‘No Big Deal’ by Dean Brownrout recognized with top honor at 19th National Indie Excellence Awards

Record-business veteran’s memoir wins highly competitive music book category

BUFFALO, NY, UNITED STATES, June 23, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Dean Brownrout’s “No Big Deal: Chasing the indie music dream in the last days of the record business” (Guernica Editions) was named the winning book in the music category at this year’s 19th National Indie Excellence Awards.

Since 2005, the NIEA has honored outstanding books from independent publishers, self-published authors, and university presses. The National Indie Excellence Book Awards celebrate the physical book as a cornerstone of the publishing industry.

In announcing the awards on June 19, 2025, NIEA President Doug Fogelson said, “The team at NIEA are proud to stand behind each awardee as representatives of excellence in their craft and the enduring value of books in print today.”

“I'm incredibly grateful to the National Indie Excellence Awards for this recognition, and to everyone who’s supported ‘No Big Deal’” said Brownrout. “I’m thrilled to see the book resonate with others in such a meaningful way.”

Brownrout’s tragicomic memoir of his 25 years in the music business covers an important period in the evolution of the industry, as LPs were morphing into CDs, and the internet loomed. Starting out as an enterprising teenage concert promoter in the late 1970s, Brownrout rode the business on punk, new wave, and metal, until finding himself and founding the independent record label, Big Deal. Along the way he relates encounters with the Rolling Stones, Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, models, actors, and countless fringe characters and luminaries—and discusses the pivotal role he played in the early career of artists like the Goo Goo Dolls and Metallica.

The NIEA award adds to a growing list of accolades and achievements for the book and the first-time author. That list includes:

• The Axiom Business Book Awards (2025)—bronze medal for Memoir/Biography
• 2024-25 Reader Views Literary Awards—Reviewers Choice Awards finalist for Non-Fiction Arts
• 21st Annual Best Book Awards (2024) finalist in Performing Arts: Film, Theatre, Dance, Music

Critics have cited Brownrout’s, “razor sharp, deadpan wit,” “self-deprecating humor,” and his, “natural storytelling gifts.” Book trade publication Kirkus Reviews called “No Big Deal” “…an exceedingly intelligent book, written by a thoughtful student of music business history.” The Buffalo News said, “Brownrout tells glorious tales of the record business’s last gasp.” And Carol Thompson, editor of book review site Readers’ Favorite said, “Through a narrative that is both laugh-out-loud funny and occasionally poignant, Brownrout captures the essence of an era.”

“No Big Deal” is available through Amazon and other traditional book outlets.

Author site: nobigdeal.info
[email protected]

Guernica Editions: guernicaeditions.com
Publicity & marketing: [email protected]

PUB. DATE: October 1, 2024
PAGES: 178
PRICE: $18.95 us/$22.95 cad
ISBN: 978-1-77183-909-9

No Big Deal by Dean Brownrout
Guernica Editions
[email protected]
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