Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Self help

The 2022 I&I CIBAs Long List for Instructional and Insightful Non-Fiction
The I & I Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Instruction and Insight non-fiction that are self-help, how-to, guides, or explanatory. In non-fiction works, the author assumes responsibility (in good faith) for the truth, accuracy, people, places, or information presented. The I & I Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best Instruction and Insight books featuring How-To, Guidance, Travel Guides, Cookbooks, Self-Help, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 I&I Non-Fiction entries to the 2022 I&I Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for the 2022 I&I Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 I&I Book Awards novel competition for Instruction and Insight Non-Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
- Tana Hope – Healthy Habits for Desk Potatoes
- Kenneth Nixon Jr. – Born Into Crisis
- John W. Feist – Pocket Japan: a concise guidebook for business travelers to Japan
- Deborah Vinall, PsyD, LMFT – Trauma Recovery Workbook for Teens
- Kip and Pam Rosser – Vegetarian Tales From the Mushroom Rooms
- Natalie Dale, MD – A Writer’s Guide to Medicine. Volume 2: Illness & Injury
- Kerrin Margiano – Enjoy the Gift of Childhood
- Simran Sadana & Meena Iyer – Ramayana Through Ikebana
- Michael J. Freeman Ph.D. – Freeman Explains! The Things That Can Change That Should Be Changed
- Matthew J. Louis – Mission Transition: Navigating the Opportunities and Obstacles to Your Post-Military Career
- Gene Berardelli – Schnooks, Crooks, Liars & Scoundrels: A Field Guide to Identifying Political Buffoons
- Wendela Whitcomb Marsh – Dating While Autistic: Cut Through the Social Quagmire and Find Your Person
- Mitzi Perdue – Mark Victor Hansen, Relentless: Wisdom Behind the Incomparable Chicken Soup for the Soul
- Christopher H. Volk – The Value Equation: A Business Guide to Wealth Creation for Entrepreneurs, Leaders and Investors
- Daniel Shyti – American Gaslighting: How America Is Being Systematically Taught to Hate Itself
- Ellen Notbohm – Ten Things Your Student with Autism Wishes You Knew
- Gustavo J. Gomez, Ph.D. – Hair Loss: Options for Restoration & Reversal 2nd Edition
- Ann E Feldman – Building Communities of Trust: Creative Work for Social Change
- Margaret Tran – The ACTIONS
- E. Alan Fleischauer – Reconfigurement
- D. TERRENCE FOSTER, MD – The Stress Book: Forty-Plus Ways to Manage Stress & Enjoy Your Life
- Tracy Cram Perkins – Dementia Home Care, How to Prepare Before, During, and After
- Sandy Gerber – Emotional Magnetism – How to Communicate to Ignite Connection in Your Relationships
- Donna McCart Welser – Rue’s Butterfly
- Jocelyn Jones – Artist: Awakening the Spirit Within
- Jennifer Browdy – Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future
- Linda Kolsky – Heavenly Hindsights: How One Mother Found Meaning in Life After the Death of Her Child
- Benjamin Plumb – The Satisfied Introvert: A Memoir About Finding Safety in an Extroverted World
- Daryl Potter – Even the Monsters. Living with Grief, Loss, and Depression
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The Grand Prize Winner for the 2021 I&I Awards is
Ángela Quijada-Banks for The Black Foster Youth Handbook

Click here to see the 2021 I&I Book Award Winners for Instruction and Insight Non-Fiction

We are now accepting submissions to the 2023 I&I Book Awards for Instruction and Insight Non-Fiction. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2024.

Please click here for more information.

See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

Winners will be announced at the 2021 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at info@ChantiReviews.com.
January 31, 2023
Understanding Prescriptive Non-Fiction | November Non-Fiction Deadlines!
Looking at the I&I, Harvey Chute, and Mind & Spirit Awards

There are two types of Non-Fiction that we commonly see: Narrative Non-Fiction and Prescriptive Non-Fiction.

Just what is the difference between types of Non-Fiction?

Narrative often makes the most sense, but that doesn’t mean that Prescriptive Non-Fiction deserves a bad rap. Let’s look at some definitions:

Narrative Non-Fiction:

The primary focus is story. Often a beginning, middle, and end, it stands strong with most fiction stories, with the notable difference that it is, in fact, Non-Fiction. Memoir is similar, though obviously focused on one person’s first person experience of their own life.

Prescriptive Non-Fiction:

The primary focus here is conveying a message. Narrative and writing style help convey this message in the same way it conveys theme in a Narrative Non-Fiction. The person writing must be an expert in the subject. How else do you make a full book of it?

While we’re going to focus on three different genres of Prescriptive Non-Fiction, you can always read more about it through resources like this one here.

Three Genres of the CIBAs for Prescriptive Non-Fiction

While you can see our full list of Non-Fiction Genres (including the newest for Military and Front Line Books) here, we consider our I&I, Harvey Chute, and Mind & Spirit Book Award Programs to be closest to Prescriptive Non-Fiction. The main focuses for these three Awards programs are How-To, Business & Finance, and Spirituality and Mindfulness.

There’s a good deal of overlap with the other Awards as sometimes the instructional side of a workbook takes over more than the part that looks directly at financial or spiritual welfare. However, the key here is that you learn while enjoying a book. Maybe the book is framed through someone’s personal experience, their clinical experience, or told in the form of a travelogue, but no matter what it brings you through to a new understanding by the end.

