14 DAY TRIAL // Amazon Publishing is launching the annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest, seeking to discover new voices in popular fiction.
Submissions open on Sunday, February 16, 2014, the company announced. Authors can submit their work in several categories, namely general fiction, mystery/thriller, romance, science fiction/fantasy/horror, and young adult fiction.
A finalist will be chosen from each category. The Grand Prize winner will receive an Amazon Publishing contract, as well as a $50,000 (€37,000) advance. Four additional finalists will receive an Amazon Publishing contract and a $15,000 (€11,000) advance.
The contest is open to unpublished and self-published English language novels. Submissions can be sent from February 16 through March 2, 2014, or until 10,000 entries are received, whichever comes earlier.
Once all submissions have been sent, a panel of editors will choose the top 400 pitch entries from each category. Then, select Amazon vine reviewers will read excerpts of entries and narrow it to 100 titles in each category.
The third phase involves reviewers from Publishers Weekly, who will read, review, and rate the full manuscripts, seeking for the top five semi-finalists for each category. Then, a panel of Amazon Publishing editors will choose a finalist from each of the five categories. The list is scheduled to be unveiled on July 8, 2014.
Finally, Amazon.com customers will be the ones to select the Grand Prize winner. Last year’s winner, Rysa Walker, author of “Timebound,” has already published her novel on January 1, 2014. Understandably, she believes entering her novel in Amazon’s contest was the best decision she could have made.
“The feedback I received during the various stages of the contest was truly beneficial to me as a new author, and the ABNA community on the discussion board kept me entertained during the many tense moments as we awaited the results,” she said.
This is the seventh annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest organized by the company.