2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

For all you new-ish writers out there with a finished novel, 2012 is a new year, and that means:

It's time again for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award! That annual chance to get your Young Adult or general fiction novel noticed by the industry. So pull out that manuscript and start giving it a going over, because submissions open in just 11 days and only the first 5000 entrants in your category are accepted.

I believe this year is the fifth annual award and they've gotten the procedure down to a science. For those who don't know, it works like this:

submissions open (Jan 23 - Feb 5): first 5000 entries in each category accepted: YA and general adult fiction
Round 1: industry experts narrow field to 1000 in each category based solely on a 300 word pitch
Round 2: Amazon readers select 250 in each category based on 5000 word excerpts
Round 3: Publishers Weekly reviewers narrow field to 50 in each category based on full manuscript read
Round 4: Penguin USA publishers review all information sent (manuscript, pitch, excerpt, etc) and narrow to 3 in each category
Round 5: Amazon customers vote to get winner in each category


Yep, 10,000 entrants and 2 winners. Approximately the same odds as getting published. Except, of course, you've already had some publicity for your book this way.

Best of luck to anyone who decides to enter.