What Does Prescriptive Non-Fiction Look Like?

Examples are always best in these cases. Here are some of our favorite Non-Fiction books that we’ve reviewed recently focusing on How-To, Business & Finance, and Spirituality.

EMOTIONAL MAGNETISM: How to Communicate to Ignite Connection in Your Relationships

By Sandy Gerber

Emotional Magnetism: How to Communicate to Ignite Connection in Your Relationships is a self-help and marketing book in one—in fact, it’s a self-marketing book.

A seasoned marketing professional, author Sandy Gerber uses common elements in marketing theory to aid those who wish to enhance their communication skills and ability to get along with people around them. It’s easy to be misunderstood or unheard, and it’s even easier to be at cross-purposes, leading to frustration and animosity. But using Gerber’s SAVE technique, understanding what we mean and what we need becomes clear.

In this work, we learn what emotional magnetism is, and how well we can communicate when we learn how to harness it. We also learn about how emotional magnetism can be repelled when it’s not done right. But in order to use emotional magnetism, we must first learn what the emotional magnets are, using the acronym SAVE—short for safety (S), achievement (A), value (V), and experience (E)—and how they are reflected in our personalities.

Read more here!

HEALING OUT LOUD: How to Embrace God’s Love When You Don’t Like Yourself

By Sandi Brown & Michelle Caulk

Two writers – friends, and former counselor and client – combine forces to create Healing Out Loud, a dynamic book aimed at understanding and overcoming the deficits that life hands us.

Sandi Brown, a radio personality with more grit than she realizes, seeks professional help. Michelle Caulk’s therapeutic methodology perfectly suits this case. The two offer examples of wishing for and finding true mental health through the development of a remarkable communicative relationship.

Each chapter of the pair’s psychological explorations begins with a memory from Sandi, accompanied by her expanded view of incidents from childhood and beyond. These ruminations are then matched by counselor Michelle’s personal grasp of Sandi’s specific dilemmas, and well-constructed guidelines for a healing process that readers can incorporate into their own lives. Sandi, grappling with low self-esteem, was traumatized as a child when her father left her mother and brother, loudly and finally, with no explanation.

Read more here!

WELFARE CHEESE to FINE CAVIAR: How to Achieve Your Dreams Despite Your Upbringing

By Thomas Wideman, MBA, PMP

First Place Winner in the Harvey Chute Awards

Thomas Wideman, the author of this dynamic self-help manual, Welfare Cheese to Fine Caviar: How to Achieve Your Dreams Despite Your Upbringing, rose from poverty and dismay to a life of security and personal achievement through techniques he shares with readers who can incorporate them into their own life plans.

Wideman came from an impoverished African American family wracked by confusion, chaos, and, at times, criminality. His mother had three sons by three fathers, and he would come to know his own father only peripherally, eventually learning that the man murdered people and subsequently died in prison. The boy grew up in tough neighborhoods and ate “welfare cheese” (a block of pre-sliced heavy American cheese that supposedly melted well). Every month, making ends meet became more and more difficult. In an early chapter of this finely woven chronology, we see him taking food from trains parked along the railroad tracks and running from the authorities. In this, as in each new chapter, he speaks of confronting severe issues and finding ways to resolve them. In the case of the theft and other childhood incidents of fighting, experiencing bullies, and battling racism, he speaks of making up his mind that “my circumstances need not be my limitation.”

A math whiz, Wideman found his strengths through schoolwork, striving for A’s instead of merely accepting B’s.

Read more here!

GATHERING PEBBLES: Learning How to Make Your Own Chicken Soup

By David Okerlund

Inuit of the Canadian Arctic are known for creating stone structures used as navigational points and message centers for fellow travelers. Some of these directional monuments provide a spiritual connotation meant to enrich the journey.

Gathering Pebbles is David Okerlund’s own “inukshuk” of sorts, a book filled with stories, recollections, and memorable life events that have become part of his personal road map for living. Okerlund, a world-class inspirational speaker, shares his best stories to help you create your own life-path. He shares this collection of nuggets in the interest of helping others along their chosen path and hoping to encourage their own “gathering” and sharing of valuable knowledge.

Okerlund directs his writing in a casual, user-friendly style. Each of the book’s chapters is highlighted as a pebble gathered on his winding life’s path. Titles are effectively posed as questions to help draw readers into the topic at hand. Each chapter is formatted with a variable mixture of contemplative quotes, poetry, recaptured historical moments, and personal experiences, to showcase qualities such as perseverance, retaining a sense of childhood wonderment, the importance of faith, and following your dreams.

Read more here!

Each of these books does an excellent job navigating their genres (and their cover designs!), making it clear who they appeal to and how they can help the reader.

Have a How-To, Self-Help, or another great Non-Fiction Read that deserves recognition? Submit now to our Non-Fiction Book Awards by the end of November!

Celebrating the 2021 Winners for I&I, Harvey Chute, and the Mind & Spirit Awards!

Your book could be next!

Looking for more great reads?
Looking to up your game? Check out the traditional publishing tool that indie authors can use to propel their writing careers to new levels.
November 15, 2022
EMOTIONAL MAGNETISM: How to Communicate to Ignite Connection in Your Relationships by Sandy Gerber – Self Help, Communication, Life Goals

Emotional Magnetism: How to Communicate to Ignite Connection in Your Relationships is a self-help and marketing book in one—in fact, it’s a self-marketing book.

