I think most people would agree that the less crime in the world, the better. Suspense might be a different story - everybody likes a little of that, if only to keep life interesting.
But for a short story writer, crime and suspense (along with a generous dose of romance in a lot of cases) are the bread and butter of most stories, the gasoline that drives the engine (or the electricity, if you're not a big believer in fossil fuels). So life just got a little bit harder with the news that the outstanding webzine, Crime and Suspense, has published its' final issue with the May/June 2009 release.
Crime and Suspense was released monthly from 2005 through 2007, when publisher Tony Burton reconfigured the ezine to a bimonthly publication. I'm partial to this magazine because it was where my very first published story appeared, the tale of a chance meeting between a young boy and gangster John Dillinger in 1930's Kansas, titled "The Road to Olathe."
At the time the story was accepted, I had written several short stories and submitted them to a number of different magazines, both print and online, and been universally rejected. So, to say I was excited when I got the email from Tony telling me that he was going to use "The Road to Olathe" in the June 2007 edition of C&S would be a massive understatement.
I was surprised again in the early summer of 2008, when Tony Burton contacted me to ask if he could include the story in TEN FOR TEN, a print anthology he was putting together that included ten of his favorite stories from the 2007 issues of Crime and Suspense.
The ezine has since run three of my short stories, and I have been published in a pretty wide variety of other venues. I am a two-time Derringer Award Finalist (I never get tired of saying that) and I have high hopes for my novel-writing career, although so far I don't really have anything to base that on other than my own optimism.
But my point is this: Breaking into this field of fiction writing is incredibly difficult - much more so than I imagined when I started. I feel like I owe a lot to Tony Burton's Crime and Suspense webzine as well as to Wolfmont Publishing, the company Tony runs which published TEN FOR TEN and which is taking off to the point where he no longer has the time available to devote to C&S.
Would I have eventually gotten something published and broken in anyway? I like to think so, but the fact of the matter is that Mr. Burton used my material at a time when no one else had, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. I am happy for Tony Burton that Wolfmont is doing well, but for those of us who have enjoyed C&S over the past few years, both as readers and writers, a little less Crime and Suspense in the world isn't necessarily something to celebrate.
If you've never checked it out, go to www.crimeandsuspense.com and see if you don't agree. Click on the subscribers area from the main page and you can read any of the great archived material.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
We Hate You. And Your Book Sucks, Too
As my prize for making it into the Quarterfinal round of Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest, co-sponsored by Penguin Books and Publishers Weekly, I was to receive a professional review of my manuscript from a PW reviewer.
Even though I was eliminated from the contest during the last round, I was looking forward to receiving my review, because I felt it would give me some specific areas on which to work to improve my writing. Anyone who has tried to break into this field knows how difficult it is to get any kind of professional guidance without breaking the bank, and I already have that area covered more than adequately with three kids to put through college.
You know that expression, "Be careful what you ask for?" I'm pretty sure it was invented specifically to cover this situation. I received my review a few days ago, and suffice it to say there was NO danger of me advancing to the Semifinal Round if this review had anything to do with it.
Now, just in case there's any doubt in your mind, let me be clear about something: I have absolutely NO problem with getting a review that is critical of my work. None. In fact, I expected exactly that, since, after all, I was eliminated. But if this anonymous reviewer, whoever he is (The review is unsigned, which I feel is a little unfair - it's easy to lob grenades if nobody knows who you are), had his way, I'm guessing he would forbid me to write anything ever again, including a grocery list or anything else.
There were a couple of constructive things I could take out of the review - things I can look toward improving in my writing - such as some of my characterizations and dialogue, but for the most part, this review was, I felt, an unfair and unnecessarily harsh attack. Just in case I missed his point that he didn't like my manuscript, he concludes by calling it "an unnecessary litany of vomit." And, yes, that is the exact quote.
