--- title: Kenneth Carnesi on Three Awards, Unpublished Manuscripts and the Book That Goes Back to Rock Bottom description: South Carolina author Kenneth Carnesi won three independent book awards in 2026. His next release, All Hope Abandon, goes back to rock bottom. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-05-25T10:06:21.564Z updated: 2026-05-25T16:31:55.342Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/kenneth-carnesi-awards-all-hope-abandon image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/kenneth-carnesi-headshot.webp categories: CEO Profiles content_type: Profile region: South Carolina publication: Sovereign Magazine about: - type: Person name: Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. description: Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. is a Brooklyn-born author and business leader based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A qualified attorney with a JD from New York Law School and professional certificates from Harvard and Wharton, he serves as COO and Director of Government Sales at Anaptyx LLC. He is the author of 13 books, including the resilience trilogy After The Fall, Get Back Up, and Unfinished Business, written from his lived experience of losing his career, his possessions, and the people closest to him, then rebuilding from nothing. url: https://kennethcarnesiauthor.com/ jobTitle: Author and COO at Anaptyx LLC sameAs: - https://kennethcarnesiauthor.com/ - https://www.instagram.com/kennethcarnesi - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethcarnesi - https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr - https://medium.com/@carnesi.ken --- Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. is a Brooklyn-born author and business executive based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He serves as chief operating officer and director of government sales at Anaptyx LLC, an award-winning managed service provider in the bulk Wi-Fi industry. His primary output for years was business guidebooks. But he had also written a trilogy of inspirational books, *After the Fall*, *Get Back Up* and *Unfinished Business*, drawing on his own experience of losing his career, possessions and relationships. He kept them unpublished. When he finally released them, three independent organizations gave him awards in the same year, and a recent feature in [Today's Read](https://todaysread.com/from-the-ashes-a-rising-voice/) described his voice as "honest, grounded, hard-won, trustworthy." We spoke to Carnesi about the awards, his next book and why he writes the way he does. ### Book: What We Find In The Ashes *The Surprising Freedom and Unshakeable Faith That Only Shows Up When Everything Else is Gone* By Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. The Surprising Freedom and Unshakeable Faith That Only Shows Up When Everything Else is Gone [Books.by](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/what-we-find-in-the-ashes) ## How winning three inspirational book awards changed Kenneth Carnesi's outlook **You received three awards this year from three different organizations. Walk us through how that happened.** The first was from Best of Best Reviews, for 2026 Best Business Guidebook Author in South Carolina. I was honored to receive that recognition for my body of work in business guidebooks for founders and small business owners. Business guidebooks were my primary genre. I had also decided to publish my trilogy of inspirational books, which I had written several years earlier but had not published. The next award, completely unexpected, was for the Evergreen Awards 2026 Best New Inspirational Book Author in South Carolina. It was based upon my trilogy. The award didn't really change anything about how I approached my writing. Rather, it confirmed for me that readers were responding positively to my straightforward, honest, raw approach to sharing my own life experiences, challenges, and how I found help in my faith. The last award, BizWeekly's *What We Find in the Ashes* as the 2026 Best Inspirational Book in South Carolina, was an emotional one. In this book, I gave and shared so much of myself during the lowest point of my life that, when I published it, I really felt exposed. **What mattered more to you, the awards or the reader response?** Readers were messaging me through my site, sharing their own stories, and thanking me for the help and inspiration my books provided. Genuinely, that was the absolute best feeling for me. The awards are great, but the direct feedback from readers, and knowing, even in some small way, that my books were making a difference, were for me inspiring. ### The Resilience Trilogy - [After The Fall](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/after-the-fall) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [Get Back Up](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/get-back-up) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [Unfinished Business](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/unfinished-business) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. ## Why All Hope Abandon goes back to before the fall **Your next book, *All Hope Abandon*, is due this summer. How does it connect to the trilogy?** While the trilogy followed an arc of development, *All Hope Abandon* is meant to close the loop. It dives deeper into my life before the fall and the challenges associated with losing everything. It goes deeper still into the abyss and utter darkness of the bottom of the fall, and the feeling that I was approaching the very gates of hell. Therefore the title of the book, taken from Dante's inscription. I think for my readers, it will tie together how I survived the fall, the role faith played, my ability to build upon my integrity and dignity, which was never surrendered, and what lies ahead. ## Writing books about faith and resilience without preaching **The **[**Today's Read feature**](https://todaysread.com/from-the-ashes-a-rising-voice/)** described your books as feeling "less like a product and more like a conversation." Is that deliberate, or just how you write?** It's both, really. In all my inspirational books, I am writing about my story. My life, my failures, my challenges, my falls, my faith, all as a foundation for what I hope will be a help to others who are facing their own struggles, knowing they are not alone and that there is a way back. My style is to talk to readers, not at them. My style is to share my faith, not preach it. My style is a deliberate invitation to the reader to walk and talk with me for a while, and above all, I want my readers to always be able to depend upon my honesty and authenticity. I guess that's the best description of my writing style. Kenneth Carnesi has published 13 books across business and inspirational genres. His books are available at [books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr). ### More Books by Kenneth Carnesi - [Faith Over Logic](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/faith-over-logic) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [Silenced By Consent](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/silenced-by-consent) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [The Accent Never Leaves](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/the-accent-never-leaves) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [The Art of Storytelling](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/the-art-of-storytelling-vwu2x7) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [The Future Of Bulk Wi-Fi](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/the-future-of-bulk-wi-fi) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [The Metric Minimalist](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/the-metric-minimalist) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [Understanding Business Metrics](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/understanding-business-metri-dirm2r) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. - [Validate Business Ideas](https://books.by/kenneth-carnesi-sr/validate-business-ideas-tqjxds) by Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. **About Kenneth Carnesi, Sr.** Author and COO at Anaptyx LLC Kenneth Carnesi, Sr. is a Brooklyn-born author and business leader based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A qualified attorney with a JD from New York Law School and professional certificates from Harvard and Wharton, he serves as COO and Director of Government Sales at Anaptyx LLC. He is the author of 13 books, including the resilience trilogy After The Fall, Get Back Up, and Unfinished Business, written from his lived experience of losing his career, his possessions, and the people closest to him, then rebuilding from nothing. [Website](https://kennethcarnesiauthor.com/) ### See More - [Kenneth Carnesi Lost His Career, His Possessions, and Everyone Around Him. Then He Wrote a Trilogy About Rebuilding](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/kenneth-carnesi-resilience-trilogy) ## FAQ **Q: Is there a connection between faith and resilience?** Kenneth Carnesi's work treats them as inseparable. His trilogy and upcoming book *All Hope Abandon* present faith not as an abstract principle but as the mechanism that sustained him through the loss of his career, possessions and relationships. He describes his approach as sharing faith rather than preaching it, presenting it as one component of a broader process of rebuilding. **Q: Has a self-published book ever won an award?** Yes. Carnesi's inspirational trilogy won two independent awards in 2026, including the Evergreen Awards Best New Inspirational Book Author in South Carolina and BizWeekly's Best Inspirational Book in South Carolina for *What We Find in the Ashes*. Several award programs now recognize self-published work alongside traditionally published titles. **Q: What are the best books about hitting rock bottom and starting over?** Kenneth Carnesi's trilogy, *After the Fall*, *Get Back Up* and *Unfinished Business*, covers the full arc from collapse through recovery. His upcoming book *All Hope Abandon* goes deeper, exploring the period before and during his lowest point. The books are based entirely on lived experience rather than clinical research or generalized advice.