A seasoned marketing professional, author Sandy Gerber uses common elements in marketing theory to aid those who wish to enhance their communication skills and ability to get along with people around them. It’s easy to be misunderstood or unheard, and it’s even easier to be at cross-purposes, leading to frustration and animosity. But using Gerber’s SAVE technique, understanding what we mean and what we need becomes clear.

In this work, we learn what emotional magnetism is, and how well we can communicate when we learn how to harness it. We also learn about how emotional magnetism can be repelled when it’s not done right. But in order to use emotional magnetism, we must first learn what the emotional magnets are, using the acronym SAVE—short for safety (S), achievement (A), value (V), and experience (E)—and how they are reflected in our personalities.

Which individual magnets reflect who we really are? What’s most important to us?

Gerber points out that the magnets that represent us change as we change, and understanding that goes a long way to understanding ourselves and communicating with others. Say, for example, you love to travel to new and unexplored places, you want it to be worth the time and money spent, and you also want to make sure it’s as safe an experience as you can possibly make it.

So, which one of these magnets resonates with you? Of course, if you’re more of an achievement magnet kind of person, these others may not be as important, because you may have academic or monetary goals. Then again, maybe that trip to new and unexplored places may be an achievement in itself. So with all those in mind, which magnet resounds with you the strongest?

Let’s find out.

Gerber explains how to identify our emotional magnets by taking an assessment quiz, allowing us to focus on our main emotional magnet. Finally, the author gives us four steps with which to activate our individual emotional magnetism.

Gerber makes it clear that the magnets cannot “tell” you who to date; they don’t work that way. However, the magnets will allow you to get an idea of who is most likely to support your emotional needs, and vice versa. Once the reader understands the theory behind emotional magnets and starts viewing their relationships through the lens of these magnets, they may very well find that it becomes easier to “offer understanding, create rapport, and problem-solve like never before.”

Gerber’s writing reflects her marketing background in that it is clear and crisp, and knows how to communicate.

Emotional Magnetism is persuasive, and while the marketing concepts she brings forth are not new, she offers a novel approach to understanding them.

“Emotional Magnetism begins and ends with communication,” author Sandy Gerber states, and by using these techniques, our communication with others and understanding of ourselves can be all the clearer.

September 2, 2022
The MAGICAL GUIDE To BLISS by Meg Nocero – Personal Transformation, Self-Discovery, Follow-Your-Dreams

The Magical Guide to Bliss is the first book in Meg Nocero’s creative and empowering Butterflies & Bliss Trilogy, an authentic series that nurtures readers along their paths of self-discovery.

With heartfelt intention, Nocero openly shares daily lessons and reflections that helped her find happiness, and will hopefully help others to move beyond their comfort zones and view life as an adventure. The Magical Guide to Bliss invites the reader to recognize the value in simple things like faith, hope, love, and joy. These facets of life help in an effort to transport ourselves and those around us from a realm of sorrow and defeat to uplifting enlightenment.

This unique motivational journey has 366 entries, each representing a day of the year. In the calendar-like set up, each month focuses on a specific concept and features Nocero’s reflections on it. From February’s theme of love, to the “Attitude of Gratitude” welcomed in November, all 12 chapters highlight a distinct transformative idea. Readers can explore the book from beginning to end, or as a leisurely daily practice either according to the calendar, or at random.

Each reflection opens with a related quote from a wide range of writers, artists, and celebrities.

Whether the sound advice of actress and comedian Lucille Ball to “Love yourself first and everything falls into line,” or British novelist C.S. Lewis’ affirming words “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream,” the messages reveal that each day offers new opportunities and a chance to step into bliss. Prayers of gratitude from the renowned Dalai Lama to thoughts of the French artist Henri Matisse about searching for a balanced life and peaceful existence all prove to be well-chosen phrases to compliment the overall purpose of this guide.

Nocero’s own glorious revelations offer insight on a variety of efforts like letting go of the past and overcoming fears, using your imagination, breathing in life’s blessings while breathing out the hardships, and staying optimistic.

These valuable insights come along with magical keys and mantras intended to open the locked doors encountered on the road to bliss. The keys come in the form of simple actions to take, such as writing out a vision statement, watching an inspiring movie, repeating positive influencing words, or performing deep breathing exercises to clear your mind and connect with your spirit.

A small photo journal along with bibliography and suggested readings at the end of the book adds a personal touch. These recommended works served Nocero along her own blissful path, and she hopes they will prove equally beneficial to others.

Reeling from the loss of her mother, Mary Jo, the creation of this guide clearly served as a catalyst for Nocero to move beyond the darkness of a devastating time in her life. The Magical Guide to Bliss is dedicated to the loving memory of her mom.

This motivating work is a simple road map that’s easy to follow. While there is some repetition along this soul-stirring route to bliss, it reinforces the powerful messages and affirmative insights being shared.

“Your past is over, your present is waiting, and your future holds much possibility.” Nocero’s ardent and passionate writing proves a worthy guide for that future.

