Amid a rather turbulent period in my life, (my husband skied off a mountain and was airlifted to hospital on my birthday!) an author friend, Alison Ripley-Cubitt, sent me some very welcome good news!
She told me my latest memoir, Building The Beast: How (Not) To Build An Overland Camper has been chosen as a finalist in the Adult Non-Fiction section of the Wishing Shelf Book Awards!
With everything that was going on, I had completely missed it.
The winners will be announced on 1st April 2025.
However, for li’l’ ole me to get this far in an international book award is enough. Anything else is purely icing and cherries on top!
Building The Beast has also been awarded a Readers’ Favorite 5* Seal and was a finalist in the memoir section of the Page Turner Awards 2024. Click HERE to read the Readers’ Favorite review.
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is run by award-winning children’s author Billy Bob Buttons (Edward Trayer). It is recommended by ALLi, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and also supports a very worthy cause, Blind Children UK. If you are an author, you can enter the 2025 Wishing Shelf Book Awards here. It costs just £59/$75 to enter the awards, or £109/$140 if you want feedback, quotes, and reviews on Bookbub.com and Goodreads.
I am pleased to say that I am working very hard on the sequel, More Manchester Than Mongolia, and hope to release it later in 2025.
Reviews for Building The Beast
Reedsy Discovery found it ‘Delightful, humorous and filled with vivid imagery‘:
Author DG Kaye awarded it five stars, after saying, “What a great read this book was!”
Award-Winning Author Valerie Poore also reviewed an advance copy of Building The Beast and shared her five star review on her excellent blog, Marvellous Memoirs Reviews and links.
“Written with lively wit and understated humour…A great read, as always and I look forward to more of their adventures.”
Valerie Poore, Award-Winning Author
Read Valerie’s full review of Building The Beast HERE.
I have also launched a brand new dedicated author website, JacquelineLambert.co.uk where you can get book news and writing tips. Sign up to make sure you never miss an update.
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World Wide Walkies 
That is great! Congratulations 🏆🥇🥂
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Thank you so much, Thomas. xx
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Congratulations that’s amazing, well done.
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Thank you, Glenys. xx
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Super congratulations, Jacqui! I’ve been too cheap to enter my book in any of these award programs. To make $75 back, I’d have to sell 25 extra books. Without winning one of those awards (and potentially even with it), that would be hard.
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I know exactly what you mean, Liesbet
I entered these awards because I got a stupendous deal on the cover for this book, ($100 for ebook and paperback) and started formatting myself with Atticus. As such, I used the money I’d saved to pay the entry fees to the awards. I had a good feeling about this book. I am very proud of it.
The only award I’ve entered before was the CHILL award, which was free to enter but is sadly no longer operating. I seem to remember your book was also a winner in that!
I’m not sure how much benefit there is to winning awards, but when you’re struggling to make a mark as an unknown author, I feel every little bit of social proof helps. However, maybe I’d be better spending the money on Amazon ads and getting more sales and reviews! It’s a hard balance to strike.
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Huge congratulations!! I hope hubby is recovering quickly.
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Thanks, Darlene.
Hubs is making excellent progress, I am pleased to say 🙂 He’s just managed to bend his leg to 90 degrees today, which is brilliant, and there is no damage to the joint itself, so he should be as good as new in a couple of months!
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Great to hear!
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Well done
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Thank you, Janet 🙂
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👏🏻 Well Deserved! 🥳 Congratulations 🥳
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Thank you so much, Donna. xx
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Congratulations on being a TWSA finalist for “Building the Beast.” I’m sorry to learn about your husband. Hopefully, he recuperates before the Beast starts revving up its engine for the next road trip. 🙂
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Thank you, Nancy. mark is making a good recovery and, despite being left alone for over a month in sub-zero temperatures, our beautiful Beast started first time, without even a cough!
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You’re welcome! I’m happy to learn that Mark-and The Beast-are doing well. Good luck in future travels. 😁
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