I will be the first to admit, reading something like those words, tossed off so cavalierly about the product I have spent literally hundreds of hours working on, hurts more than a little bit. It feels a little like, well, like that acidy taste you get in your throat when you, you know, vomit. It sucks to be ridiculed and made to feel small, and I believe that was the whole point of this review.
But I am nothing if not resilient. And determined. Because I know I can write; the fact that I am up for two Derringer Awards says something about that, just as much as this PW review does. I accept that not everyone will like my work. I accept that there is the very real chance hardly ANYONE will like my work; I'm not blind or stupid.
But I do not accept that my work is vomit, and this setback will make my ultimate success that much sweeter.
Thank you for putting up with my cathartic rant. I don't know about you, but I feel much better now. I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to get busy. My vomitus doesn't write itself, you know...
Even though I was eliminated from the contest during the last round, I was looking forward to receiving my review, because I felt it would give me some specific areas on which to work to improve my writing. Anyone who has tried to break into this field knows how difficult it is to get any kind of professional guidance without breaking the bank, and I already have that area covered more than adequately with three kids to put through college.
You know that expression, "Be careful what you ask for?" I'm pretty sure it was invented specifically to cover this situation. I received my review a few days ago, and suffice it to say there was NO danger of me advancing to the Semifinal Round if this review had anything to do with it.
Now, just in case there's any doubt in your mind, let me be clear about something: I have absolutely NO problem with getting a review that is critical of my work. None. In fact, I expected exactly that, since, after all, I was eliminated. But if this anonymous reviewer, whoever he is (The review is unsigned, which I feel is a little unfair - it's easy to lob grenades if nobody knows who you are), had his way, I'm guessing he would forbid me to write anything ever again, including a grocery list or anything else.
There were a couple of constructive things I could take out of the review - things I can look toward improving in my writing - such as some of my characterizations and dialogue, but for the most part, this review was, I felt, an unfair and unnecessarily harsh attack. Just in case I missed his point that he didn't like my manuscript, he concludes by calling it "an unnecessary litany of vomit." And, yes, that is the exact quote.
I will be the first to admit, reading something like those words, tossed off so cavalierly about the product I have spent literally hundreds of hours working on, hurts more than a little bit. It feels a little like, well, like that acidy taste you get in your throat when you, you know, vomit. It sucks to be ridiculed and made to feel small, and I believe that was the whole point of this review.
But I am nothing if not resilient. And determined. Because I know I can write; the fact that I am up for two Derringer Awards says something about that, just as much as this PW review does. I accept that not everyone will like my work. I accept that there is the very real chance hardly ANYONE will like my work; I'm not blind or stupid.
But I do not accept that my work is vomit, and this setback will make my ultimate success that much sweeter.
Thank you for putting up with my cathartic rant. I don't know about you, but I feel much better now. I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to get busy. My vomitus doesn't write itself, you know...
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Gimme Back My Plot Twist!
It's not hard to imagine how silly it sounds to most people when I say that sometimes the characters in my stories surprise me with the things they do; in fact, it sounds kind of silly to me right now as I type this. The fact of the matter is, though, that sometimes they do. And when that happens, it's kind of magical, because usually the story takes a turn for the better.
Case in point - a short story I've just finished. It's about a young man who takes his girlfriend to the lake for a late-afternoon swim on a lazy summer day. One thing leads to another and before the day is out, someone has been murdered and someone else is scrambling to cover up the killing.
I don't want to go into too much detail, because I'm hoping that at some point you'll have the opportunity to read this story somewhere. When and where you'll read it are still very much up in the air, as is the question of if you'll ever even read it. However, hope springs eternal as my dad used to say, so I don't want to give away my ending.
The point is, though, that the way this story eventually ends is very different from how I had envisioned it ending when I first started typing away. One of my main characters wrested control of the action away from me and wouldn't give it up, which seems only fair, since the whole thing directly affected him.
That sort of occurrence seems to happen a lot to me while I'm writing, and I wonder why that is. When that lightbulb goes on over my head, like Wile E. Coyote getting a great idea, some of the best plot twists and turns seem to follow. I guess the idea is somewhere inside my thick skull all along, but I'm just too dense to recognize it until a character hits me over the head with it.