July 4, 2022
The I&I 2021 CIBA WINNERS for Instruction & Insight Non-Fiction
The I & I Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Instruction and Insight non-fiction that are self-help, how-to, guides, or explanatory. In non-fiction works, the author assumes responsibility (in good faith) for the truth, accuracy, people, places, or information presented. The I & I Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best Instruction and Insight books featuring How-To, Guidance, Travel Guides, Cookbooks, Self-Help, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

The 2021 I&I Book Awards for Instruction and Insight Non-Fiction First Place Category Winners and the I&I Grand Prize Winner were announced by Tana Hope on Saturday, June 25, 2022 at the Hotel Bellwether and broadcast via ZOOM webinar.

This is the OFFICIAL 2021 LIST of the I&I BOOK AWARDS for Instruction & Insight First Place Category Winners and the I&I Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in celebrating the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
- Angela Quijada-Banks – The Black Foster Youth Handbook
- Geraldine Clouston and Susan Weintrob – indieBRAG Eat, Read & Dream Cookbook
- Jim & Jessica Braz – Baby Out of Wedlock
- M. J. Simms-Maddox, Ph.D. – A Handbook for Emerging and Seasoned Authors
- Phoebe Walker – Freedom Found – Productive and Joyful Living In Spite of Chronic Pain
- Wendela Whitcomb Marsh – Recognizing Autism in Women and Girls
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 I&I Awards is:

The Black Foster Youth Handbook

by Ángela Quijada-Banks

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

Attn CIBA Winners: More goodies and prizes will be coming your way along with promotion in our magazine, website, and advertisements in Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards long-tail marketing strategy. Welcome to the CIBA Hall of Fame for Award Winners!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

The 2022 I&I Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 10 year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2022 I&I Book Awards are open until the end of November. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in August. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. We thank you for participating in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards!
July 3, 2022
The MIND & SPIRIT 2021 CIBA WINNERS for Spirituality and Enlightenment Non-Fiction
The Mind and Spirit Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Enlightenment and Well-Being Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Mind and Spirit Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring enlightenment, motivational/self-help, spirituality, mindfulness, well-being, meditation, and energy. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

The 2021 MIND & SPIRIT Book Awards First Place Category Winners and the MIND & SPIRIT Grand Prize Winner were announced by Sean Dwyer on Saturday, June 25, 2022 at the Hotel Bellwether and broadcast via ZOOM webinar.

This is the OFFICIAL 2021 LIST of the MIND & SPIRIT BOOK AWARDS First Place Category Winners and the MIND & SPIRIT Grand Prize Winner.

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
- Mike Lutz – Jesus Speaking
- Tammy Green – Living Without Skin: Everything I Never Knew About Fierce Vulnerability
- Beth Gibbs – Enlighten Up!
- Starr Regan DiCiurcio – Divine Sparks: Interfaith Wisdom for a Postmodern World
- Reagan J. Pasternak – Griffin’s Heart: Mourning Your Pet With No Apologies
The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 MIND & SPIRIT Awards is:

Enlighten Up!

Beth Gibbs

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the Facebook post. However, for Facebook to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Facebook and Twitter handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

The 2022 MIND & SPIRIT Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 10 year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2022 MIND & SPIRIT Book Awards are open until the end of November. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

A Note to ALL the WINNERS: The coveted CIBA Blue Ribbons will be mailed out starting in August. We will contact you with an email to verify your mailing address and other items. We thank you for participating in the 2021 Chanticleer International Book Awards!
July 1, 2022
EDGE: Turning Adversity into Advantage by Laura Huang – Business Motivation, Success Self-Help, Personal Transformation

Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage by Laura Huang is a valuable mixture of business strategy, science, and examples, all directed to help readers develop their unique skills and strengths.

Author Laura Huang takes readers through her own journey to becoming an award-winning Harvard Business School professor. Along with real-world examples of both successful entrepreneurs and up-and-coming business students, she lays out a four-part guide on how to create your personal edge.

Creating your own edge is essential to getting ahead in life no matter who someone is or where they come from. Huang herself is a child of immigrants and was one of a few female engineering students at her university. She had to navigate her own specific challenges, figuring out what worked for her and what did not.

Instead of being in business to invent or promote the next big thing, Huang is in the business world for its rich research opportunities.

In Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage, Huang will take readers through her process: Enrich, Delight, Guide, and put in Effort, to create their special edge. Huang reiterates throughout her book that anyone can have an edge; they can use who they are and whatever adversity they have faced to their advantage in not just business, but in their everyday life.

Huang uses her research expertise to give relevant sociological, philosophical, and business contexts to each section of the book.

Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage is not about gaming the system to get ahead in business, and Huang stresses that there is not one method to follow. She presents her research and gives examples of how to gain an edge in ways that can create new opportunities for you.

Along with all the examples and stories, this book follows its own advice to Enrich, Delight, Guide, and put in the Effort. Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage is at the same time enlightening, engaging, and truly a wake-up call to take charge of the growth of your life.

Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA Harvey Chute Book Awards for Business & Enterprise Non-Fiction.

