Wolfsword Press Launches Conclave: A Journal of Character

New journal focuses on character-driven writing and photography


A group of writers who met as competitors in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, have evolved into collaborators on a new literary magazine, Conclave: A Journal of Character. Conclave is an annual print journal that focuses on character-driven writing in contemporary fiction, nonfiction, dramatic excerpts, poetry, and photography.

Eager to showcase some of the talent from the ranks of Amazon contest participants, as well as to promote the writing of talented authors and artists around the world, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist Valya Dudycz Lupescu created the journal.

“Conclave will feature poetry and prose that makes you laugh, think, feel, or remember,” said Dudycz Lupescu, editor and founder of
Conclave. "We hope the writing in our journal will not only entertain and inform, but also introduce readers to unforgettable characters who will stay with them long after they've finished reading.”

While hundreds of literary journals exist in print and online, many are tied to University presses run by their English departments. Conclave will be published by nonprofit Wolfsword Press, based in Chicago, Illinois. The editors plan to publish new, as well as established writers, while appealing to a readership beyond University libraries and subscriptions.

Conclave's focus on character-driven stories makes it an ideal venue for personal essays, those thousand-word pictures of how we choose to live our lives” said New Yorker Stephanie Feuer, one of Conclave’s nonfiction editors. “I'm looking forward to reviewing the submissions."

Conclave will also feature photographs to complement the writing.

“We are looking for black and white photographs of pristine composition and revelatory content that evoke personality, an unforgettable story, or a compelling emotion,” said Dudycz Lupescu.

Writers and photographers can find more information about
Conclave: A Journal of Character and submit online at: www.conclavejournal.com

# # #

About Conclave: A Journal of Character:
An annual print journal that focuses on character-driven writing in short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and prose poems,
Conclave also includes black and white photographs and excerpts from plays: monologues, scenes, single acts, or one-act plays. Created by Valya Dudycz Lupescu and her husband Mark Lupescu, the debut issue of Conclave will premier this Fall 2008.

Contact Information:
Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Editor
Conclave: A Journal of Character
valya@conclavejournal.com
http//
www.conclavejournal.com





ABNA Books Anthology Call for Submissions

ABNA Books is planning to put out an anthology of ABNA Writers writing about their experiences during the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and their tips for future entrants of this and other writing contests.

Potential essay subjects could include:

How to prepare your manuscript
How to create a captivating synopsis
The importance of titles
Polishing up your excerpt
Navigating the forums
Threadaholics
Networking
Promoting your excerpt
How to get the votes
What to expect from the final three
Life after ABNA

There are countless topics, and ABNA Authors are the ones to write them!

We're asking for proposals (roughly 100 words) from interested writers, as well as a brief (2-3 sentence) bio, describing your participating in ABNA 2008. We will accept the applicable essays on a first-come, first-served basis.

Send proposals to info@abnabooks.com

We don’t have much time for this if we’d like to get it published before the deadline for the 5000 submissions. Last year this was in October, so we’d like the book to be ready for September. Which means we need these works ASAP.

Proposals are due to me by May 1, 2008, 12am (CST). We will respond to you as the proposals come in. The deadline for polished submissions is June 1. The essays should be 1500-3000 words. Considering the event has passed and is still fresh in our minds, the sooner we write them the better.

Please allow until May 10 for a response. If you haven't received a response by then, please assume your proposal has not been selected. It is not possible to reply to every proposal personally.

Questions may be directed to: info @ abnabooks.com





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ABNA Author April Hamilton cited in MSN Money article

ABNABooks Author and one of the champions of the IndieAuthor movement April L. Hamilton was cited in a MSN Money article, "Will Barnes & Noble win the book wars?" by Michael Brush on April 16, 2008.

Here's an excerpt:
"Barnes & Noble is really complicit in pushing the industry to emphasize blockbusters and best-sellers," says indie author April Hamilton, who has successfully self-published two novels using tools provided by Amazon.com. Horowitz says Barnes & Noble has contributed to "homogenizing America's tastes."

To read more, please click here or go to: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/WillBarnesAndNobleWinTheBookWars.aspx?page=1




ABNA Books Newsletter available as Kindle Edition

The first two ABNA Books newsletters have been compiled into the first eBook issue of Echo by ABNA Books, the Spring Quarterly Issue of the ABNA Books Newsletter..

http://www.amazon.com/ECHO-by-ABNA-Books/dp/B0017RPFOG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208300745&sr=8-1

ABNA Books will continue to put out the newsletter on a quarterly basis, published online and as Kindle editions (perhaps with a print anthology somewhere down the road!) so ABNA writers interested in submitting, check out our submission guidelines at:
http://www.abnabooks.com/page7/page28/page28.html

If you have a Kindle, please read and review Echo by ABNA Books!

www.abnabooks.com
Check us out!




Congratulations to Bill Loehfelm, Winner of the First Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

The contest that began with more than 5,000 applicants back in October has awarded its prize to Bill Loehfelm for his novel, Fresh Kills.

Born in Brooklyn and raised on Staten Island, Bill Loehfelm moved to New Orleans in 1997. He has taught high school and college, managed a pizza joint and an antique shop, and tended bar in the Quarter and the Warehouse District. "As long as New Orleans endures here, so too will I," writes Loehfelm on his Amazon profile.

Loehfelm belongs to a tight group of artists in New Orleans; the majority of whom are writers with a common connection to the University of New Orleans where they received their MAs and MFAs. Together they formed
NOLAFugees.com in 1997 as a response to the national media coverage of the flooding of the Crescent City.

Fresh Kills won by receiving the greatest number of customer reviews on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award site. Praised by Elizabeth Gilbert as "a story of real psychological complexity" and hailed by Publishers' Weekly as "the next Dennis Lehane," Loehfelm's debut mystery unfolds against the gritty backdrop of Staten Island as an estranged son struggles to find his father's killer and make peace with a terrible past.

ABNA Books congratulates Bill Loehfelm on his win, and we wish him well in his writing career.

You can pre-order Fresh Kills on ABNABooks.com, an Amazon Affiliate, and a percentage of the sale will go to help with the costs of maintaining this site. Click on the link below and reserve your copy today!





ABNA Books Online Newsletter April 2008

As we wait for Amazon.com to announce the winner of the first-ever Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award on April 7, we invite you to read the second edition of ABNA Books' online newsletter. The contest that evolved into a community is growing strong on ABNA Books.com.

ABNA Books currently has over 80 authors participating on the site, 55 authors on the forum, over 69 published books and 75 not-yet-published books.


This month we bring you the first column by ABNA Books feature columnist Ian Thomas Healy, as well as new columns by ABNA authors Rebecca Crandell and Tom Maremaa. We have several other “firsts,” as we feature an author interview with April L. Hamilton, who is paving new ground with her IndieAuthor movement. We also have Leah Davidson’s Book Review of 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published And 14 Reasons Why It Just Might, by Pat Walsh.

Be sure to check out the newest featured published and not-yet-published books by ABNA authors, and stay tuned for the latest news.

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New In Columns

Zen & the Art of Writing, by Rebecca Crandell. "When I conceived the idea of the 7th Moon Chronicles, most of us relied on dot-matrix printers. I still have a stack of yellowing sheets with holes along the edges, but the story and its author have undergone so many transformations that it’s impossible to connect the initial concept with what exists now, on my flash drive or in my heart." (more)



Running the Gauntlet, Ian Thomas Healy. "Hello, my name is Ian, and I’m a self-published author.
'Hi Ian,' you all chorus.
A lot of people are curious about self-publishing. What is it? How is it different from conventional publishing? And, of course, can you make any money with it?
To answer those questions, I’d like to share some of my own experiences with dodging the pitfalls of the self-publishing industry." (
more)


Featured Book Review, by Leah Davidson. "December 31, 2004, eleven-o-something PM. After one last read-through of my first email query for my first completed novel, I hit the "send" button. It took nine months of late nights writing, time snatched proof-reading and note-making on every lunch hour, but I'd done it. I'd actually written a novel. I'd read the first chapters of the latest Writer's Digest Guide to Literary Agents (so of course I knew how to write a query letter) and picked a dozen agents I was sure would be thrilled to read my manuscript. Now I was ready to barrage the publishing industry with brilliant queries." (more)


The Next Step, by Thomas Maremaa. "It was not an easy decision: I had written both books with the intention of placing them with a New York agent and a conventional print publisher. Both works came to me spontaneously and wrote themselves over a period of time, working long nights and weekends, as I channelled the voices of each narrator emotionally and through some creative process I can't describe. Both works, modesty aside, are originals; nobody's done before. So what happened? "(more)