That's one of the things I love about writing. You start out attempting to create something specific that you visualize in your mind's eye, and sometimes end up with a creation that looks completely different when you're all done. Like Frankenstein's Monster maybe. Not that I'm trying to compare myself to Mary Shelley, you understand. More like that poor schlub Frankenstein.
But what the hell. Frankenstein's creation made quite an impact anyway, right?
Case in point - a short story I've just finished. It's about a young man who takes his girlfriend to the lake for a late-afternoon swim on a lazy summer day. One thing leads to another and before the day is out, someone has been murdered and someone else is scrambling to cover up the killing.
I don't want to go into too much detail, because I'm hoping that at some point you'll have the opportunity to read this story somewhere. When and where you'll read it are still very much up in the air, as is the question of if you'll ever even read it. However, hope springs eternal as my dad used to say, so I don't want to give away my ending.
The point is, though, that the way this story eventually ends is very different from how I had envisioned it ending when I first started typing away. One of my main characters wrested control of the action away from me and wouldn't give it up, which seems only fair, since the whole thing directly affected him.
That sort of occurrence seems to happen a lot to me while I'm writing, and I wonder why that is. When that lightbulb goes on over my head, like Wile E. Coyote getting a great idea, some of the best plot twists and turns seem to follow. I guess the idea is somewhere inside my thick skull all along, but I'm just too dense to recognize it until a character hits me over the head with it.
That's one of the things I love about writing. You start out attempting to create something specific that you visualize in your mind's eye, and sometimes end up with a creation that looks completely different when you're all done. Like Frankenstein's Monster maybe. Not that I'm trying to compare myself to Mary Shelley, you understand. More like that poor schlub Frankenstein.
But what the hell. Frankenstein's creation made quite an impact anyway, right?
Thursday, April 2, 2009
I'm a Derringer Finalist, I'm a Derringer Finalist - Is There an Echo In Here?
It never ceases to amaze me how subjective the business of writing is; especially when it comes to the business of fiction writing and getting published, both in the long form and the short form. What may turn off one person completely could seem to be the best thing ever to someone else, and vice-versa.
I mention this because as someone who has been struggling to break into the ranks of published authorship in both long and short form, I was excited beyond the point of reasonableness (Reasonability? Reasonablosity?) to discover that two of my short stories published last year have been selected as finalists for a 2009 Derringer Award!
The Derringers are given out annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society, "to honor excellence in the creative artform of short mystery and crime stories," according to their website. The awards were instituted in 1997 and have been given out annually ever since. Previous winners include Carol Kilgore, Clark Howard, J.A. Konrath and Patricia Harrington.
And get this: previous runners-up include names like Jeffrey Deaver, Bill Pronzini and Duane Swierczynski, so no matter what happens, as a finalist, I'm truly honored and excited to be in such great company.
Both of my stories selected as Derringer finalists reside in the same category - Best Short Story, defined by the SMFS as any story between 1001 and 4000 words - meaning they are competing against each other, as well as against four other finalists. Hopefully this means my chances of winning are twice as good, rather than half as good, but who really knows?
My two Derringer Finalists are: "Independence Day," originally published in the July/August 2008 issue of Crime and Suspense, and "Regrets, I've Had a Few," which appeared in the September 2008 issue of Trei Literary magazine, the only issue the magazine ever released before disappearing.
If you'd like to check them out, "Independence Day" is archived at the Crime and Suspense site, and I've posted "Regrets, I've Had a Few" at my own website. I'd be thrilled if you'd like to read them.
About the subjectivity involved in this writing gig, it's interesting to me that one of my Derringer finalist stories was accepted by the first venue to which I sent it, while the other one bounced around for a while, being rejected five times before finally finding a home.
