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They say you always remember where you were and what you were doing when you receive either really bad or really good news. Fortunately, this past Sunday it was the latter. I was up in north Texas helping a dear friend deal with some family business when I received the phone call from my author’s assistant (a.k.a. chief navigator) Janica Smith.  I could hear her grinning as she shared the news.  If you’ve heard all this already, please do me the favor of pretending to be surprised and excited one more time. And if you’ve not heard the news, here goes (cartwheels are optional):

My book The Intentional Networker: Attracting Powerful Relationships, Referrals & Results in Business  won First Place in the Non-Fiction category of the 2012 IndieReader Discovery Awards (IRDAs).  Winners were announced Sunday at the Book Expo America (BEA), North America’s largest book publishing industry event held annually in New York City.  (I knew I had a shot at winning the Business category, but this was a much bigger enchilada!)

If you’ve never heard of the IRDA’s, they recognize excellence in independent publishing and are vetted by some of the top experts in the book publishing business, including publishers, retailers, agents, publicists, and reviewers from Barnes & Noble, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Kirkus Reviews, the Huffington Post, and Greenleaf Publishing.

This is a dream come true: to be recognized by experts in the publishing industry as an award-winning author. And what a thrill to have my expectations exceeded yet again. Maybe it’s (yet another) sign that it’s time for me to fly higher and dream bigger.

Keep your fingers crossed with me as ForeWord Review announces it’s awards later this month. The Intentional Networker is a finalist for its Book of the Year competition. Winners will be announced at the American Library Association conference in Anaheim, California.

And if you missed my last blog…

As my way of celebrating all the new grads and recognizing that it’s prime conference (and summer reading) season, I’ve temporarily dropped the price of the Kindle version of The Intentional Networker to just $4.99.   So as I said last time, skip the frou-frou coffee beverage for one day and use that cash to invest in a field guide that will make a difference not only in how you network, but in how you show up in business — and in life.