More chances to win

As noted recently, we have hit the book awards season. Hot on the heels of the news that our books had received winner’s and runner-up medals in the Indie Excellence Book Awards comes the news that we have two more imminent chances to win prestigious book awards.

Cowboy Life: The Letters of George Philips is a finalist in the autobiography/biography/memoirs category of the Benjamin Franklin Awards as presented by PMA the Independent Book Publishers Association. We’ll be attending an awards ceremony at the BookExpo America in Los Angeles to find out if Cowboy Life has won.

The Sioux in South Dakota History also placed as a finalist, but this time in the IPPY Awards presented by Independent Publisher Magazine, in the anthologies category. The IPPYs also have a gala awards ceremony tying into the BookExpo America and so we’ll be there as well (the day after the Benjamin Franklins) to see if this book wins.

Regardless of whether we eventually receive the winner’s medals or not, to have two books make it to the finalist list in these highly regarded awards is a great honor.

1 winner, 2 runner-ups

Over the past 11 years, the Press has published 31 books. Of those 31 books, 13 have now won an award of some description or other. I make that roughly 42%. Not bad, we’d like to think.

Yesterday, we received word that the National Indie Excellence Book Awards has chosen 3 of our books for awards. Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer’s Life won the Biography category, The Sioux in South Dakota History: A Twentieth-Century Reader received a finalist award in the Anthologies category, while Sunshine Always: The Courtship Letters of Alice Bower and Joseph Gossage was a finalist for the History category.

The Press would like to thank the National Indie Excellence Book Awards for recognising our books and our work, and would like to congratulate the authors in question for their success.

We are fully into the book award season, so we have our fingers crossed that we’ll be getting a few more of these notifications over the coming few weeks. After all, it’s nice to have something to brag about occasionally.

Another podcast available for download

S. D. Nelson kindly joined us recently to chat about his illustrations and work on Dance in a Buffalo Skull. The interview is now available for download. He had some interesting things to say about the significance of the story and the particular techniques he uses to paint his pictures. It is well worth listening to.

First look at cover for Along the Grapevine Trail

Along the Grapevine Trail: Vineyards and Wineries in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska is due out this summer and we’ve received the cover design from our designer.
We think it looks great and can’t wait until the book comes back from the printer and people can start reading it.
Along the Grapevine Trail covers the burgeoning wine industry in these three northern plains states–an industry that might surprise a few people.

Betti VanEpps Taylor Podcast Now Online

Continuing our new series of podcast interviews with our authors, the second installment is now available on our main website.
Betti VanEpps Taylor is the author of the recently published Forgotten Lives: African Americans in South Dakota and we were delighted to interview her recently and find out more about her, her book, and what made her want to write it.
Stop by the Press’s website and download the interview!

Going to BookExpo America in Los Angeles

The Press will be attending the largest book trade show in the United States.

The BookExpo America will be held in Los Angeles at the end of May, and we’re off to see what all the fuss is about. This is an excellent chance for the Press to increase its visibility in the publishing world, learn new things, and check the pulse of the publishing industry, so to speak. Obviously, we’re looking forward to being there, and if you happen to be attending as well and you see us wandering around, stop us and say hello.

For more information about the BEA, check out their website.

South Dakota Historical Society Annual History Conference

The South Dakota State Historical Society will be holding its annual history conference in Rapid City, May 2-3 and the Press will be there exhibiting books and sharing our experiences with visitors. We’d be pleased to say hello if you are able to attend, and chat about what we’re doing, what’s coming up this year and so on.
If you are interested in the conference, which this year has a Fur Trade theme, visit the website to find out more.

Library Thing Early Reviewers Reviewing SDSHS Press Books

Library Thing Early Reviewers have been receiving review copies of Dance in a Buffalo Skull and Forgotten Lives: African Americans in South Dakota.

The Early Reviewers group signs up for advanced review copies of new books and an algorithm decides who receives which book. Publishers then send the books to the lucky reviewers, who in return, write reviews that are placed on LibraryThing.com, amazon.com, and personal blog sites, etc.

The SDSHS Press has already started receiving reviews back on Dance in a Buffalo Skull, while Forgotten Lives was given a 4-star rating on its first LTER review.
We’re pleased to say that early returns are all in favor of these two titles!

Very first glimpse of Annie from Prairie-Dog Prince

The third book in the Prairie Tale Series is due out this fall. Our illustrator recently sent us the preliminary sketches and layout of the book. The picture shown here is an exclusive look at the what Annie, the little girl in the story, will look like.

Just a great little sketch and we can’t wait to see what the finished and colored version will look like. Until then, we’ll have to make do with little snippets, teasers, just like this.

New review of Tatanka and the Lakota People

Children’s Literature Network just published a nice little review of Tatanka and the Lakota People.

Read the complete review here.