I like to think that my lack of success at getting agents and publishers to read my novel manuscripts is similar to the situation regarding "Regrets, I've Had a Few." I continued submitting this story because I believed in it. I felt strongly that it was quality work and sooner or later someone would recognize that. Eventually someone did, and now it's a Derringer Award finalist.
The moral of the story, I suppose, is obvious, at least to me. Work hard and sooner or later the breaks will come. If you're writing and submitting and not getting anywhere, keep going! The next thing you send out might just be the one that takes off and sends you on your way. I really believe that, and you should too.
By the way, the Short Mystery Fiction Society is open to everyone, writers and readers alike. If you're reading this blog, you're probably a good candidate for membership. You can check them out here. And, no, I'm not trolling for votes for my stories - to be eligible to vote for this year's Derringer awards, you have to have been a member prior to February 1 of this year. But if you join now, you can vote for next year's most deserving stories...
I mention this because as someone who has been struggling to break into the ranks of published authorship in both long and short form, I was excited beyond the point of reasonableness (Reasonability? Reasonablosity?) to discover that two of my short stories published last year have been selected as finalists for a 2009 Derringer Award!
The Derringers are given out annually by the Short Mystery Fiction Society, "to honor excellence in the creative artform of short mystery and crime stories," according to their website. The awards were instituted in 1997 and have been given out annually ever since. Previous winners include Carol Kilgore, Clark Howard, J.A. Konrath and Patricia Harrington.
And get this: previous runners-up include names like Jeffrey Deaver, Bill Pronzini and Duane Swierczynski, so no matter what happens, as a finalist, I'm truly honored and excited to be in such great company.
Both of my stories selected as Derringer finalists reside in the same category - Best Short Story, defined by the SMFS as any story between 1001 and 4000 words - meaning they are competing against each other, as well as against four other finalists. Hopefully this means my chances of winning are twice as good, rather than half as good, but who really knows?
My two Derringer Finalists are: "Independence Day," originally published in the July/August 2008 issue of Crime and Suspense, and "Regrets, I've Had a Few," which appeared in the September 2008 issue of Trei Literary magazine, the only issue the magazine ever released before disappearing.
If you'd like to check them out, "Independence Day" is archived at the Crime and Suspense site, and I've posted "Regrets, I've Had a Few" at my own website. I'd be thrilled if you'd like to read them.
About the subjectivity involved in this writing gig, it's interesting to me that one of my Derringer finalist stories was accepted by the first venue to which I sent it, while the other one bounced around for a while, being rejected five times before finally finding a home.
I like to think that my lack of success at getting agents and publishers to read my novel manuscripts is similar to the situation regarding "Regrets, I've Had a Few." I continued submitting this story because I believed in it. I felt strongly that it was quality work and sooner or later someone would recognize that. Eventually someone did, and now it's a Derringer Award finalist.
The moral of the story, I suppose, is obvious, at least to me. Work hard and sooner or later the breaks will come. If you're writing and submitting and not getting anywhere, keep going! The next thing you send out might just be the one that takes off and sends you on your way. I really believe that, and you should too.
By the way, the Short Mystery Fiction Society is open to everyone, writers and readers alike. If you're reading this blog, you're probably a good candidate for membership. You can check them out here. And, no, I'm not trolling for votes for my stories - to be eligible to vote for this year's Derringer awards, you have to have been a member prior to February 1 of this year. But if you join now, you can vote for next year's most deserving stories...
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Random Thoughts on Bobcats and College
My middle child is a high school senior, which means she will be going off to college in the fall. She'll be a freshman at Quinnipiac University, and today they held an "Admitted Students Day," which I initially thought was odd. Most of the time, the last thing teenagers want to admit is that they are students, right? Turns out "Admitted Students Day" is for the kids who have been admitted to the school for next year.
Here, in no particular order, are a few random thoughts from the day:
- I'm getting realllly old.
