Here it is late winter…February, that dull, gray month when I tend to have trouble lifting my head from the recliner pillow.

But!

This year something exciting is afoot: I have entered my self-published novel, Spirited Away – A Novel of the Stolen Irish, in the annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. Not only that, the novel has already made it through the first cut, called the "pitch round." That news came on Feb. 13, and it's a big deal. It means that my chances have improved – a lot! My novel has gone from one in roughly 2,000 General Fiction entrants to being one in 400 entrants in that category.

As I write this, my book's preface and first three chapters are being read and judged. On March 12, Amazon will announce this year's Quarter-Finalists. For unpublished and self-published novelists, there is a lot at stake in this competition: One Grand Prize winner will get a publishing contract with an advance of $50,000, and four First Prize winners will each get a publishing contract with an advance of $15,000. This year, Amazon Publishing is the official publishing sponsor, which to an author apparently means a faster publishing timeline, higher royalties, the ability to launch books in multiple formats (print, audio, ebook), and worldwide distribution.

This year's ABNA has expanded categories to include five popular genres: General Fiction, Romance, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror and Young Adult Fiction. Contest administrators say that they've accepted entries from more countries than ever before.

That becomes obvious when you hang out on the contest's discussion threads, where writers gather to bite their nails and agonize and obsess while waiting for ABNA results. I have been spending an awful lot of time on there, and have met writers from England, Australia, all around the U.S., Venezuela, and Canada. If you feel like checking it out, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/forum/amazon%20...




While I'm at it, here's the link to my novel's Amazon page:
http://www.amazon.com/Spirited-Away-Novel-Stolen-Irish/dp/1478140267

Happy reading!