- Mood: Anticipatory
- Music: Rainbow in the Dark
Many of you may have heard of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest but for those who haven't, basically 5000 people have submitted their novels to Amazon and the winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin for their book. The contest closed to entries in early November (but maybe keep an eye out for the second one?--October 1 was the opening of submissions last year). So why am I telling you?
Because...
The first round of selections has finished and the field has been narrowed to over 800 novels divided into five categories:
* General Literature
* Historical Fiction
* Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
* Romance
* Science Fiction & Fantasy
The next two rounds of selections are decided by the public.
Selection Round 2
The second round has started (Jan 15 - Mar 2). All you have to do is go to the link I posted, login with your Amazon account and read excerpts (up to 5000 words each) from a book that looks interesting. You can also download the excerpt as a free PDF file to read at your convenience. Then post your review on Amazon.
Why would you do this?
If you're a writer:
Experience1: It gets you directly involved in the selection process of a new novel.
Experience2: You get to be editor for a day (or month and a half), in that you see what an editor will normally see and judge the stories as they will (ie: from a short excerpt) which can help you better prepare your own stories for submission (for example, Penguin usually only accepts submissions of 10 pages or half the amount you'll see in the amazon excerpts).
or
Prizes: Yes, amazon knows that altruism, or even self-growth, is not a strong motivating factor so there are 3 prize packages of: Amazon Kindle, a $2,000 Amazon.com gift certificate, and an HP photo printer given to the top three reviews (as judged by their own panel).
Selection Round 3
The 10 finalists from the second round will be announced on March 3 and during March the public will have the opportunity to rate and review these to choose the ultimate winner.
So lets all get out there and support some new novelists by reviewing their work.
And may the best story win.
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