We writer/novelists are always hoping for those Big Chances. Maybe this one's it. If so, I'm going to need your help. To the point:
A couple of months back, I learned about a novel contest co-sponsored by Amazon.com and Penguin Books. It's called the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. There were 5,000 entries of completed, unpublished novels (plus an excerpt with the opening chapters). Of these, up to 1,000 Semi-Finalists would be chosen. The excerpts for these 1,000 would be posted on Amazon.com - AND each receive a full Publisher's Weekly review of the entire manuscript. Base on these PW reviews, and customer reviews of the posted excerpts, the top 100 Semi-Finalists will be chosen by Penguin editors. Of these, 10 Finalists will be chosen. The final prize: a $25,000 book deal with Penguin for the winning entry. Still with me, or have I bored you to tears yet? Hang on...
After discussing this with my agent, we decided it was worth a shot. The timeline for judging is relatively short, and the prize: a contract with Penguin, one of the largest publishers in the world, was worth it.
So last Fall I submitted my novel Margaret's Ark.
I got word this morning that it has made the first cut, and is now a Semi-Finalist along with 836 other entries. The excerpt is currently posted... and here's where you can help: The excerpts are posted in order to garner as many customer reviews as possible. These will have some bearing on which is selected for the top 100 entries (how much, who knows? Maybe just to see how well the author can pimp... I mean promote him/herself, but they definitely can't hurt). The excerpts can be read online, downloaded, all FREE.
My entry, Margaret's Ark can be found at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00121WE32
Read the excerpt if you have a moment, and let me know what you think. Seriously, don't leave a glowing review if you didn't like it (or, I suppose, if your last name is "Keohane", lol). But if you do like what you've read and are so inclined, you can post a short review blurb for it.
If nothing else, this contest is giving me and my fellow Semi-Finalists something writers don't usually get - a chance at some public feedback for a work - before it's published. That, and (of course) a review from Publisher's Weekly - which is going to be posted soon with the excerpt (PW reviews the entire book, FYI). I'm waiting for this with "terrified excitement." I hope they liked it.... so many factors, individual tastes, bad gas, can dampen a review. Penguin Books is also using the PW reviews as the primary selection criteria for the Finalists.
The General ABNA (the abbreviation for the contest) site is http://www.amazon.com/abna - from here you can click on the various genre categories, read and rate all of the other Semi-Finalists. Amazon is also running a side-contest for reviewers - customers who give the most reviews are eligible for some cool prizes (listed on the main page).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news: Speaking of Margaret's Ark: the original short story on which the novel was based, "Lavish", is soon going to be appearing in a Hungarian anthology of stories (translated into Hungarian and published overseas). I'll let you know when I learn more on this one.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I hear that Apex #11 is being reviewed in the most recent Locus Magazine. I can't find Locus in any of my local stores: if anyone subscribes and finds the review, I'd love to hear how it went.
Thanks!
Dan
No comments:
Post a Comment