It's hard for me to believe that I've been out of college for almost thirty years. In the little mental movie that I'm the star of, I'm still a kid and would fit right in on a college campus. Unfortunately that movie is in low-definition black and white. I'm old enough to be the father of the kids I saw walking around Quinnipiac today, which makes sense considering I was there with my own daughter, but still, it's a disorienting experience being on a college campus as an old guy.
- I can't believe a college campus is located off a cow path.
Okay, Mount Carmel Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut isn't a cow path, exactly, but it sure feels like one as you turn a corner on the narrow winding road leading to Quinnipiac and find yourself face to face with an LP gas truck coming the opposite direction, crowding your lane. Seriously, this road must have been built to accommodate Model T's and was clearly designed by a civil engineer working on his tenth Bloody Mary. It must be a real adventure in the winter.
- My granddaughter could have been elected Class President today.
My older daughter had to work this afternoon, so we brought my two year old granddaughter Arianna with us to Quinnipiac. She was the hit of the campus, not just to the other parents bringing their high school seniors to Admitted Students Day, but also to the college kids strolling around the school and to the future Freshmen as well. I think Ari's ready to bypass kindergarten and move right on to college.
- Can you believe a two year old spent six hours in a car and didn't have one meltdown?
This little girl was so good on what had to have been an unbelievably long day for her. She slept for two hours on the way to Quinnipiac this morning, but was awake for almost the entire ride home and was as patient as a saint. She really is a sweetheart.
- College bookstores haven't changed a bit since I was in school.
I take that back. Prices on things are a lot higher now. Aside from that, though, the merchandise on sale at the QU Bookstore this afternoon was exactly the same stuff that was on sale where I went to school from 1977 to 1981. Lots of other things have evolved on college campuses, but it's like the bookstore was caught in some weird time-warp where nothing ever changes.
- I'm more excited for my kids' college experiences than I ever was for my own.
I went to a pretty high-profile university, with some pretty stringent entrance requirements, but the pride I feel for my childrens' accomplishments dwarfs anything I ever felt for my own. My oldest daughter is a sophomore at Saint Anselm College, and my middle one will be a freshman this fall at Quinnipiac. I couldn't be prouder. I also couldn't be poorer, but that's a story for another blog. Next up is my son, who will be a junior in high school next year.
- It's exciting to see the future opening up for my little girl.
Out of 16,000 applications received, only 1400 incoming freshmen were selected to form the Class of 2013 at QU. To say I'm proud of my daughter Kristin would be a massive understatement. This kid has been getting overlooked and underappreciated her whole life, starting in the womb when the OG-GYN told my wife and I that the fetus was dying and we should start preparing ourselves for a miscarriage. My wife refused to accept that diagnosis and Kristin was the result. She's beautiful, smart, silly and motivated. And don't even think of telling her she can't do something, because she will prove you wrong. Every. Single. Time.
Here, in no particular order, are a few random thoughts from the day:
- I'm getting realllly old.
It's hard for me to believe that I've been out of college for almost thirty years. In the little mental movie that I'm the star of, I'm still a kid and would fit right in on a college campus. Unfortunately that movie is in low-definition black and white. I'm old enough to be the father of the kids I saw walking around Quinnipiac today, which makes sense considering I was there with my own daughter, but still, it's a disorienting experience being on a college campus as an old guy.
- I can't believe a college campus is located off a cow path.
Okay, Mount Carmel Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut isn't a cow path, exactly, but it sure feels like one as you turn a corner on the narrow winding road leading to Quinnipiac and find yourself face to face with an LP gas truck coming the opposite direction, crowding your lane. Seriously, this road must have been built to accommodate Model T's and was clearly designed by a civil engineer working on his tenth Bloody Mary. It must be a real adventure in the winter.
- My granddaughter could have been elected Class President today.
My older daughter had to work this afternoon, so we brought my two year old granddaughter Arianna with us to Quinnipiac. She was the hit of the campus, not just to the other parents bringing their high school seniors to Admitted Students Day, but also to the college kids strolling around the school and to the future Freshmen as well. I think Ari's ready to bypass kindergarten and move right on to college.