June 22, 2022
The 2021 I&I Book Awards for Instructional and Insightful Non-Fiction – CIBAs Finalists
The I & I Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Instruction and Insight non-fiction that are self-help, how-to, guides, or explanatory. In non-fiction works, the author assumes responsibility (in good faith) for the truth, accuracy, people, places, or information presented. The I & I Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best Instruction and Insight books featuring How-To, Guidance, Travel Guides, Cookbooks, Self-Help, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2021 I&I Non-Fiction Short List to the 2021 I&I Book Awards FINALISTS. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC22).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 24 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, June 25th, 2022 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

Congratulations to the I & I Finalists

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2021 CIBAs.
- Aaron Taylor – Stretching Your Way to a Pain-Free Life: Illustrated Stretches for Sports, Medical Conditions and Specific Muscle Groups
- Angela Quijada-Banks – The Black Foster Youth Handbook
- Eleanor K. Smith and Margaret Pastor – One School’s Journey – Further Down the Path
- George Marino, CPA, CFP – Beyond Balancing the Books: Sheer Mindfulness for Professionals in Work and Life
- Brad Borkan and David Hirzel – Audacious Goals, Remarkable Results: How an Explorer, an Engineer and a Statesman Shaped our Modern World
- Geraldine Clouston and Susan Weintrob – indieBRAG Eat, Read & Dream Cookbook
- Jim & Jessica Braz – Baby Out of Wedlock
- Judy Taylor – Breaking the Boundaries: The Rug Hooking Artistry of Sharon Johnston
- Kaitlyn Jain – Passports and Pacifiers? Traveling the World, One Tantrum at a Time
- Kelly Tan Peterson, Dan Peterson, MD. – KETO BAKED
- M. J. Simms-Maddox, Ph.D. – A Handbook for Emerging and Seasoned Authors
- Phoebe Walker – Freedom Found – Productive and Joyful Living In Spite of Chronic Pain
- Sabbithry Persad – What Is Coronavirus? How It Infects, How It Spreads, and How to Stay Safe
- Wendela Whitcomb Marsh – Recognizing Autism in Women and Girls
- Carole Bumpus – Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, Book Two
- Jan Kaa Kristensen – Splitting Up Without Falling to Pieces
- Melanie Choukas-Bradley – Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island
- Vindy Teja – YOLO: Essential Life Hacks for Happiness
Good Luck to All!

These titles are in the running for the FIRST PLACE and GRAND PRIZE WINNERS of the 2021 I&I Book Awards novel competition for Instruction and Insight Non-Fiction!

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging.

The Grand Prize Winner for the 2020 I&I Awards is Wendela Whitcomb Marsh for Independent Living with Autism: Your Roadmap to Success

Click here to see the 2020 I&I Book Award Winners for Instruction and Insight Non-Fiction

We are now accepting submissions into the 2022 I&I Book Awards for Instruction and Insight Non-Fiction. The 2022 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2023.

Please click here for more information.

See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

Winners will be announced at the 2021 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2022 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

VIRTUAL and IN-Person – June 23 – 26, 2022! Register Today!

FLEXIBLE REGISTRATIONS ARE AVAILABLE for these challenging times.

Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

Join us for our 10th annual conference and discover why!

Featuring: International Best Selling Author Cathy Ace along with A+ list film producer Scott Steindorff.
May 7, 2022
Spotlight on the 2021 Mind and Spirit Book Awards for Enlightenment and Well-Being Non-Fiction
Spiritual guidance is often difficult to talk about

No matter who you are, there’s probably some baggage in your life tied into your personal development in terms of your mind and spirit than we’d like to admit.

Have you had a spiritual journey or advice for people in their own quest for well-being?

The 2021 Mind and Spirit Awards are open through November!
Submit today!

As Self-Help books become more and more popular with books about enlightenment and well-being have made mindfulness a household term. Publisher’s Weekly puts it nicely:

“Mindfulness” is everywhere in publishing — and in American society. Its roots are in Buddhist religious practice around meditative attention — focusing on fully inhabiting the present moment without attachment to external experiences or inner emotions and thoughts. But it is also grounded in modern scientific research into the mind-body connection. Thus “mindfulness” has become fertile ground for books across multiple categories, including health, spirituality, popular science, and self-help.

Of course, there’s some overlap between the Mind & Spirit Book Awards and the I&I Book Awards. You are always welcome to submit to both, but the question of spirituality is really what drives home the difference between the two divisions.

No matter what kind of spiritual book you are writing, experience is often key

Offering support, care, and advice to people in a book is huge undertaking that should be treated seriously. In writing, be sure to be mindful of the practices you borrow from and where they lead. In teaching, the strongest instructors know how to admit they don’t know something while inexperienced teachers will often try to conceal their lack of knowledge. When people read a Mind & Spirit book, they are offering the author vulnerability, and it can help for the author to be vulnerable in return.

Publishers Weekly also offers a word of caution:

The term mindfulness can be “very fraught,” agreed Lil Copan, senior acquisitions editor at Broadleaf Books, particularly if it has been “diluted in its origin” in Buddhism. Christian authors often want to avoid acknowledging the Buddhist roots of mindfulness as a practice, connecting it instead with Christian contemplative practices they trace to the early church, or merely using “mindfulness” as a substitute for words like “presence” or, in the Quaker context, “quietude.” Still, Copan said that even amid concern about using the term, mindfulness is “such a good word. It does so much work that I can’t think of another word in which you aren’t saying 30 words or long sentences to get at what most people think of as mindfulness.”

It makes sense that such a thoughtful genre would require serious thought before jumping in, but luckily, at Chanticleer, we work with serious authors who approach their writing with care.

As always, reading in a genre helps writing in that genre. Check out our recommendations below!

