Best Selling Indie Author Yvonne Mason Wins 2012 CIPA EVVY Award for A Voice From the Grave

The other day I wrote a post about my historical fiction A Voice From the Grave, it had been nominated for the CIPA EVVY award in Colorado. It was one of the six in the finals for audio books. The winner was announced last night. A Voice From the Grave won! Yes, it got first place. One of the requirements for submission was the author had to be an expert in the subject matter. Well, boys and girls it took four years of research of the civil war, a visit to Andersonville and many many days of writing to make this book happen. As I wrote this book I continued to doing research to make sure it was historically correct. The hard work paid off.

A Voice from the Grave won a very prestigious award for its content.

Which brings me back to those of you who refuse to read indie authors, shame on you. And those traditional publishers who turned me down for years, well, your loss. I have succeeded because of you not in spite of you. I made my own path, created my own destiny and did my own thing. I did this with blood, sweat, tears and rejections from all of you. I still won! I won because I had a network of people who believed as much in me as I believed in myself. I won because Brookforest Voices though my book was good enough to enter. I won because they believed A Voice From the Grave had merit. I won because traditional publishers didn’t believe I was good enough. To them I say Thank You. You helped me be the strong, single minded author I am today. You helped create my backbone and the ability not to take “No” for an answer. To my grammer school teachers who wouldn’t let me write because math was not my best friend, I thank you for taking that away from me. It also made me stronger and more single minded.

To my brother Stan who is challenged and the catalyst for my success, I say thank you for being who you are. Had it not been for your story I would never have picked up a pen again. This award is for you.

For all of you who read my books, believe in me and can’t wait for the next one what can I say, Thank you is not enough.

For those of you who felt it necessary to attack me and my work, my thanks go to you as well. You helped sell my books. What a compliment. You have no idea how I turned your negative comments to my advantage and it sent my book sales through the roof.

Brookforest Voices what can I say. You guys rock. Took took my book and made it real. You gave it a voice and then you turned it into a winner. You are my audio company and I sing your praises to the highest mountain and the lowest valley. Thank you does not seem quite enough!