First Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Amazon has just launched this ambitious contest for unpublished first novels.

Closing date 5 November

Open to all.

Amazon will accept up to up to 5,000 unpublished manuscripts between now and November 5th. 

The biggest prize is a publishing contract with the Penguin USA Group for an advance of $25,000, plus an entertainment technology package from Hewlett-Packard that will include an HP 50-inch Plasma TV, Digital Entertainment Center, HP Pavilion Notebook, HP LaserJet All-in-One and HP PhotoSmart Digital camera.

The contest will be conducted over a six-month period, during which Amazon customers will have the opportunity to read, write about and rate their favourites. Submissions will be reviewed first by Amazon.com Top Reviewers. At subsequent stages, reviewers from Publishers Weekly, editors from Penguin Group (USA) and a panel of seasoned publishing professionals - a critic, agent, publisher and author -- will help narrow and review the field of entries.

In the final month, 10 finalists will be selected, and Amazon.com customers will then vote to choose the grand prize winner. The winner will be announced on April 7, 2008, and will receive a publishing contract with Penguin.

Between now and November 5th, authors with an unpublished English-language novel manuscript can learn about the contest and submit their work for consideration via CreateSpace at www.amazon.com/abna. There's already a discussion thread going, with mixed responses to the contest.

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