GUIDED to WISDOM: The JOURNEY to EMOTIONAL HEALING
By Susan D’Agostino

Susan D’Agostino has wisdom to share, garnered from a lengthy battle with cancer and the medical establishment. This is her intimate story.

“In 2002 I found a lump in my breast, maybe the size of a pea.” Like anyone faced with a possible dire diagnosis, D’Agostino was scared and confused. Her encounters with medical people left her feeling like a statistic, and when she got the dreaded prognosis after a painful biopsy, it was accompanied by the standard recommended next steps: months of chemo and radiation treatment. Fearing the treatment almost as much as the cancer, she sought alternative healing methods.

Continue Reading…

SACRED LIFE: Healing from the Virus in Consciousness
By Bedri Cag Cetin

In his biographical work, Sacred Life: Healing from the Virus in Consciousness, Bedri Cag Cetin, Ph.D. explains his version of “The Golden Key,” a phrase he uses to formulate an “Inner Guide” which seeks above all else “…peace, happiness and harmony for all involved.”

Cetin uses his advanced education, world travels, failed and then healed personal relationships, business dealings, and training under spiritual leaders to formulate his thoughts. According to Cetin, decisions based on or that cause fear, chaos, or blame reflect Ego-driven actions in one’s journey toward inner peace; whereas using one’s Inner Guide to make decisions will result in peace and harmony.

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The YOU BEYOND YOU
By Ramzi Najjar

In The YOU beyond you – The knowledge of the willing, Ramzi Najjar addresses his audience with the contemplative calm of a mystic guru and the fervor of an old-time evangelist, in a how-to guide to good health, happiness, and inner peace as a personal philosophic treatise addressing the physical and spiritual quality of life in the 21^st century.

In the Preface, Najjar quickly captures readers’ attention with the question, “In a chaotic world, and a life of prevalent restlessness, how can we make sense of the non-sensical?”

Continue Reading…

THE DRUIDS
By Ilene Birkwood

The Druids are not just a fictional group of magic wielders in funny hats, but a people of ancient Celtic cultures that prosper to this day. If you are looking for a short, accessible guide to the history and way of life of the Druid people, Ilene Birkwood offers an easy to understand introduction to Druidry in The Druids: An Informal Read. Druidry is not a religion like some may think, but a way of life through peace and preservation of nature.

Druids have seen a surge in numbers in recent years as a result of people around the globe feeling dissatisfied in a world continually damaged by pollution, greed, and war. These people wish to promote a more peaceful and simpler way of life. Birkwood’s guide touches on different areas of the culture throughout the long history of the druids, such as their education system, various sacred sites, history of persecution, and, yes, their roles as witches. Birkwood even shows us how Druidry is practiced today.

Continue Reading…

COCOON of CANCER: an INVITATION to LOVE DEEPLY
By Abbe Rolnick & Jim Wiggins

When author Abbe Rolnick’s husband Jim Wiggins slipped off a ladder in 2013, he was told he had osteopenia and would need to rest his back. He and Abbe went to Africa, but the pain persisted, in fact, got worse. Finally, the author “…got the call, the one every person dreads.” Jim had cancer, a rare, aggressive form called Multiple Myeloma. The plasma in his bone marrow had increased, taking over the normal cells, causing anemia and acidity that began to eat away at his spine. Life for Abbe and Jim would never be the same. What followed was a total disruption: for Jim it involved chemo, radiation, stem cell implants, pain, weight loss, and even height loss; for Abbe, an exploration of basic fears, and, of course, the deepest terror of loss of a loved one.

Rolnick’s book is told for the most part in a series of emails among friends and family. Since she is a fiction writer (River of Angels, Color of Lies) she was able to express her feelings to others, especially to Jim, in a manner both poignant and poetic. She recounts the couple’s simple acceptance, the moments of despair, and the daily activities and routines they shared despite the discouraging limitations of Jim’s medical necessities. Whenever possible, the couple cuddled at night, exchanged kisses, watched funny, upbeat fare on television. The memoir is remarkable for these moments, balanced by the necessary, at times dreadful and dire medical information that impinged on their lives every day for a year. The couple had to live away from home, ask family for help, including cells donated by a brother, and rely on the kindness and expertise of strangers. As Rolnick puts it, “Cancer explodes with ramifications.” Jim’s round-robin emails form an especially touching piece of the narrative as he attempts to apply logic, masculine bravado and a mild sense of humor to the horrors he is experiencing.

Continue Reading…

Have a great book for the Mind and Spirit Awards? Submit by the end of November for the 2021 CIBAs!

See the 2020 Mind and Spirit Book Award Winners Here!

Looking to submit to our other Non-Fiction Divisions? See them all here!

When you’re ready, did you know that Chanticleer offers editorial services? We do and have been doing so since 2011.

Our professional editors are top-notch and are experts in the Chicago Manual of Style. They have and are working for the top publishing houses (TOR, McMillian, Thomas Mercer, Penguin Random House, Simon Schuster, etc.).

If you would like more information, we invite you to email Kiffer or Sharon at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com or SAnderson@ChantiReviews.com for more information, testimonials, and fees.

We work with a small number of exclusive clients who want to collaborate with our team of top-editors on an on-going basis. Contact us today!

