Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest 2012

Got a story you’ve just been itching to see in print?  The great American novel’s rumbling around in your brain, and you’d really like to see it in your local bookstore, be signing copies for adoring fans?  Well, dust off your keyboard and start writing.  Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Contest for 2012 begins accepting submissions in January. 

Previously self-published novels as well as unpublished works are eligible to be judged by a panel of professional writers, and the winners of the contest will get a publishing contract from Penguin, USA.  The rules and entry procedures can be found at Amazon’s ABNA Web site.  The categories are general fiction and young adult, and the site gives complete rules for entry.  The entry period for the 2012 contest is January 23 to February 5, 2012.

In order to enter, authors should go to Amazon’s Createspace site, where they can sign up for regular updates on the competition.  Before the contest opens, those desiring to enter should open a Createspace account.

The contest begins with submission of a 300-word pitch describing the entry, along with the complete novel.  Judges will review the pitch and select 1,000 from each of the two categories to go on to round two.  In the second round, Amazon customer reviews of a 5,000 word excerpt will narrow the field to 250 in each category.  These lucky entrants will have their work judged by Publishers Weekly reviewers who will read the entire manuscript to select 50 in each category for the semifinal round of judging.  Editors from Penguin will review the finalists and select three from each category that will then be judged by Amazon customers to select a winner in each category.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is.  I’ve entered the contest twice, making the quarter finals in one, but bombing out in the other.  But, it was still worth the effort.  The comments from other authors and the reviewers are a great help in improving one’s writing, even if you don’t win.  The ABNA is also great for helping writers focus on the business of meeting editorial and readers’ demands at the same time they try to do their best in crafting a great story.  A good story that doesn’t win can, if a writer takes the comments seriously, be turned into a great story eventually.

The competition is stiff, but Amazon offers help at every stage, including streaming video at the Createspace site that walks writers through the submission process, blogs giving advice on how to write effective pitches, and how to format manuscripts before submitting them.

Don’t let this chance pass you by.  Yours could very well be the next breakthrough best-seller.