2020 Indie Author of the Year

The Indie Author Project is thrilled to announce the winner of the second annual Indie Author of the Year award. This award aims to identify the next great indie author out of the stellar group of authors who have had their titles chosen by librarian judging committees as the best indie-published eBooks in their regions through the preceding year’s Indie Author Project regional contests. The Indie Author of the Year is chosen each spring by a team of industry experts on the basis of marketability, overall impact, personal brand, and potential for the author to break out.

The 2020 Indie Author of the Year is Jacqui Castle of Buncombe County Public Libraries in Asheville, NC.

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Jacqui Castle is a professional freelance writer and novelist. She lives and writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina.

Castle has been published in a variety of publications, both regional and national, including Mountain Xpress, WNC Woman, Asheville Grit, and Explore Asheville. The Seclusion, her first novel, is a Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award Winner in Science Fiction, and the winner of the adult fiction category for the 2019 North Carolina Author Project. The sequel to The Seclusion is currently in production, and is expected to hit shelves next year.

Jacqui was chosen as the 2020 Indie Author of the Year out of the 27 winners of the 2019 regional Indie Author Project contests by a judging committee comprised of:

Kiera Parrot, Reviews Director for Library Journal
Guy Gonzalez, Project Lead for Panorama Project
Leslye Penelope, award-winning author with St. Martin’s Press

“Being an indie author in a saturated publishing industry can often feel like swimming upstream, and to have the Indie Author Project in my corner means more than words can adequately express. I wrote The Seclusion, a dystopian science fiction novel with echoes of our current political reality, at a tumultuous time, both personally and for the world at large. To have the Indie Author Project and BiblioBoard pick it up and say essentially, ‘this is worthy, it is important, and it has value,’ is like having the current you’ve been swimming against turn in your direction. I’m beyond honored to be selected as 2020’s Indie Author of the Year, and look forward to an exciting year ahead.”

Jacqui Castle
2020 Indie Author of the Year

6 replies

Ben Shirley says:
June 16, 2020 at 3:53 pm

Congratulations Jacqui!
Reply
Gunars P. Lelis says:
June 16, 2020 at 5:00 pm

Congratulations, Jacqui! Yes, I’m interested in joining the discussion, on Thursday.
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Tara & Ed Burchett says:
June 16, 2020 at 9:17 pm

Way to go!!!! Your mom would have been bragging all about you!!!! Ralph, dad, is so proud!! Keep up the great work, can’t wait for the next book!!
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Ann Shortell says:
June 17, 2020 at 9:28 pm

Congratulations! I’m looking forward to hearing your words of wisdom on tomorrow’s webinar!
Reply
Babe Clawson says:
June 18, 2020 at 12:06 pm

Congratulations, Jacqui! I’m so glad you are getting recognized for your talent!
Reply

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Indie Author Project - 2020 Regional Contest Winners says:

November 17, 2020 at 8:46 am

[…] of this year’s winners, one overall Indie Author of the Year will be chosen by a panel of industry experts. Along with the prizes that come with their regional […]

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