- Can you believe a two year old spent six hours in a car and didn't have one meltdown?
This little girl was so good on what had to have been an unbelievably long day for her. She slept for two hours on the way to Quinnipiac this morning, but was awake for almost the entire ride home and was as patient as a saint. She really is a sweetheart.
- College bookstores haven't changed a bit since I was in school.
I take that back. Prices on things are a lot higher now. Aside from that, though, the merchandise on sale at the QU Bookstore this afternoon was exactly the same stuff that was on sale where I went to school from 1977 to 1981. Lots of other things have evolved on college campuses, but it's like the bookstore was caught in some weird time-warp where nothing ever changes.
- I'm more excited for my kids' college experiences than I ever was for my own.
I went to a pretty high-profile university, with some pretty stringent entrance requirements, but the pride I feel for my childrens' accomplishments dwarfs anything I ever felt for my own. My oldest daughter is a sophomore at Saint Anselm College, and my middle one will be a freshman this fall at Quinnipiac. I couldn't be prouder. I also couldn't be poorer, but that's a story for another blog. Next up is my son, who will be a junior in high school next year.
- It's exciting to see the future opening up for my little girl.
Out of 16,000 applications received, only 1400 incoming freshmen were selected to form the Class of 2013 at QU. To say I'm proud of my daughter Kristin would be a massive understatement. This kid has been getting overlooked and underappreciated her whole life, starting in the womb when the OG-GYN told my wife and I that the fetus was dying and we should start preparing ourselves for a miscarriage. My wife refused to accept that diagnosis and Kristin was the result. She's beautiful, smart, silly and motivated. And don't even think of telling her she can't do something, because she will prove you wrong. Every. Single. Time.
Friday, March 20, 2009
I'm Going to Hollywood! Sort of...
Okay, so there's no shiny stage inside a fancy theatre filled with adoring fans. There's no awesome band. There's no worldwide television audience in the hundreds of millions. There's no witty Ryan Seacrest or grumpy Simon Cowell or even ditzy Paula Abdul, unless you consider some of the contestants.
Still, it's hard not to look at the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and make the obvious comparison to American Idol, the reality show that has launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, David Cook and so many others.
ABNA is co-sponsored by Penguin Books and Publishers Weekly and its premise is simple. Aspiring novelists enter their manuscripts into the contest during a six-day period in early February. The complete, finished novels must be uploaded, along with short pitches, five thousand word excerpts and author bio information.
Over the next six weeks, editors at Amazon evaluate the entries, all ten thousand of them, strictly on the basis of the short pitch that each author has provided - think of it as the ninety seconds or so each singer gets to impress the Idol judges with no instrumental backup - and narrow the field down to five hundred quarterfinalists.
The excerpts of the quarterfinalists are then posted at www.amazon.com/abna, all five hundred of them, where they are available for free download to whoever is interested in reading them. Readers are free to post their own starred reviews. During this four week period, editors at Penguin Books are reading and evaluating each full manuscript, and on April 15, the semifinal round begins, with the editors choosing 100 books to continue in the competition.
One month later, on May 15, the Final Three are chosen, with the winner of the competition announced on May 21. The winner receives a $25,000 advance and a contract with Penguin for publication of his or her book; hopefully marking the beginning of a long and successful career.
Bill Loehfelm won the inaugural competition last year, with his mystery titled FRESH KILLS, which I suppose would make him Kelly Clarkson, winner of the first season of American Idol. Several other Top Ten finalists ended up with contracts as well.
Right now the competition is in the quarterfinal stage, and I'm telling you all this for an ulterior motive - I am one of the quarterfinalists! The novel I entered is titled PASKAGANKEE, and its' excerpt is available right now for FREE download if you'd like to check it out, at www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3BI6.
I would be very grateful if you take the time to download it (remember, it's FREE) and check it out; I could use as much exposure as I can get. There are some really good entries in the competition, but I believe PASKAGANKEE stacks up pretty well against any of them. See if you agree! Hopefully I won't end up as the William Hung or the Norman Gentle of the competition, but I suppose anything's possible.
