Legal Writing

Is Your Novel Ready to Go?

By Maeve

If you have completed the manuscript of a novel, you may want to consider entering the Second Annual Breakthrough Novel Award Contest sponsored by Amazon and Penguin.

Last year’s Grand Prize winner, chosen from a field of 5,000 entries, received a publishing contract and $25,000: Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm.

The contest rules contain plenty of small print, so go to the contest site and read them carefully before deciding to enter.

Here’s some general information to help you decide whether or not you’re interested.

You have until February 2 to get your entry ready.

Eligibility
The contest is open to legal residents (13 years and older) of the following countries:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Québec), China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States (the 50 states and D.C.), and the United Kingdom.

Employees or relatives of employees of the sponsoring companies are not eligible.

Entry
Fiction: unpublished novel by one author (No short stories. No poetry, No previously published work. No collaborations. No illustrations.)
Language: English
Length: 50,000-150,000 words
Format: digital files (Microsoft Word .doc, .docx, or .rtf)
a. the complete manuscript
b. excerpt (the first 3,000-5,000 words)
c. 300-word pitch that describes the work and tells why anyone would want to read it

Deadline
Submissions will be accepted beginning at 12:01 EST on February 2.
Submissions window will remain open until February 8, OR until 10,000 manuscripts have been received.

Contest Phases
Round One: On the basis of your pitch, Amazon reviewers narrow the submissions to 2,000.
Round Two: Submissions are narrowed to 500. Excerpts are displayed at Amazon.com; Publishers Weekly reads, rates, and reviews the full manuscripts.
Round Three: Submissions are narrowed to 100. Penguin reviewers read and rank the 100, from which they narrow the field to three.
Final Round: Amazon.com customers vote.

If your novel is one of the three finalists, it will be read and reviewed by Sue Monk Kidd and Sue Grafton. How cool is that!

I’ll repeat, the information given here is very general. Go to the following links for complete details of the rules governing the contest:

OFFICIAL CONTEST SITE
FAQ
OFFICIAL RULES
PENGUIN SITE

Is Your Novel Ready to Go?

Full post as published by Daily Writing Tips on January 11, 2009 (boomark / email).