2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Amazon are running their breakthrough novel award again next year, with some differences. Most of them sound for the better. Here is what they have to say about the last competition (from their website)

The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is an opportunity for emerging fiction writers to join a community of authors on Amazon.com, showcase their work, and compete for a chance to get published.
Sponsored in partnership with Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award launched in October 2007 and received more than 5,000 initial entries. Of those, excerpts from over 800 fiction entries were eligible for Amazon.com customers to read, rate, and review. Editors at Penguin Group (USA) reviewed the Top 100 semifinalists based on early customer reads and full manuscript reviews provided by Publishers' Weekly. In March 2008, the leading Top 10 finalists were selected for the customers' vote. A panel of experts--including bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert, editor and publisher Amy Einhorn, literary critic John Freeman, and literary agent Eric Simonoff--also weighed in with their reviews for each of the top 10 novels. The top three finalists--Dwight Okita (The Prospect of My Arrival), Harry Dolan (Bad Things Happen), and Bill Loehfelm (Fresh Kills) traveled to New York City for the first weekend in April, where Bill Loehfelm was revealed as the winner.

The only thing I object to about the 2009 competition is that you have to sign up to Createspace to enter. I think Amazon have been dog in the manger-ish enough about their little self publishing baby (squeezing out other POD's by not selling your book on amazon.com unless you have published through Createspace) but making aspiring writers sign up for it in order to enter the comp is low in my opinion.

I entered the last competition and didn't make it past the first round (much to my surprise, as I thought I had a strong entry). However, I was still rushing to get it together as I was going to the airport to fly to New Zealand for a month, so perhaps it wasn't as tight as I thought it was. I'm considering entering the 2009 competition. Submissions are in February so I have enough time to polish up a submission and make it a real cracker this time.

Any other takers?

p.s Ionafey, if you are reading this, I really like your blog but I don't seem to be able to post a comment on any of your posts. Perhaps this is just my computer. I would really like to post, so please have a look at your settings to make sure the problem isn't at your end.

Review of the Week - 14th - 18th January 2008

This week didn't go so well for me. I was even busier than last week and tireder as well, so I got less writing done. I was nervous about the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards announcing their next round of finalists, and that stole almost an entire day's work from me on Tuesday. I have also been working on some non-fiction pieces, which I akin to pulling teeth. I did manage to get 4 hours in on Monday, which is good. And I earned 4 cent on Helium with my two short stories, and posted 4 articles on the site (2 stories, 1 essay and 1 book review). I also exercised every day this week with curves and walking Janna. I had a couple of late nights early on in the week that made it harder to keep productive. It is also a short week for me this week as I will be busy working at Feis Dun Dealgan over Saturday and Sunday, so that is 2 writing days gone. I also only managed to read one book. Next week I don't have to do any teaching, so I am hopeful I will be able to catch up.

On to the next

I heard today that I didn't make it through to the next round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Here are some possible reasons:-

1. My reviewer doesn't like fantasy

2. My reviewer doesn't read anything without pictures

3. My reviewer didn't have time to read all its submissions and started accepting and rejecting randomly

Ah well, it doesn't matter anyway. A rejection is just another step closer to an acceptance. On to the next one (competition, agent, publisher). Good luck to everyone who got through!