Get Ready to Enter the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest

Over the past five years, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award has helped thousands of authors realize their dream of writing a novel, while connecting them with their peers and readers and providing the opportunity to be discovered. 

The winner of Create Space and Amazon’s 2013 Breakthrough Novel Contest was TIMEBOUND by Rysa Walker.

The 2014 Breakthrough Novel Contest is coming up in January. It is a narrow window of two weeks, so I thought I would get you thinking about whether you want to submit and give you more time to prepare if you do.

They haven’t announced the exact dates, but here are the dates for last year to give you and idea of how it lays out. Entries must received between January 14, 2013 at 12:00:01 a.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time) and January 27, 2013 at 11:59:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).  Once they receive 10,000 entries, they will close the contest.

Each Entry must include one of the following genre selections to be categorized and judged throughout the Contest:

a. General Fiction

b. Mystery/Thriller

c. Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

d. Romance

e. Young Adult Fiction

You must register at www.CreateSpace.com/abna   to enter the Contest.  Once you have registered, follow the instructions on the entry form and upload:

(1) the complete version of your manuscript that is between 50,000 and 150,000 words.

(2) up to the first 5,000 words, but not less than 3,000 words, of your Manuscript, excluding any table of contents, foreword, and acknowledgments.

(3) a pitch of your Manuscript consisting of up to 300 words.

(4) the personal information required on the entry form. They will not review any Entry that does not comply with these Official Rules.

They will not accept entries written by two or more authors. Additionally, poems, short stories, and collections of works are not eligible.

MANUSCRIPT SHOPPING. Manuscripts submitted as Entries to the Contest cannot be actively shopped by agents during the contest period, which runs from January 14, 2013 to June 15, 2013.

HERE IS HOW IT WORKS:

First Round (January 28, 2013 – February 11, 2013).

Between January 28, 2013 and February 11, 2013, our editors will read the Pitch for each Valid Entry in each of the 5 categories.

Our editors will select the top 400 Entries from each Category to advance to the second round by rating each Pitch on the following three criteria:

originality of idea

overall strength of the Pitch, and

the quality of writing.

Second Round (February 13, 2013 – March 9, 2013).

On or about February 13, 2013, we will post the names of those moving to the Second Round online at www.amazon.com/abna.

Between February 13, 2013 and March 9, 2013, our expert reviewers,  including Amazon editors and at least one Amazon Top Reviewer, will review and judge the Excerpts of each second round Entry.  The expert reviewers will rate each Excerpt on a scale of 1 to 5 on each of the following criteria:

a) Overall Strength of Excerpt

b) Prose/Style

c) Plot/Hook

d) Originality of Idea

Each second round Excerpt will receive two reviews, and the top 100 Entries from each Category based on the average Overall Strength of Excerpt score will advance to the Quarter-Finals (each, a “Quarter Finalist”).  These reviews will be posted within each Entrant’s http://www.CreateSpace.com account on or about March 12, 2013.

Quarter-Finals (March 12, 2013 – April 13, 2013).

On or about March 12, 2013, we will post each of the Quarter-Finalists’ Excerpts and their associated written reviews online at www.amazon.com/abna.

Amazon customers may download and read any Excerpt, and then write a review and rate the Excerpt using Amazon.com’s process for submitting online reviews (as described at http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/guidelines/review-guidelines.html).

For each Quarter Finalist’s Manuscript, Publishers Weekly will read, prepare a review, and rate each Manuscript on a scale of 1 to 5 on the following criteria:

a) Character development

b) Originality of idea

c) Plot

d) Prose/style

e) Overall strength of submission

These reviews will be posted within each Entrant’s http://www.CreateSpace.com account on or about April 16, 2013.

The top 5 Entries from each Category will advance to the Semi-Finals.  The Semi-Finalists will be determined by ranking each Quarter Finalist Entry based on the average Judging Criteria score given to each Quarter Finalist Entry by Publishers Weekly.