Don't worry if you're reading this on Myspace and click on the link and get the spam alert - it's Amazon and it's completely legit. Feel free to copy and paste the link if that happens, I won't tell Tom.
Needless to say, this is a huge opportunity for an unknown author who is having moderate success in the short story market but having difficulty getting the attention of agents and publishers, especially in this down economy. Making it into the Top 100 would provide valuable exposure, not to mention validation, not just for me but for any of the five hundred remaining authors.
If you'd like to be a part of launching someone's career, take a few minutes to check out my excerpt or any of the others. Mostly mine.
Thanks!
Still, it's hard not to look at the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest and make the obvious comparison to American Idol, the reality show that has launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Chris Daughtry, David Cook and so many others.
ABNA is co-sponsored by Penguin Books and Publishers Weekly and its premise is simple. Aspiring novelists enter their manuscripts into the contest during a six-day period in early February. The complete, finished novels must be uploaded, along with short pitches, five thousand word excerpts and author bio information.
Over the next six weeks, editors at Amazon evaluate the entries, all ten thousand of them, strictly on the basis of the short pitch that each author has provided - think of it as the ninety seconds or so each singer gets to impress the Idol judges with no instrumental backup - and narrow the field down to five hundred quarterfinalists.
The excerpts of the quarterfinalists are then posted at www.amazon.com/abna, all five hundred of them, where they are available for free download to whoever is interested in reading them. Readers are free to post their own starred reviews. During this four week period, editors at Penguin Books are reading and evaluating each full manuscript, and on April 15, the semifinal round begins, with the editors choosing 100 books to continue in the competition.
One month later, on May 15, the Final Three are chosen, with the winner of the competition announced on May 21. The winner receives a $25,000 advance and a contract with Penguin for publication of his or her book; hopefully marking the beginning of a long and successful career.
Bill Loehfelm won the inaugural competition last year, with his mystery titled FRESH KILLS, which I suppose would make him Kelly Clarkson, winner of the first season of American Idol. Several other Top Ten finalists ended up with contracts as well.
Right now the competition is in the quarterfinal stage, and I'm telling you all this for an ulterior motive - I am one of the quarterfinalists! The novel I entered is titled PASKAGANKEE, and its' excerpt is available right now for FREE download if you'd like to check it out, at www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3BI6.
I would be very grateful if you take the time to download it (remember, it's FREE) and check it out; I could use as much exposure as I can get. There are some really good entries in the competition, but I believe PASKAGANKEE stacks up pretty well against any of them. See if you agree! Hopefully I won't end up as the William Hung or the Norman Gentle of the competition, but I suppose anything's possible.
Don't worry if you're reading this on Myspace and click on the link and get the spam alert - it's Amazon and it's completely legit. Feel free to copy and paste the link if that happens, I won't tell Tom.
Needless to say, this is a huge opportunity for an unknown author who is having moderate success in the short story market but having difficulty getting the attention of agents and publishers, especially in this down economy. Making it into the Top 100 would provide valuable exposure, not to mention validation, not just for me but for any of the five hundred remaining authors.
If you'd like to be a part of launching someone's career, take a few minutes to check out my excerpt or any of the others. Mostly mine.
Thanks!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I'm an ABNA Quarterfinalist!
As an aspiring novelist, I've always felt that if I could just get a little exposure for my work, people would enjoy it and want to read more. I'm just guessing here, but I would imagine most writers feel the same way, otherwise what's the point? You might just as well keep a diary, it you're only going to write for yourself.
So when I happened through sheer luck to see the information regarding Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest (ABNA), I figured I had nothing much to lose. I had failed to interest an agent in the work and was nearly finished with my next manuscript, so there was no reason not to give it a shot.
Of course, there was a problem - isn't there always? The entry period for the contest was only six days long, from February 2 through February 8, and it was already February 6! So I had two days to write a pitch and a profile, and format an excerpt for submission, then get everything transmitted in less than two days.
