2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest

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amazon breakthrough novel award 2014

I’m interrupting our regularly scheduled blog post to bring you this important information.

Amazon and CreatSpace have announced they are holding the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest for 2014!

Have you heard of this contest?

Better yet, have you participated in it?

I ran across information about this contest in November, but at that time there was no word as to when or even if there was going to be a 2014 contest. Well today, during my regular perusal of open and upcoming writing contests I stumble upon a news posts stating that the dates were finally announced….and it’s literally days away, February 16, 2014! (I’m sure the dates were announced last month but I had no idea until today).

This contest sounds too good to be true. I don’t know anyone personally who has entered but last year when I read about it there were A LOT of people who were hoping and praying it comes back for 2014.

Does anyone have any experience with this contest, good reviews, bad reviews that they want to share?

I really think I might enter into this contest but I’m afraid I’m walking into something that I will regret. I really need some helpful advice.

In case you don’t know what I’m talking about or haven’t seen the this years dates I’ve gone onto the CreateSpace contests webpage to get the information and included it below.

The 7th Annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Contest 2014

1 Grand Prize winner will receive a publishing contract with an advance of $50,000

4 First Prize winners will each receive a publishing contract with an advance of $15,000.

The contest includes five popular genres: General Fiction, Romance, Mystery & Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror and Young Adult Fiction. And we’re accepting entries from countries around the world.

Key Dates

February 16 – Entry period opens at 12:00:01 AM (U.S. EST)*

March 2 – Entry period ends at 11:59:59 PM (U.S. EST)*

March 18 – Round 2 entries are announced

April 14 – Quarter-Finalists are announced

June 13 – Semi-Finalists are announced

July 8 – Finalists are announced. Customer voting begins on Amazon.com

July 8 – 18 – Customers vote on Amazon.com

July 21 – Grand Prize winner is announced

* The entry period will end earlier if the maximum number of entries is received before March 2. The maximum number of entries is 10,000 for General Fiction, Romance, Mystery & Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror and Young Adult Fiction combined.

Here’s how the contest works:

To enter, you must have a free CreateSpace account. If you haven’t already, sign up for your free CreateSpace account.

Round 1 (Pitch) – Amazon-selected editors will read and rate a pitch (up to 300 words) from each entrant. The top 400 entries in each of the five categories will advance to the second round.

Round 2 (Excerpt) – Amazon expert reviewers will read and rate excerpts (3,000 to 5,000 words) and provide feedback to the entrants. The top 100 entries in each of the five categories will advance to the Quarter-Finals.

Quarter-Finals (Full Manuscript) – Reviewers from Publishers Weekly will read and rate full manuscripts and provide feedback to the entrants. The top five entries in each of the five categories will advance to the Semi-Finals.

Semi-Finals – The Amazon Publishing judging panel, consisting of qualified representatives selected by Amazon Publishing, will review the manuscript and the accompanying reviews of eachSemi-Finalist’s entry to select a Finalist in each category (each, a “Finalist”) using the judging criteria.

Finals – Amazon customers will vote to determine the Grand Prize winner. All remaining Finalists will receive a First Prize.

 

For More Information:

 

Help Me! I want to enter but I don’t want to make a mistake in entering in the wrong kind of competition. I’m new to the writing world and I have no idea if this really is too good to be true or if this is just one of those golden opportunities I should try to snag. 

7 responses to “2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest”

  1. Michael Hicks Avatar

    If your manuscript is ready to go, you should definitely enter. I took part in the 2013 contest and it was thrilling! I made it through to the quarter-finals and was rewarded with an awesome review from Publisher’s Weekly. I also got some great feedback from the Amazon Review panel who went through my pitch and excerpt. If you’d like, you can read more about my experience at this post, http://michaelpatrickhicks.com/2014/01/21/amazon-breakthrough-novel-award-2014/

    If I recall properly, the 10,000 entries piled in pretty quickly, so if you do decide to enter make sure you’re prompt and get in early. Good luck!

    1. Darla G. Denton, Writer Avatar

      Thanks Michael for your advice. After thoroughly reading over the contest rules I don’t think my manuscript is ready but if they have one in 2015 I am definitely going for it!

  2. Michael Hicks Avatar

    You’re welcome Darla. Keep plugging away! Hopefully they continue with the contest next year. It’s been an annual tradition with Amazon for a few years, and now that they have their own publishing imprints, I’m guessing it will continue.

  3. Harliqueen Avatar

    There’s no point in not entering if you want to 🙂 You never know where it might lead, so give it a go , I say! 😀


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  5. Mel Vallery Avatar
    Mel Vallery

    Well, all of the praises that I keep seeing online probably means that I’m a woman with trust issues. I entered in 2011; it was easy to upload and I felt confident that I’d at least make it past the first cut. I didn’t. But there was a book that did that had the same title as mine; “The Necklace” … how I wish I had written down that guy’s name. Since then, I find myself in a copyright infringement battle with American Girl Dolls regarding the same book. AG & Mattel say(s) there are no similarities. I find it hard to comprehend how two entities would think to write about two girls in New Orleans in the 1800s and the search for a necklace. My book and their 9 books have 25 same and similar names and over 100 same & similar scenes, dialogue, characters, etc. I have a Baba grace, they have Marie-Grace … I have Cecile Honore, they have Cecile Rey. Oh well … more to this than I can say …

  6. Michael Sheahan. Avatar
    Michael Sheahan.

    I hope the have a 2015 contest with more categories for those novels which are left or right of center. Or perhaps a historical fiction category for novels up to 150,000 words since these epic tales often need room to develop.

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