Semi-Finals (April 16, 2013 – May 20, 2013).

We will post the names of the Semi-Finalists on Amazon.com, along with their respective Publishers Weekly review on or about April 16, 2013.

Publisher’s Weekly may post their reviews of the Semi-Finalist Manuscripts on their website located at www.publishersweekly.com  after April 16, 2013.

On or about May 6, 2013, we will begin notifying potential Finalists by phone or e-mail.  The Finalists will be announced on www.amazon.com/abna  www.amazon.com/abna on or about May 21, 2013.

Finalist Period (May 21, 2013 – May 29, 2013).

Customer Voting. After the Finalists are announced, the voting phase to determine the Grand Prize Winner will begin and will continue through May 29, 2013 at 11:59:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time).  Amazon customers will be able to download and read each Finalist Excerpt. The Finalist receiving the most valid votes will be the potential Grand Prize Winner.  Customers must have an Amazon.com account in order to cast a vote, and customers may only vote once.

Grand Prize Event.  Prior to the announcement of the Winner on or about June 15, 2013, the Finalists will be flown to the Venue in Seattle, WA (or a different city that we select) for publicity and promotional interviews and an awards ceremony.  If you are not available for the trip, and we have not waived the travel requirement, an alternate Finalist will be invited to attend the ceremony in your place.  We may choose, in our sole discretion, an alternate means of announcing the Winner.

PRIZES.  The following prizes will be available to be awarded:

Grand Prize. Grand Prize. If you are selected as the Winner, you will receive a Grand Prize consisting of a full publishing contract with Amazon Publishing to market and distribute your Manuscript as a published book.  Upon the full execution of the publishing contract, Amazon Publishing will pay the Winner $50,000.00 USD.  The $50,000.00 payment is an advance against the royalties to be earned by the Winner under the publishing contract.

First Prize. Each Finalist (excluding the Grand Prize Winner), will be awarded the First Prize consisting of a full publishing contract with Amazon Publishing to market and distribute his/her Manuscript as a published book.  Upon the full execution of the publishing contract, Amazon Publishing will pay each First Prize Winner $15,000.00 USD.  The $15,000.00 payment is an advance against the royalties to be earned by the First Prize Winner under the publishing contract.

Finalist Prize. If you are selected as a Finalist (including the Grand Prize Winner), you also will receive a Finalist Prize consisting of a trip to the Venue, sometime between June 1, 2013 and June 21, 2013 (we will determine the exact dates). A Finalist Prize includes: (a) round trip coach class air transportation for 2 people departing from the major airport nearest to the Finalist’s residence; (b) 3 to 5 nights’ standard hotel accommodations (1 room, double occupancy); (c) transportation to and from airport to the hotel, and transportation to and from hotel to the Venue; (d) $200.00 USD spending money per day for the Finalist only. The ARV of the Finalist Prize is $3,600.00 USD.

Second Prize. If you are selected as a Quarter-Finalist, you will receive a “Second Prize” (maximum of 500 Second Prizes total).  Each Second Prize will consist of the Publishers Weekly manuscript review of each Quarter-Finalist’s respective Manuscript.

Third Prize.  If your entry is selected to move on to the Second Round, you will receive a “Third Prize” (maximum of 2,000 Third Prizes total). Each Third Prize will consist of the Amazon Editors review of the Second Round Entry’s respective Excerpt. The Third Prize has no cash value.

CreateSpace.com Promotional Code. All entrants will receive an electronic promotional code good for 20% off the base retail price of the Kindle-Ready File Conversion service from www.createspace.com ($69.00).  The ARV of each coupon is $13.80 USD.  The coupon is valid towards the purchase of the Kindle-Ready File Conversion service exclusively and cannot be used towards the purchase of any other goods or services from www.createspace.com.

PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO READ OFFICAL RULES: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000633821 

Good Luck!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy