Summer 2009 is shaping up to be an exciting time for Amazon Breakthrough Authors:

BAD THINGS HAPPEN by Top Three Finalist Harry Dolan is going to be published in summer 2009 by Amy Einhorn Books, an imprint of G.P. Putnam's Sons, part of Penguin Group.

Margaret Erhart's THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE GRAND CANYON is going to be published by Plume in Summer 2009.

Many of us have wondered about the Finalists and Semifinalists from the first Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. Have any received publishing deals? Literary agents?

Please send us your updates so that we can post them on news and include them in our quarterly newsletter, Echo by ABNA Books. Send updates to Info@ABNABooks.com and place "Updates" in the subject line. Thank you!

Tags: ABNA, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, finalists

ABNA Books Author and columnist, Julie Ann Shapiro was quoted in USA Today, and her novel Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries was mentioned as being available on Kindle.
Congrats, Julie!

Short Kindle supply is keeping e-book fans waiting
By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY

Julie Ann Shapiro's debut novel Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries is among more than 100,000 digital titles for sale
on Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. But the author is one of many readers who cannot get hold of a Kindle. "I wish I
could tell you I had one," she sighs. "Most people I know are frustrated about not getting one."

The rest of the article can be read here:

Tags: ABNA, Writing, Publishing, Reviewing, Kindle, e-book, Julie Ann Shapiro, Jen-Zen, One Show Diaries, Author

Community Creates Literary Site for Networking and Promotion

CHICAGO, Illinois – March 10, 2008 – ABNABooks.com, an online showcase, network and marketplace for writers, was launched on March 1, 2008. ABNA Books is a place for writers to present their work, keep track of fellow writers’ news and publications, and get the attention of publishers and agents.

What began as a group of entrants and semifinalists in the “Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award” contest, evolved into the Association of Breakthrough Novel Authors on ABNABooks.com. Through the Amazon discussion forum, participating writers grew into a community, working together to improve their writing and promote their books.

Brainchild of semifinalist Valya Dudycz Lupescu, ABNABooks.com establishes a more permanent home for ABNA writers and their works.

“Several writers and reviewers mentioned that they wanted a way to stay in touch and to find out about the publications of other entrants,” said Lupescu. “ABNABooks.com provides us with the place to do that. The general public can also subscribe for a free monthly update about news and publications.”

Selected as a semifinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Lupescu's debut novel, The Silence of Trees, gained more than 200 positive reviews from customers and reviewers. Lupescu and her husband, Mark, decided to create ABNA Books to maintain the community started during the contest, while at the same time providing the public with a place to track the manuscripts and publications of this talented group of writers.

"Since the manuscripts in ABNABooks.com have been pre-screened in Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award competition and most have received positive reviews from Publishers Weekly, I can see it as a legitimate source of good literature,” said Enrico Antiporda, author of the Top 100 Semifinalist entry, A Light in the Cane Fields. “I foresee literary agencies and commercial publishers mining the website to add to their catalogue."

With short synopses, lengthy excerpts, and prior publications, ABNA Books provides agents and editors a snapshot of writers’ projects and potential. The site also provides a place for comments and reviews, so that an author’s following and marketability may be glimpsed.

Patricia O’Sullivan has been an active participant on the Amazon forum since its creation. Her novel, The Hope of Israel, was also selected as one of the Top 100 Finalists. “What arose from this forum of competitors were friendships and writers’ support networks that sustained entrants during five long months of a public review period of their manuscript excerpts,” said O’Sullivan. “One might have thought the culling of entrants would have destroyed the ABNA community of writers. The opposite happened. What began as a contest became a community.”

For more information about ABNA Books please visit www.ABNABooks.com

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About ABNA Books.com:
ABNA began as a group of entrants and semifinalists of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Through the forum, they grew into a community of writers working together to improve their writing and promote their books. ABNABooks.com is the next step in their evolution, a place to maintain that solidarity while promoting their work and perfecting their craft. ABNA Books is an online showcase, network, and marketplace for writers, created by Valya Dudycz Lupescu and her husband, Mark Lupescu. It’s a place for writers to present their work, get the attention of publishers and agents, and help each other in the process of publishing and promotion.

Tags: ABNA, Writing, Publishing, Reviewing, Press Release, Author

Amazon and Penguin announced the Top 10 Finalists in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award on March 3, 2008.

* The Hellraiser of the Hollywood Hills by Jennifer Colt
* Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson
* Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan
* The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer
* The Butterflies of Grand Canyon by Margaret Erhart
* Ring of Lies by Karen Laugel
* Fresh Kills by Bill Loehfelm
* Motherless Children by Randall Luce
* The Prospect of My Arrival by Dwight Okita
* Wrecking Civilization Before Lunch by John Ring

Amazon customers can go to the www.Amazon.com/ABNA site to download longer versions of each of the novels and then write a review. The following is taken from the Amazon ABNA site:

“Finalists will earn the following point values based on your star ratings:
•5 stars = 3 points
•4 stars = 1 point
•1, 2 or 3 stars = 0 points
•Download only (no review or star rating) = 0 points
The grand prize winner will be the finalist who earns the most total points from customer ratings.
Only ratings with qualified reviews will be counted, and a customer may only rate and review each excerpt once.”

For the first two weeks, reviews will be posted on the site, but after that they will be hidden to maintain the element of surprise until the announcement of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award winner on April 7, 2008.

Good luck to all the Finalists! We hope to see all your books on ABNA Books...as forthcoming bestsellers!

Tags: ABNA, Writing, Publishing, Reviewing, Amazon, Author

Authors Bite Nails Awaiting?
Awesome Books, Not Appreciated?
Accolades But No Awards?

What is ABNA Books?

ABNA is the Association of Breakthrough Novel Authors.

We started as a group of entrants and semifinalists of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Through the forum, we grew into a community of writers working together to improve our writing and promote our books. ABNABooks.com is the next step in our evolution, a place to maintain that solidarity while promoting our work and perfecting our craft.

ABNA Books is an online showcase, network, and marketplace for writers. It’s a place for writers to present their work, get the attention of publishers and agents, and help each other in the process of publishing and promotion.

Bear with us as we continue to upload content to the site. If you have any questions, send us a note on the Contact page.

Come back often. Tell your friends. Check us out!

Tags: ABNA, Writing, Publishing, Reviewing, Author