And the Award Goes to…

This weekend’s win by Michelle Painchaud of the International Thriller Writers award for Best YA novel gave me pause to think about how far BookEnds has come.

This was our first ITW win (certainly not our last) and it was, to sound lame, thrilling. It was not however our first award win. While I’ve never kept a document of the successes BookEnds has had, I’m quite humbled by how many there have been. We’ve been lucky to call our clients Romance Writers of America RITA award winners, Malice Domestic Agatha award winners, Western Writers of America Spur award winners, Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award winners, New York Times bestsellers, USA Today bestsellers, National Readers Choice award winners, and of course I haven’t even touched on all the nominees and finalists we’ve had in the family.

I’m incredibly proud of this business I’ve built and the authors we are lucky enough to call clients and while I use “I,” I know better. This has been a team effort from day one. I can’t possibly be more grateful for the authors who took a chance on us in our early days and who continue to think we are worth partnering with and of course there’s my team. I’m going to say it, the best agents in the business. They know a good thing when they see it and will work their fingers off making it better. I’m blessed to have each of them for their advice, their insights, the incredible breadth of work and knowledge, and because they are excellent drinking and cupcake buddies.

Agents are typically the crew behind the scenes at an awards ceremony. Rarely do we make it to the stage or receive a trophy/certificate/honor of our own, except of course for the kind words from a client. When I went to accept Michelle’s award on her behalf it was a truly humbling experience and made me think a lot about how much I would like to say in that situation, how much I wanted to say about Michelle (but I kept my mouth shut).

I’m blessed that I get to do a job I love with people I love. Keep those awards coming and I will continue to feel humbled.