Author Interview with April L. Hamilton. "I’m trying a different approach with one of my works in progress, but every other novel, short story or screenplay I’ve ever written has followed the same process. I begin with a protagonist and a general challenge or life situation. Next I think about the likely people who would populate the protagonist’s world: family members, friends, co-workers and so on." (more)

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ABNA Books: Check Us Out

Featured Published Books
Read great fiction and nonfiction by ABNA Authors!
Browse through our published books to read works already available by these breakthrough authors. These books are all available for purchase! Here are few examples of what's available:

SNOW BALL
by April L. Hamilton
Cinder Torley is an intelligent young woman who yearns to escape the stifling yoke imposed by her small town upbringing and unhappy marriage, but that doesn't mean she killed her husband. When he goes missing one night, Cinder quickly learns who---and how few---her friends really are in this darkly comic tale of dueling schemers and incompetents. The sheriff thinks this might be his only ticket out of back-country law enforcement. Coffee house barista Clark Norris knows a sordid, true-crime story could jumpstart his stalled writing career. Glamorous correspondent Bailey Weems sees a ratings bonanza that can make her a cable news star. And as for Velma and Naomi, who may or may not be part of the notorious Manitoba Six Canadian crime ring, they're only in it for the black market Phen-Fen. The surprising truth about what happened to Cinder's husband will lay waste to all these agendas, but will it prove Cinder's innocence?



THE LOTTERY TICKET
by Tom Maremaa
The Lottery Ticket, set in the sleepy yet vibrant town of Palo Alto, California, takes the conventional murder mystery and turns it flat on its head. One day Luke Cherry finds his mother hanging from the living room rafters, an apparent suicide, but this is far from the truth. When Luke's father, the Ur-Geek of Silicon Valley, is arrested and charged with assisting in his wife's suicide, all hell breaks loose in the Cherry family. A stormy trial ensues, shaking up the community. Dad looks sure to be convicted, until Luke, his wily, loving son, is able to connect with Dad's motley crew of friends, including a tribe of Afghan refugees who challenge the natural order of things and come heroically to his rescue. The story is told in the cool, unflappable voice of its youthful narrator.



CROSSING WITH THE LIGHT
by Dwight Okita

It was a labor of love. Thanks to the fantastic and multicultural Tia Chucha Press for being the first to publish a book of my poems. Some of these poems have been reprinted in the Norton Introduction to Literature, the Smithsonian, an array of anthologies, and textbooks from publishers such as Holt Rinehart Winston, Penguin, and Milkweed. And they have appeared on the NPR show This American Life hosted by Ira Glass, as well as on Chicago buses and trains. The title poem appears on a bronze plaque in San Francisco along the Embarcadero.
Much of the poetic voice of my novel grows out of my days as a poet.



BAREFOOT IN THE DARK
by Lynne Barrett-lee

Do you believe in fairytales?
When Hope Shepherd loses her trainer while boarding the 8.42 into Cardiff, Cinderella couldn't be further from her thoughts. Painfully divorced, she's all out of daydreams - and it's not a glass slipper, after all. 
It's picked up, however, by a Prince Charming of sorts - DJ Jack Valentine, who's just been divorced too. He appeals on his show for the owner to come forward; a latterday princess being just what he needs...
Hope works as a publicist for the charity, Heartbeat, and is encouraged by her boss to get Jack on board. A celebrity endorsement is exactly what they're after, to raise the profile of their upcoming fun run. 
So far, so good; a fairytale beginning - their mutual attraction's just too strong to ignore. But this is the real world, and these are two damaged people. With both of them determined not to risk another heartbreak, is a happy-ever-after an impossible dream?



THE MILKMAN
by Ian Healy
One question has plagued UFO researchers for sixty years: What's the deal with aliens and anal probes?
Blake, a milkman with a penchant for sword fighting, and Liza, a reporter who needs a hot story, discover the answer to this question when they are abducted: aliens are clouds of sentient gas that require a specific intestinal environment in which to live. Blake and Liza are the first humans ever found to possess the correct qualities. They will have only one chance to save the world, their friends, and themselves...




