Writer’s Digest Honors “Armenia & Karabagh” As One of the Top Reference Books of the Year Press Release: February 22, 2008 (CINCINNATI, OH)—Writer’s Digest Magazine has selected “The Stone Garden Guide: Armenia and Karabagh,” as one of its top choices for the best independently published books of the past year. “Armenia and Karabagh,” a 304-page illustrated travel guide by authors Matthew Karanian and Robert Kurkjian, was one of hundreds of titles competing in this year’s 15th Annual Writer’s Digest International Independently Published Book Awards. The announcement is published in the April 2008 edition of the magazine. The book, which was published in 2006 by Stone Garden Productions, was selected as an Honorable Mention in the category of Reference Books. This category includes travel guides, as well as cookbooks, investment guides, and many other reference titles published in 2006. “We’re really thrilled to have earned this honor,” said Kurkjian. “We are proud of Armenia and Karabagh.” The award also “helps to publicize our ancient homeland and the importance of natural resource conservation,” he added. According to Writer’s Digest, the book presents a “fascinating view” of Armenia. One of the judges explained the decision to recognize “Armenia and Karabagh“ as one of the top books of the year: “This is not a country that is high on the lists of most travelers, but the authors present such a fascinating view of Armenia that readers will find themselves wanting to go. The layout of the book is effective and easy to navigate. The information on each location or event is complete. It is obvious that the authors enjoyed creating this book.” The awards competition is sponsored annually by Writer’s Digest, which was founded in 1920 and is published by F & W Publications, Inc. The book prizes will be published in the March 2008 edition of Writer’s Digest magazine. This isn’t the first award of distinction for “Armenia and Karabagh.” The previous edition of the guidebook was Award Finalist for Best Travel Guide by the Independent Publishers Association in 2006. In the US, “Armenia and Karabagh” has been the best selling title about Armenia since its publication in September 2006. “Armenia and Karabagh” has sold copies on every continent except Antarctica. In addition to the popular US and Canada markets, the publishers report sales in Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Israel, The Netherlands, Romania, The Republic of South Africa, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, The United Kingdom, and Syria. “There are probably more,” says Bedros Safarian, spokesman for Stone Garden Productions, “especially since we don’t track the countries that Amazon and our other online vendors sell to. But these are the countries that we know about for sure because we’ve shipped [books] there ourselves.” To order the book directly from the publisher, send check or money order for $30 (US / Canada) or $35 (all other countries) to: Stone Garden Productions; PO Box 7758; Northridge, CA 91327. Books are shipped postpaid by Priority Mail. To view sample pages from the book, or to pay by credit card, please visit our website at www.StoneGardenProductions.com.