Chanticleer Editorial Services also offers writing craft sessions and masterclasses. Sign up to find out where, when, and how sessions being held.
- A great way to get started is with our manuscript evaluation service, with more information available here.
- And we do editorial consultations for $75. Learn more here.
- If you’re confident in your book, consider submitting it for a Editorial Book Review here or to one of our Chanticleer International Awards here.
And remember! Our 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC22) will be April 7-10, 2022, where our 2021 CIBA winners will be announced. Space is limited and seats are already filling up, so sign up today! CAC22 and the CIBA Ceremonies will be hosted at the Hotel Bellwether in Beautiful Bellingham, Wash. Sign up and see the latest updates here!

Writer’s Toolbox

Thank you for reading this Chanticleer Spotlight Article.

Important Links from this Article

‘Mindfulness’ Is Having a Publishing Moment from Publishers Weekly

2019 Spotlight on I&I Awards

The traditional publishing tool that indie authors can use to propel their writing careers to new levels? The Seven Must-Haves for Authors – Unlocking the Secrets of Successful Publishing Series by Kiffer Brown
November 30, 2021
Spotlight on the 2021 I&I Book Awards for Instructional & Insightful Non-Fiction
“You should be a teacher!” “You do that so well!”
“I love how much you know about that!”

If you hear things like this often, there’s a good chance you should be submitting to our I&I Book Awards! The I&I Awards look at the best Instructional & Insightful work featuring How-To, Guidance, and Self-Help.

You can be the best at How To Succeed with your Self-Help book by submitting to the I&I Awards before the end of November!

You can see all six of our Non-Fiction Divisions here. While these days, the How-To and Self-Help genres are ubiquitous, what do we really know about their origins?

A Closer Look at Instructional Literature

Ani’s Heart is weighed against a feather before Anubis in The Egyptian Book of the Dead

The first recorded genre that could be described as self-help was called “Sebayt” an Egyptian style of reading that translates as “teaching.” You can even think as far back as The Egyptian Book of the Dead which is an instructional guide for Ani as he begins the journey through the afterlife.

But do they work?

Aristotle believed that reading had healing capabilities. While self-help book buyers may not be cured of whatever ails them, feeling better is not to be entirely discounted. People hate their jobs, fail at love, fear getting old, worry about their weight; self-help books address and try to assuage these problems. Life hurts, and the promise that self-help books make is a relief of that hurt. (read more from Publishing Perspectives here)

The genre was popularized in modern days by the well known work How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Did you know? An updated version of Carnegie’s book is being release 5/17/22. It’s available for preorder now!

Carnegie never made it as a fiction writer, and his initial idea to give lectures based on what would become his bestselling work was laughed at by universities. However, he certainly can be said to have succeeded as a writer as people continue to live by his suggestions to this day.

Why Write an Instructional How-To or Self-Help?

LitHub has an excellent article about this, and here’s one of the more relevant parts of it.

The self-improvement industry has been analyzed in a variety of academic disciplines, but its literary import has not received the attention it demands. The omission is even more glaring in light of the fact that self-help guides are among the most lucrative book genres of the past 30 years, with approximately 150 new self-help titles published every week.

The competition for book sales is sky high!

Like the entire publishing industry since the Kindle came out in 2007, the Self-Help industry is blowing up! With Chanticleer’s goal of Discovering Today’s Best Books, we aim to shine a light on the best How-To books, becoming a link in the circle that helps those books find their way into the hands of readers everywhere! We do this through our Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards and through Editorial Book Reviews.

I remember when working at Village Books the book that was sold back the most was Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It always came in with at least three other bags full of books from the same household. It seemed to be working! – David

Marie Kondo is an incredible success story with her lifestyle changes and instructions on organization. She did so well that she had her own Netflix series!

Kondo recommends keeping 30 books max in your house. We can’t quite bring ourselves to do that at Chanticleer.

Instructional & Insightful Books That Have Done Well at Chanticleer

Read on to see what we recommend from books that fit into the I&I Division.

TEN THINGS EVERY CHILD WITH AUTISM WISHES YOU KNEW
By Ellen Notbohm
Grand Prize Winner in I&I Awards

Renowned author and mother of a son with autism, Ellen Notbohm here writes from both a personal and a studied viewpoint.

Not so long ago, autism was considered incurable, hopeless, a sort of dead-end diagnosis. But with time and attention to real people on the spectrum, we know now that children with autism can become positive, productive adults. The author’s son, Bryce, decided early on to “be happy” despite his differentness. For parents initially facing the diagnosis, there will undoubtedly be challenges, often on a daily, hourly basis, but Notbohm’s diligent exploration assures us that “autism is not awful.”

Continue Reading

The SUBURBAN MICRO-FARM
By Amy Stross
First Place Winner in I&I Awards

Author, educator, and urban farmer Amy Stross offers a comprehensive look at how to repurpose a small yard in the city for basic sustenance and so much more.

Award-winning writer Stross has composed a thoroughly practical guide to everything a reader would need to know to do what she did: transform a yard into a farm. Acknowledging that the ground surrounding a town dwelling is hardly what one thinks of when one thinks farmland, Stross draws from her personal experience to show precisely how the transformation can take shape. Her colorfully illustrated manual gives the basics for managing an ample garden space, or micro-farm, almost down to the minute (in fact, seven minutes twice a day).