Featured Not-Yet-Published Books
Discover the next great novel!
Browse through unpublished books to read the synopses of great novels from a variety of genres. Download and review your favorites. Here are few examples of what's available:

SWIMMING IN THE RAINBOW
by Rebecca Crandell

Following a devastating attack on her home that kills her only friend, young Zoé is torn from her solitary, fantasy-filled life in pastoral Germany. With help from an extraordinary man of poetry and courage, she flees deep into the Mediterranean archipelago, barely a step ahead of the soldiers who relentlessly pursue her. Magic and realism collide as she discovers why she is so important, why governments are fighting over her. When the soldiers catch up to Zoé, they force her into a world wounded by the loss of dream and myth. Ultimately, she alone must choose between life and final obliteration. (Read excerpt)

SOLDIERS OF ORANGE
by Tom Maremaa

Soldiers of Orange is a powerful, heartbreaking novel about veterans of the Iraq war coming home and being treated for their wounds in a California hospital. The story is told by Jeremy Witherspoon, an ex-Marine who knows all the soldiers on the ward, a collection of oddball, yet heroic characters. Spoon, as he is called, witnessed a brutal crime of war in Ramadi, did nothing about it, and covered up the details. His fear is one of discovery. One day a private contractor named Skank shows up at the hospital, realizing Spoon's worst fear. Critics have hailed Soldiers of Orange as the Catch-22 of the Iraq war. (Read excerpt)

A LIGHT IN THE CANE FIELDS
by Enrico Antiporda
This coming-of-age story chronicling a Filipino boy's wrenching passage from son of privilege to guerilla fighter is a stylistic tour-de-force. From its first lines, the saga of Jando Flores seizes readers with the same chilling intensity as the cold water that wraps around Jando's chest as he hides in a river to escape a gang of pillaging cutthroats. Mountain bandits, sugar warlords, Peace Corps volunteers, dignitaries, and revolutionaries all jostle beneath "mango-colored" skies in this riveting epic of loss and transformation, but it is a masterful and delicate choreography--Publishers Weekly (Read excerpt)

OF TWO MINDS, A STORY OF THE ALLIANCE CHRONICLES
by Leah Davidson

Timu Maarinen, the worst slacker in Vaaseli's school for diplomats, enjoys telepathic gifts so great, and a family so prominent, he can't contrive to get himself expelled. Stubbornly devoted to natural history rather than politics, he falls under the influence of three compelling women. His schoolmate, Aulia, offers to help him academically, hoping to spark his romantic interest; his sister Elian, progressive scholar betrothed to the heir to the throne, enlists him in her political causes; and Lady Rilsa Karula decides to further his diplomatic career while teaching him the arts of pleasure.
When these forces converge, they propel Timu into dangers that threaten to destroy his family and all progressives and jeopardize the international Alliance made possible by the Peace of Alidor. (Read excerpt)

DEEP SIX: A JUST CAUSE NOVEL
by Ian Thomas Healy
How is it possible to contain a prisoner who has the ability to fly or walk through walls? In answer to this question, the underground prison Deep Six was built. It is the most secure prison in the world from which nobody has ever escaped that is until a brilliant psychopath engineers a mass breakout of the entire prison population leaving it up to two guards to thwart the escape. The underground prison quickly becomes a battleground for a deadly war of attrition. The two guards must devise a plan to overcome the super-powered criminals and save the hostages. (
Read excerpt)




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ABNA Books Adds Kindle Edition Section for Published Works

Several ABNA Authors have made their works available for Amazon's Kindle! At ABNABooks.com, we have created a page dedicated to Kindle Editions, making it easier for Amazon Kindle customers to find and read new works by ABNA Authors. Some even have excerpts that you can read before you buy. Check us out!

Trashionista Book Review: Finding Margo by Susanne O'Leary

ABNA Author Susanne O'Leary's novel, Finding Margot, received a rating of 5/5 and was reviewed by Trashionista Reviewer Helen Redfer .
Here's an excerpt:
"Margo Hunter feels trapped. Her husband is sitting beside her in the car swearing at her, calling her a half-wit with venom in his voice and she has had enough.  In a split second decision she decides to hitch a lift to Paris, leaving her husband whilst he is sitting waiting his turn for the petrol pump.

Margo and her husband Alan had been driving on the French motorway when he asked her which exit they needed. But Margo hadn’t read the map correctly and Alan goes into his usual rage. This time, however, enough is enough..."

Click here to go to Trashionista.com and read the entire article.

