiful facet of this novel.
Cecilia decided long ago never to love a man. but Amalardh’s story goes much deeper. Raised by the Senators for the sole purpose of killing, he has none of the softer emotions connected with love. After his father’s death, Amalardh was imprisoned and beaten for years, then trained as an assassin by the head of the army of Vitus. He has never known kindness from another human. When Cecilia, his next intended victim, saves his life, he cannot process his emotions. The evolution of his feelings in this savage world serves as an interesting juxtaposition with Cecilia.
Seeing the familiar world in this post-apocalyptic landscape will bewitch both lovers of fantasy and dystopian. Cecilia is a dark dystopian fantasy for young adults that promises more adventure to come. Sandra L. Rostirolla won First in Category for Cecilia in the CIBA 2017 Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult Fiction novels.
The CHATELAINE Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Romantic Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The Chatelaine Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards ( The #CIBAs).
We are now accepting submissions into the 2021 Gertrude Warner Awards Book Awards. The deadline for submissions is June 30th, 2021. The winners will be announced in April 2022.
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The CHAUCER Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in pre-1750s Historical Fiction. The CHAUCER Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