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The SATISFIED WORKBOOK
By Dr. Rhona Epstein, PsyD, CAC

Dr. Rhona Epstein, PsyD, CAC is the leading expert on Food Addiction Recovery.

She is a therapist who has recovered from the problems she now focuses on, seeking to help those who suffer from food addiction to recognize their problem and solve it with spiritual guidance.

Epstein has based this manual around the 12 Steps, a program originally geared to alcoholism and based on Christian principles, but gradually secularized to facilitate outreach to a broader group. The 12 Steps take the addict, of whatever sort, through a series of deepening inner questions and resolutions. Initially, the addict must admit he or she has an addiction – in this case, to food and overeating, resulting in bingeing and other disorders such as bulimia. From that point, there will be a diligent search for relief, aided by faith in God’s care, and concluding with the possibility of helping others with the same problems.

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OVERCOMING The IMPOSTOR
By Kris Kelso

Author and entrepreneur Kris Kelso made a discovery about himself that he shares with others in his book, Overcoming The Impostor: Silence Your Inner Critique and Lead with Confidence.

The author was surprised in a first meeting at a new job to be referred to as an “expert.” It raised doubts in his mind about whether he had earned such a title, but it also forced him to do things he’d never done before and succeed in the process. But the voices in his head persisted, even as he went from accomplishment to accomplishment. His shadow, The Impostor, told him he didn’t know how to do a certain thing; moreover, he was making it up. The Impostor relentlessly mocked him, saying that just been lucky, he wasn’t a “real” businessman at all. When he learned about “Impostor Syndrome” – “a psychological pattern in which people doubt their accomplishments” – he realized that we all have an “Inner Impostor” that needs to be recognized, dealt with, and banished.

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SAVORING the OLDE WAYS SERIES
By Carole Bumpus
First Place Winner in I&I Awards

The retired family therapist turned travel writer and culinary memoirist, Carole Bumpus shares the delicious first book in her new series, Savoring the Olde Ways: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table.

In this first book, Carole takes readers on an intimate food tour of the Champagne, Alsace, Lorraine, and Paris regions of France. After being introduced by a mutual friend, Carole builds a special friendship with Josiane and her mother. Wanting to understand what brings and keeps European families glued together through generations of happiness and hardship, Bumpus begins by interviewing Josiane’s mother. Hearing about traditions passed down and the challenges of cooking during the war, the plan for a culinary tour of France is born among the women. Unfortunately, after travel delays out of their control, Josiane’s mother passes away before they can make the trip. Determined to make a dream trip a reality, Carole and Josiane set off to start a journey of a lifetime in honor of the woman who inspired it all.

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EXPLORE EUROPE on FOOT
By Cassandra Overby
Grand Prize Winner in I&I Awards

Due to COVID-19 sweeping across continents, travel restrictions are at an all-time high. With the general population being placed on lockdown, the need for social distancing, and hunkering down moving towards an indefinite timeframe, some much-needed armchair travel adventures couldn’t come at a better time.

Here in Cassandra Overby’s encyclopedic guide Explore Europe On Foot, readers are taken through a step-by-step process of dreaming, planning, and hopefully soon experiencing memorable, slow travel ventures of a lifetime. Whether it’s choosing a route and destination, deciding what to pack, finding appropriate accommodations and food options, or dealing with inevitable challenges, Overby supplies a world of information in this informative foot (and bike) travelers’ guide.

Continue Reading

Have a How-To or Self Help Instructional Book? Submit by the end of November for the 2021 CIBAs!

See the 2020 I&I Book Award Winners Here!

Looking to submit to our other Non-Fiction Divisions? See them all here!

When you’re ready, did you know that Chanticleer offers editorial services? We do and have been doing so since 2011.

Our professional editors are top-notch and are experts in the Chicago Manual of Style. They have and are working for the top publishing houses (TOR, McMillian, Thomas Mercer, Penguin Random House, Simon Schuster, etc.).

If you would like more information, we invite you to email Kiffer or Sharon at KBrown@ChantiReviews.com or SAnderson@ChantiReviews.com for more information, testimonials, and fees.

We work with a small number of exclusive clients who want to collaborate with our team of top-editors on an on-going basis. Contact us today!

Chanticleer Editorial Services also offers writing craft sessions and masterclasses. Sign up to find out where, when, and how sessions being held.
- A great way to get started is with our manuscript evaluation service, with more information available here.
- And we do editorial consultations for $75. Learn more here.
- If you’re confident in your book, consider submitting it for a Editorial Book Review here or to one of our Chanticleer International Awards here.
And remember! Our 10th Anniversary Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC22) will be April 7-10, 2022, where our 2021 CIBA winners will be announced. Space is limited and seats are already filling up, so sign up today! CAC22 and the CIBA Ceremonies will be hosted at the Hotel Bellwether in Beautiful Bellingham, Wash. Sign up and see the latest updates here!

Writer’s Toolbox

Thank you for reading this Chanticleer Spotlight Article.

Important Links from this Article

A Short History of Self-Help, The World’s Bestselling Genre

When Did Self-Help Books Become Literary?

2019 Spotlight on I&I Awards

The traditional publishing tool that indie authors can use to propel their writing careers to new levels? The Seven Must-Haves for Authors – Unlocking the Secrets of Successful Publishing Series by Kiffer Brown
November 29, 2021