Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2014

LOTLOF, there's already a thread about this in our Novels room, so I'm going to merge this with it. We don't need a separate thread about it in Self Publishing.

This blog from 2013 http://www.allymachate.com/blog/201...-the-amazon-breakthrough-novel-award-contest/ pretty much echoes my concerns about this contest. Like others have said, you win, you sign their contract. Period. Plus the fact that you can't be actively querying during the contest.

I don't know. I dream of $50K advances, seeing my stuff in print but there's just too much about this contest that I'm not comfortable with.

James D. Macdonald said:

And you won't, either. The doors-and-windows bookstores are de-facto boycotting them.

Going with Amazon means no shelf placement -- ever.

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I've just discovered another drawback to Amazon from a customer view point. I bought The Luminaries on October 30th, it arrived and I placed it on my bookshelf until I was ready to read it. So yesterday I decided to start reading it, as I flicked through the book I discovered the acknowledgements page was ripped in half. Disappointing, but I could live with it. I then flicked through the book and it contained several sections of pages that haven't been cut properly, rendering it unreadable. So, I've sent an email saying even though its outside the returns policy, the book is faulty, and asked for an exchange. To be honest I was surprised that they agreed to a refund, but which means I now have to work out the collection depot (and buy an envelop big enough for it!), wait God knows how long for the refund, before I can order another copy. If I bought it from Waterstone's they would have exchanged immediately.

It makes me wonder does anyone check Amazon's stock when it arrives at the warehouse, or before its sent out. I will definitely think twice before ordering books direct from Amazon in future.

kkbe said:

This blog from 2013 http://www.allymachate.com/blog/201...-the-amazon-breakthrough-novel-award-contest/ pretty much echoes my concerns about this contest. Like others have said, you win, you sign their contract. Period. Plus the fact that you can't be actively querying during the contest.

I don't know. I dream of $50K advances, seeing my stuff in print but there's just too much about this contest that I'm not comfortable with.

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The way that I read it is, you can still query your book, but it just can't be shopped by agents. So, if during the contest you sign with an agent, you can just withdraw your entry.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.ht..._t=1401&pf_rd_p=1713308362&pf_rd_i=1000633821


Above is the contract summary for the Grand Prize and First Prize winners. I don't see anything particularly objectionable. I would certainly be okay with these terms, especially with a $50,000 or $15,000 advance.

Lauram6123: The way that I read it is, you can still query your book, but it just can't be shopped by agents. So, if during the contest you sign with an agent, you can just withdraw your entry.

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I pulled up the official rules and I think you're correct, that's what it sounds like so I was wrong about that.

I don't get this part, though (From the ABNA 2014 Official Rules http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000633821 ):

You may be represented by an agent on the condition that you - not your agent - agree to comply with these Official Rules.

Hmmm.

LOTLOF: Above is the contract summary for the Grand Prize and First Prize winners. I don't see anything particularly objectionable. I would certainly be okay with these terms, especially with a $50,000 or $15,000 advance.

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I know, those advances sound so enticing.

But then I read stuff like this (again, from ABNA 2014 Official Rules):

Amazon Publishing will determine the royalty rates to be paid under the publishing contract. If you are the Grand Prize Winner, you may not negotiate the publishing contract with Amazon Publishing, and you must sign it "as is" upon receipt of the executable contract (as described in Section 11 below) if you wish to enter into the publishing contract being awarded.

There go the warm and fuzzies again, dang it.

I wasn't quite done with my final round of edits, but I decided to submit my entry anyway. Just getting a couple reviews of my intro and first chapter if I make it past the query phase is worth the price of admission.

Furious Deep said:

I wasn't quite done with my final round of edits, but I decided to submit my entry anyway. Just getting a couple reviews of my intro and first chapter if I make it past the query phase is worth the price of admission.

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I completely agree. The reviews I got last year from the contest were very helpful, and if that's all I get this year, I will be happy.

Plus, if someone would be lucky enough to win the whole thing, take a look at the contract and decide they didn't want to sign it "as is," you still have the ability to pull out of the contest. I can't really see a downside.

I remember when Penguin ran it along with Amazon. Second year the latter have gone it alone.

And I noticed now, too: They announced the call for submissions two days ago! Whether I'll join in future (as a middle-grade writer) is another matter. So all I can do is root for the finalists still.

if someone would be lucky enough to win the whole thing, take a look at the contract and decide they didn't want to sign it "as is," you still have the ability to pull out of the contest. I can't really see a downside.[/QUOTE]

I see some language in the rules that seems designed to prevent the winners from pulling out at the last minute. My question is, do you have the ability to withdraw an entry an any time?

