April 2009
Amazon.com and Penguin Group (USA) have revealed the 100 semifinalists in the second-annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, the international writing competition in search of the next popular novel.
Penguin editors are now evaluating the manuscripts from this group of 100 semifinalists and will choose three finalists, to be announced on May 15, 2009. Amazon customers will then select the Grand Prize winner from these three finalists.
The 100 semifinalists were chosen based on ratings from Publishers Weekly and Amazon expert reviewers. They hail from 94 cities, 33 U.S. states and seven countries. The semifinalists’ entries are comprised of a wide assortment of literary genres, including general literature, science fiction, romance and mystery, among others. New York City boasts the largest number of ABNA semifinalists with four, and the semifinalist farthest from Seattle–over 9,000 miles away–comes from Duncraig, Western Australia.
“This year’s Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award drew compelling entries spanning a broad range of literary fiction from an extremely gifted pool of writers,” said Jeff Belle, VP, U.S. Books, Amazon.com.
“While reviewing excerpts, we were impressed with the amount of untapped writing talent out there. We are pleased to collaborate with Penguin to help bring these authors’ works to the reading public on Amazon.com.”
Once Penguin selects the three finalists, a panel of esteemed publishing professionals—including bestselling authors Sue Grafton and Sue Monk Kidd, literary agent Barney Karpfinger and Penguin Press Editor-in-Chief Eamon Dolan—will read and post their critiques of the top three manuscripts on May 15, at www.amazon.com/abna.
Amazon customers will then have seven days, from May 15-21, to vote for the Grand Prize winner. The winner will receive a publishing contract with Penguin, which includes a $25,000 advance.
“The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award has energized the competitive world of writing and publishing, and Penguin is delighted to partner with Amazon again in this exciting venture. We look forward to discovering a great new voice and bringing the winning novel to readers everywhere,” said Tim McCall, Penguin’s VP of online sales and marketing.
This year’s Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, which began Feb. 2, drew a talented pool of entrants representing all 50 states and 21 countries around the world. The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is co-sponsored by Amazon, Penguin Group (USA) and CreateSpace.
For more information on the award and the full list of semifinalists plus free views of excerpts from their novels, please visit www.amazon.com/abna.
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