Category: Announcements

2015 IUEA Winners

STARVoting for the Indies Unlimited Excellence Awards has concluded. We’d like to thank everyone for vigorous participation. The votes constitute an important part of the process, but do not exclusively determine the winner. To balance the votes and prevent the awards from becoming an outright “popularity contest,” we used the Alexa rankings of the finalists in the final calculation. Alexa is is the leading web traffic ranking service, and we regard it as an impartial standard.

The total votes received by each finalist by the close of the polls was divided by each candidate’s Alexa ranking. The rankings used were those recorded for each site on the morning of January 20, 2016.

This methodology was chosen for several reasons. First, while it gives significant weight to the Alexa ranking, it does not allow a site (even with an excellent rating) to win without getting votes. Second, of the various methodologies we tested on dummy data, this was  the only one that did not produce ties. It also removes any potential elements of favoritism.

Both the winners and the finalists exemplify the very spirit of the indie community. We are pleased to present the recipients of the 2015 Indies Unlimited Excellence Awards.

Indie Reads – January 2016

Indies Unlimited does not review books, but we do have a couple of renowned reviewers on staff. We thought a great way to celebrate indie writing would be to ask those reviewers for their top indie picks of the month. Here are this month’s top picks from our experts:

mountains of mischief gordon a long 120x177Mountains of Mischief by Gordon A. Long

“…Long does an excellent job rounding out his secondary characters, and painting the pictures of the landscapes…”

Read the rest of the review by ?wazithinkin.

Mountains of Mischief is available through Amazon.com.

I came to find a girl by jaq hazell 120x177I Came to Find a Girl by Jaq Hazell

“The prose flowed. The dialogue was clipped and realistic. And the pages kept turning. The author owes me some sleep.”

Read the rest of the review by Pete Barber.

I Came to Find a Girl is available through Amazon.com.

The Reveal by Mike Markel 120x177The Reveal by Mike Markel

“I was kept guessing until the end… This one kept me up late, eager to find out whodunit.”

Read the rest of the review by BigAl.

The Reveal is available through Amazon.com.

Dies Irae BV Lawson 120x177Dies Irae by BV Lawson

“…there are some faint clues toward the climax…anyone clever enough to guess the killer is still in for a satisfying surprise.”

Read the rest of the review by Sam Waite.

Dies Irae is available on Amazon.com..

Mondo Bohemian by Quentin ParkerMondo Bohemiano by Quentin J. Parker

“It’s funny, witty, light-hearted, colourful and very memorable. … An enjoyable debut novel.”

Read the rest of the review by Cathy Speight.

Mondo Bohemiano is available through Amazon.com.

Indies Unlimited Staff to be Featured on Radio Show Tonight

deadly reads radio logoTonight (Thursday, January 21, 2016) at 8 pm Pacific time, some of the IU staff are booked (get it? That’s a literary pun) to be on Deadly Reads Radio.

Scheduled to be live on the show are: K. S. “Kat” Brooks, our admin; staff contributors Laurie Boris, Lynne Cantwell, Shawn Inmon, and Gordon Long; with a possible late call-in from Martin Crosbie. Some of the other minions might even drop by.

If you have questions for the staff or would just like to tell them how awesome they are, feel free to call in at (646) 668-2716. Can’t make it tonight? Don’t worry, it’s a podcast, so there will be a link to the entire show available so you can listen at a later time.

We hope to hear from you!

Indie Reads – December 2015

Indies Unlimited does not review books, but we do have a couple of renowned reviewers on staff. We thought a great way to celebrate indie writing would be to ask those reviewers for their top indie picks of the month. Here are this month’s top picks from our experts:

The Lost TornadoThe Lost Tornado by James Dean Divine

“Overall, a wonderfully emotional, warm and funny coming of age novel.”

Read the rest of the review by Keith Nixon.

The Lost Tornado is available through Amazon.com.

Annalises Up and Down Day 120x177Annalise’s Up and Down Day by Denise L. Jenne

“…simple enough for a child to grasp at first glance, yet with enough details to hold a person’s interest.”

Read the rest of the review by BigAl.

Annalise’s Up and Down Day is available through Amazon.com.

The Green Room by Faith MortimerThe Green Room by Faith Mortimer

“The ending I thought…without giving too much away…was rather sophisticated.”

Read the rest of the review by Cathy Speight.

The Green Room is available through Amazon.com.

The Deathtakers DaughterThe Deathtaker’s Daughter by SL Baum

“I loved The Deathtaker and its premise. The Deathtaker’s Daughter surpasses it.”

Read the rest of the review by BigAl.

The Deathtaker’s Daughter is available on Amazon.com..

Duty with Honor by Susan StuckeyDuty with Honor by Susan Stuckey

“…an excellent job weaving all the story arcs together and bringing the story to a satisfying end.”

Read the rest of the review by ?wazithinkin.

Duty with Honor is available through Amazon.com.