Media Resources
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | June 1, 2026
CONTACT | Gary Gleason
970-948-7680 | support@MeetingYourMagnificence.com
ASPEN AUTHORS WIN PRESTIGIOUS BOOK AWARD
ASPEN, CO – “Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Live from Your Higher Self” by Aspen authors Carolyn Golbus and Gary Gleason has won a Nautilus Award in the Gift & Specialty Books category. Nautilus Book Awards honor books that support conscious living, green values, wellness, social justice and spiritual growth.
“This recognition comes from a truly outstanding and competitive field of submissions from around the world. Your work stood out for its depth, vision, and meaningful contribution, and we are proud to welcome you into the Nautilus family of award-winning authors,” the award organizers wrote.
Past Nautilus award-winners include such authors as Melody Beattie, Brene’ Brown, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Moore, and Niel DeGrasse Tyson. “Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Live from your Higher Self” (Brown Books Publishing, 2024) was Golbus’ first book, and was completed just days before she was killed in a freak bicycle accident. Her widow Gary Gleason, who helped photograph, edit, and produce the book, submitted it for the award.
“I feel so honored by this award,” Gleason said. “It truly is a beautiful book, but to be welcomed on the same stage as some of these past Nautilus winners? People who have been my teachers? That is truly breathtaking.”
Brown Books Publisher Milli Brown was not as surprised. “I’ve had the privilege of publishing many award-winning coffee table books, and from my very first conversation with Carolyn I knew this project was destined to be something extraordinary,” Brown said. “Carolyn’s heartfelt spiritual insights, paired with Gary’s breathtaking photography, created a book with all the elements of a true masterpiece. I’m not surprised that it has received such prestigious recognition; this honor simply validates what was evident from the beginning: this is a book that inspires, uplifts, and resonates on many levels. It deserves a place on every coffee table — and in every heart.”
The award winning book, and oracle card deck, is available for purchase online as well as local specialty retailers including True Nature Healing Arts, Carl’s Pharmacy, Alpenglo Books, White River Books, Sundance Liquor, Sashae Floral, and Pitkin County Dry Goods.
Gleason continues to work on the series he and Carolyn started together, and recently completed the manuscript to the second book in the series, “Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Love Yourself”. Gleason plans to pitch the new book to publishers, including Brown Books Publishing Group, in the coming month.
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Press Kit |
Colorado Couple Launches New Meeting Your Magnificence Book Series
The following are included in this press kit and in the content below:
Press Release
Praise for the Book
About the Author & Photographer
Tragic Note
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Book Summary |
Meeting Your Magnificence:
111 Ways to Live from Your Higher Self
What if the answers exist not in the world around you – but inside you?
Life coach and ordained minister Carolyn Golbus and floral photographer Gary Gleason come together in a collaboration full of love and spiritual wisdom to help readers live from their higher selves, honor their desires, and experience true joy.
Each page-long chapter contains a spiritual message accompanied by immediately-applicable exercises and mesmerizing original floral photography, all of which remind us to pause, look closely, and realize – you are exactly as you are meant to be. A guidebook as insightful as it is visually stunning, Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Live from Your Higher Self is a must-have companion for modern day readers on the path of spiritual awakening.
Sneak Peak || The Magic Unveiled
Sopris Sun Article | Aspen author’s spiritual legacy shines after tragic bike accident
A unexpected turn of events on July 4 led to Carolyn Golbus’ death, casting a shadow over what was meant to be a celebratory time as they launched their first book. This article details and honors the decade long process of bringing Meeting your Magnificence and a spiritual legacy. “Gleason is now left to carry forward their shared vision and Golbus’s legacy of spiritual awakening”
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | June 26, 2024
CONTACT | Gary Gleason
970-948-7680 | support@MeetingYourMagnificence.com
COLORADO COUPLE TO LAUNCH NEW BOOK SERIES
ASPEN, CO – Aspen residents Gary Gleason and Carolyn Golbus this week announced the launch of their new book, “Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Live from Your Higher Self”, which will be released this fall by Dallas-based Brown Books Publishing Group. This is the first book in a three-part series on spiritual awakening.
“In 2017 I moved to Maui for a year and started writing daily inspirations on topics that I’ve seen people struggle with in my years as a minister and a coach,” said Golbus, a first-time author and doctoral candidate at Delphi University of Spiritual Studies. “What emerged was a series of writings that guide the reader gently back to their innate inner wisdom – something so easily lost or ignored in the hectic pace of society today.”
After completing the manuscript Golbus started thinking about what visuals might accompany publication. That’s when she thought to tap the photographic talents of her partner, Gary Gleason, and turn it into a coffee table book. Brown Books Publishing immediately saw the merit of the idea and offered Golbus a publishing contract.
“We had pitched the manuscript to a number of publishers of spiritual books,” Gleason said. “We got a few nibbles, but no bites. But when we decided to turn it into a coffee table book it became a whole new thing.”
The photography in the book is of flowers, but not in the way you typically think of floral photography. Most of the images are extreme close ups – more like abstract art, providing an intimacy that is undeniable.
“I had already taken some shots that ultimately made it into the book, but really those were the launching pad,” Gleason said. “I find that the closer you look the more you see. That is especially true with flowers... I had no idea about their many secrets. It was a thrilling exploration.”
“Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Live from Your Higher Self” is the first in the three-book series. It is available for pre-order now, and will be in bookstores November 2024.
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| Gary Gleason
Gary Gleason is a writer, photographer, musician, master metaphysician, polyglot, entrepreneur, and athlete. He helped photograph, edit and produce the Nautilus-Award winning Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Live from Your Higher Self, and recently completed the manuscript for Meeting Your Magnificence: 111 Ways to Love Yourself. Over the course of his world travels he has developed a photographic style uniquely his own focused on beauty in small and conspicuous subjects so easily overlooked. Much of his work is captured using iPhone and other small digital technologies. He thinks of his work as making paintings with a camera. He has been honored to collaborate with Carolyn on the Meeting Your Magnificence series, and to carry forward its simple yet powerful wisdom. He is also grateful for the healing gifts he is able to now share with the world.
Artist’s Statement
Carolyn Golbus |
Carolyn Golbus, MhD (10/2/1963-7/12/2024) was a musician, energy healer, life coach, and the author of the book series, “Meeting Your Magnificence”. A 1987 graduate of the University of California/Los Angeles (UCLA), Carolyn was an ordained minister and was been certified by the Life Coach Institute of Orange County. She received her Doctorate of Metaphysics & Healing from Delphi University of Spiritual Studies in McCaysville, Georgia in 2024. She lived with her life partner, Gary Gleason, in Aspen Colorado until her accidental death following a tragic bike accident on Independence Day 2024.
Author’s Statement
Tragic Note |
These press materials were developed in June 2024 with intended release following the Independence Day Celebrations in the United States.
On July 4, author Carolyn Golbus was in a bicycle accident in Aspen, Colorado and subsequently died of her injuries.
The Aspen Daily News ran this frontpage story about Carolyn and her remarkable life entitled “Seeking Strength over a Life Cut Short. ”