Of course, after months of querying agents regarding this novel, I had plenty of material to work with. Anyway, I got it all in before the deadline and then waited. The deadline for announcing the quarterfinalists was supposed to be March 16, but I waited on pins and needles all day yesterday and heard nothing. Then I got up this morning and discovered my novel, PASKAGANKEE, had made the cut!
The contest is run by Amazon in conjunction with Penguin Books as the publishing sponsor and Publishers Weekly as the reviewing sponsor. Out of 10,000 initial entries, the editors at Amazon narrowed the quarterfinalists down to 500, broken up into eight categories of novels, including Thrillers, the category in which my entry resides.
Excerpts of all five hundred entries still alive in the contest are available at Amazon to be read and reviewed by anyone. The novel excerpts consist of up to the first five thousand words of the manuscript.
The next step in the American Idol-like process takes place on April 15, when the five hundred remaining manuscripts are winnowed by the editors at Penguin Books down to a Final 100, and out of those 100 books, a Final Three are selected on May 15, with the winner being announced on May 22.
The winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award receives a $25,000 advance and a contract to have his or her novel published by Penguin. Obviously, this is the goal every unpublished author is working for and it goes without saying, this is MY goal.
I need your help. If you have any interest in reading fiction, I would very much appreciate you taking the time to go to Amazon and download my excerpt. The novel is titled PASKAGANKEE and the download is free. After reading the excerpt, please post a customer review on the site, which will then become available for everyone to see. It's really easy to do and it's FREE.
If you're interested, here's the link to my entry at Amazon. If you'd like to check out some of the other great quarterfinalists too, here's the link to the contest home page, where you can get to all 500 excerpts.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to check it out if you choose to do so, and thank you for your help!
So when I happened through sheer luck to see the information regarding Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award contest (ABNA), I figured I had nothing much to lose. I had failed to interest an agent in the work and was nearly finished with my next manuscript, so there was no reason not to give it a shot.
Of course, there was a problem - isn't there always? The entry period for the contest was only six days long, from February 2 through February 8, and it was already February 6! So I had two days to write a pitch and a profile, and format an excerpt for submission, then get everything transmitted in less than two days.
Of course, after months of querying agents regarding this novel, I had plenty of material to work with. Anyway, I got it all in before the deadline and then waited. The deadline for announcing the quarterfinalists was supposed to be March 16, but I waited on pins and needles all day yesterday and heard nothing. Then I got up this morning and discovered my novel, PASKAGANKEE, had made the cut!
The contest is run by Amazon in conjunction with Penguin Books as the publishing sponsor and Publishers Weekly as the reviewing sponsor. Out of 10,000 initial entries, the editors at Amazon narrowed the quarterfinalists down to 500, broken up into eight categories of novels, including Thrillers, the category in which my entry resides.
Excerpts of all five hundred entries still alive in the contest are available at Amazon to be read and reviewed by anyone. The novel excerpts consist of up to the first five thousand words of the manuscript.
The next step in the American Idol-like process takes place on April 15, when the five hundred remaining manuscripts are winnowed by the editors at Penguin Books down to a Final 100, and out of those 100 books, a Final Three are selected on May 15, with the winner being announced on May 22.
The winner of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award receives a $25,000 advance and a contract to have his or her novel published by Penguin. Obviously, this is the goal every unpublished author is working for and it goes without saying, this is MY goal.
I need your help. If you have any interest in reading fiction, I would very much appreciate you taking the time to go to Amazon and download my excerpt. The novel is titled PASKAGANKEE and the download is free. After reading the excerpt, please post a customer review on the site, which will then become available for everyone to see. It's really easy to do and it's FREE.
If you're interested, here's the link to my entry at Amazon. If you'd like to check out some of the other great quarterfinalists too, here's the link to the contest home page, where you can get to all 500 excerpts.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to check it out if you choose to do so, and thank you for your help!
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