Every January we recognize the bestselling books in each category from the prior year. We dubbed these awards the SUNNYs. This has no affiliation with the State University of New York! While we have yet to implement a trophy or certificate or decal, we do like to recognize the most successful books from each imprint for the prior year. To that end, we have sent out media releases and have updated our e-commerce site with the latest honorees.

Here is a list of SUNNY Award winners for 2018:

Ars Metaphysica: Inspirational Creatures by Michele Livingston

Brown Posey Press: The Accountant's Apprentice by Dennis Clausen

Speckled Egg Press: The Mouse with the Broken Tail by Dan Shutters

Hellbender Books: Dark Entry by John Kachuba

Verboten Books: Rated Z: Money Shot by Brahm Stroker

Milford House Press: Fortune's Lament by John Cressler

Sunbury Press: A Short Season by Jake Gronsky and G David Bohner

Sunbury Press, Inc., Book of the Year: A Short Season by Jake Gronsky and G David Bohner

Why two awards for Sunbury Press? One is for the imprint and the other is overall. In addition, the Book of the Year is not necessarily the overall bestseller but a book that is memorable that year. In this case, towards the end of the year, we lost young Josiah Viera who succumbed to Progeria at only 14. The book is about his incredible and nearly impossible life story. Josiah, despite his limitations and rapid aging, was an inspiration to all he met. He especially had a love of baseball and had full access to the St. Louis Cardinals organization. The Penn State football program was also a favorite of Josiah's and Coach Franklin was a personal friend. While Josiah will be missed, his legacy lives on.

Regarding the imprints, there were a lot of close calls. We did not have any clear runaway bestsellers in 2018. Instead we had a lot of books that did fairly well. For instance, at Ars Metaphysica, Karim El Koussa had several books that performed well all year but came up a few sales short in the end. Likewise, at Hellbender Books, Keith Rommel was in a similar situation with many of his backlist titles on the monthly lists. In the end, John Kachuba's book did a little better.

Congratulations to all the winners! Someday we will have an awards banquet and be able to pay something more than lip service!

The dawning of a new year also brings with it tax season. We are currently preparing 1099s for those of you who were paid more than $10 in royalties in 2018. Yes, for royalties the number is very very small and not the $600 limit for self-employment. If you received a request from us for an updated W9, please submit this asap. If we do not have your tax information on hand, we cannot issue your 1099. If we cannot issue you a 1099, we will not be able to pay you in the future.