Independently-Published Novel Makes Amazon Top 10 Bestseller List

This is hot off the press about the work of April L. Hamilton, an ABNABooks Author who has created quite a buzz after choosing to independently publish her novels.

Judges in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest didn’t deem April L. Hamilton’s comic novel Adelaide Einstein worthy of advancement beyond the semifinal round, but readers beg to differ. During the semifinal round 36 Amazon customers gave Adelaide Einstein an average rating of 4.75 stars out of 5, and on the strength of those reviews Hamilton elected to forge ahead and publish her novel independently. Despite the lack of backing from any major publisher, and with sales generated from word of mouth alone, the Kindle edition of Adelaide Einstein has risen to the #10 spot in Amazon.com’s Kindle bestsellers list under the category of “Motherhood” and since its release on February 12, 2008, has ranked as high as #803 in Kindle bestsellers overall.

Hamilton’s Kindle edition of Snow Ball, a dark comic mystery also independently published earlier this year, is even more popular with readers, having ranked as high as #5 in Amazon’s Kindle bestseller list under the heading of “Mystery”, higher than bestselling authors Patterson, Robb and Evanovich. The Kindle edition has ranked as high as #742 in overall Kindle bestsellers. Snow Ball currently enjoys an average customer rating of 4.5 stars out of a possible 5. Reviewer J. Schisler says, “What a fun read - dark comedy that will remind you of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiassen and Jennifer Crusie at their best. Read this book and brag to your friends that you've discovered the "Next Big Thing" in fiction.”

Both novels were released in trade paperback edition at the end of February. April Hamilton is working to encourage an indie movement in authorship to match those of the music and film industries, by offering free, IndieAuthor how-to Guides at her author website (http://www.aprillhamilton.com), where free excerpts from her novels are also available.

April Hamilton's novels Adelaide Einstein and Snow Ball are available in the General Fiction section of ABNABooks Published Novels.

ABNABooks Author Has Story in the New York Times

ABNABooks Author Stephanie Feuer had her story, "Tunnel Visions," published in the New York Times on March 16, 2008.
Here's an excerpt:
A COUPLE of days before Christmas, when my 9-year-old son couldn’t sleep, I thought he was excited about our forthcoming vacation.

That was not the problem. “It’s just too quiet,” he complained.

My son is used to hearing traffic, traffic that comes in waves like an urban ocean — the traffic of the 80,000 or so vehicles that, according to the Department of Transportation, pass through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel each day. But the holiday weekend had left the city eerily silent.

To read the rest, please click here or go to: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/nyregion/thecity/16tunn.html?ref=thecity

ABNABooks.com Gets Press on Blogs and Internet

After its launch on March 1, ABNA Books has been getting positive reviews and buzz online.
Check it out:

ABNA books was written about on Zoey's World, the Blog of Zoey Castelino, a Toronto journalist and one of Toronto's more popular female media bloggers.
In her entry "more writers, more social media," Zoey writes:

"As you can imagine, I receive a lot of press releases, but the one about ABNA really
stood out - and not just because it was well written (which of course you would kinda
expect from a group of writers, after all.) What grabbed me was the idea of the on-line
community that ABNA offers as well as the resources."

To read more from her entry, go to: http://zoeybella.blogspot.com/

ABNA Books also got a nice note from Joe Wikert, Vice President and Executive Publisher in the Professional/Trade division of John Wiley & Sons, Inc, in the comments section of Joe Wikerts Publishing 2020 Blog:

"Valya, I hadn't heard of ABNABooks till I saw your comment. I stopped by, took a brief
look and liked what I saw. I definitely encourage authors to continue networking with
other authors, publishers and others in the community. New platforms are more likely
to be built using this federation approach than if everyone is simply trying to rise above
all the noise individually."

To read more from Mr. Wikert, go to http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_average_joe/2008/03/reading-liveson.html#comments

ABNA writers have sent out press releases that are circulating on several internet press release/news sites, and they have linked to ABNABooks.com on their home pages and blogs.

These grassroots PR efforts have already brought more than 1200 unique visitors to the site in the last 2 1/2 weeks!

ABNA Books Author and Columnist Quoted in USA Today

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:

Amazon Semifinalists Launch ABNABooks.com

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


###

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.

Congratulations to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Top 10 Finalists!

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!

Welcome to the launch of ABNA Books!

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!