GeoWriter said:

I see some language in the rules that seems designed to prevent the winners from pulling out at the last minute. My question is, do you have the ability to withdraw an entry an any time?

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Well, even if you didn't pull out of the contest...just don't sign any contract that you don't like! Then what are they going to do?

If the conditions of entry give them the right to publish the winner, then under those circumstances you're stuffed.

Thanks for the comments.

I think I did this last year for a YA title. It's a lark.

Tri

I entered last year, made it to the semi-finals. Got a review of my entire manuscript-- a brutal, soul-crushing review. But it was fun while it lasted! I may enter this year if I can clean up my manuscript in time. I already finished my pitch/query.

My boyfriend entered the contest a few years ago. He didn't win, nor was he in the top three, but after the contest, Amazon contacted him and offered to publish his novel anyway. He was happy, so they did. He had an agent who had already tried to submit his novel to regular publishers, without success, which was why he had entered the contest. He and I had opposite feelings about Amazon. He loved them, understandably. And I hated them (except that I was glad they'd published his novel) because when they were in their fight with Macmillan, they removed the "Buy" buttons from all the books published by Macmillan. And my most recent novel at the time had been published by Macmillan. It's not fun to see your novel on Amazon with suddenly no "Buy" button. I think this bullying technique of theirs backfired a bit because it made a lot of authors angry at them.

I received my Amazon email newsletter on the 17th but didn't open it until the 22nd. My initial reaction was '10,000 entries? they have to be at capacity.' But what the heck, I gave it a go, and twenty minutes later had my entry confirmation number.

If it goes no further from there, so be it. At the very least it was a good exercise in massaging my pitch.

Ergo said:

I received my Amazon email newsletter on the 17th but didn't open it until the 22nd. My initial reaction was '10,000 entries? they have to be at capacity.' But what the heck, I gave it a go, and twenty minutes later had my entry confirmation number.

If it goes no further from there, so be it. At the very least it was a good exercise in massaging my pitch.

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Exciting! Glad you made it in. Please keep us posted as to how it turns out, and any other interesting tidbits along the way. Good luck!!!

ETA: P.S. Oh, and what's with your avatar? Ew.

ETA: (In case he changes it later, Ergo's avatar right now is of a woman's fingers with lovely long nails. Many inches long.)

Hello LN,

Thanks for the kind words on the submission.

Regarding the avatar, those are my real nails and I am male. . I consider them to be my sobriety nails. As easily as I can break one of my nails is as easy as it would be to break my sobriety. I wrote about it an anecdote titled: "At risk of getting nailed" which, along with the picture, was published in a certain trade publication nationwide.

It's been an effective reminder, although I have been passed over for business trips cause my nails might freak people out.

Also, it makes it rather hard to type the letters 'a,' 'q,' and 'z.'

Ergo said:

Regarding the avatar, those are my real nails and I am male. . I consider them to be my sobriety nails. As easily as I can break one of my nails is as easy as it would be to break my sobriety. I wrote about it an anecdote titled: "At risk of getting nailed" which, along with the picture, was published in a certain trade publication nationwide.

It's been an effective reminder, although I have been passed over for business trips cause my nails might freak people out.

Also, it makes it rather hard to type the letters 'a,' 'q,' and 'z.'

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Congratulations on your sobriety. That's the best reason I've ever heard for having long nails. Even if they interfere a little bit with your everyday life, they probably don't interfere as much as not having your sobriety would.

That ended up being a nice little exercise for me. For ages I had been pondering moving my 'set-up' chapter (the one preceeding the final chapter) to the beginning of my manuscript to provide a stronger opening.

As the deadline of March 2nd loomed, I found myself compelled to act, and to act with the potential of the piece actually being read.

Even if the entry goes nowhere, it was still a nice little nudge to get me moving.

I decided to go for it, even though the fine print sucks. It only sucks if you actually win, and given that there could be 10K entries, chances of that are....1 in 10K. Haha. In all seriousness, however, making it through a round or two of cuts could result in feedback from real book reviewers, as some people point out above, which could be invaluable.

The results are up!

I made it through the first round this time, but I doubt I'll go farther. I seem to get requests for partials, but then rarely get follow-ups for the full.

Good luck to all!

I didn't make the cut. Funny, this was more of a punch in the gut than the standard 'thanks but no thanks' from an agent.

Attribute to the odds. 10,000 to start, 2000 to continue. Odds of 5 to 1 seem more realistic than 500 to 1 for an agent.

Piffle...

Ergo--I entered the same book as last year. Last year I didn't make it through the first round and this year I did. Yes, my pitch was different this year, but a lot of it seems to be the luck of the draw. Don't take it too much to heart.