Judge Me for Publication!

Vultures is a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest!

(Go here now to Read & Review Vultures. Click on the Download button for a 5,000 word excerpt.)

What does that mean, exactly?

Back in October I submitted a manuscript to the contest. (You can read about that here.)
By October 15th, I received confirmation of submission and on November 12th I got an email to accept the entry as valid (simply meaning I was one of the first 5,000 entrants and that my manuscript met the guideline rules).
Yesterday I received this:

"Thank you for participating in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. We received thousands of submissions and were impressed by the incredible talent and creativity seen in the entries. We are happy to inform you that you have been selected as a semi-finalist." (See the end of this post for the full letter - there are potential prizes for reviewers, too, so read on.)

The most exciting thing about advancing to the semi-finals is the fact that all the semi-finalists were chosen based on the merits of their work. That is much appreciated validation.

Now I need your help.

Ultimately the winner will be chosen based on the strength of their work (this is very important to me). However, not all semi-final entries will be reviewed equally! The manuscripts that receive the most positive reviews -both quality and quantity- will be chosen by the publisher for final review (go here and scroll down a bit for "What Makes a Good Review?").

This means that I need you to write a review of my book!

If you've been following along here at my blog, you'll have already read Chapter 2. And here is my official Amazon Entry page. Use the download button on the right-hand side of the screen to get the pdf file of Chapter 1, 2, & the opening of Chapter 3 (5,000 words). I think you can also link to it directly here, but you have to go back to the main page to submit you review (scroll down a bit to click on the "Create your own review" button).

Please take the time to read my excerpt and write a review. I value your honesty. If you find yourself at the end of the excerpt and want to read more, please pass this information on to your friends and family.
The winner will be awarded a publishing contract!
Essentially, by reviewing the semi-final entries, you are choosing a book for publication. There are 836(?) total entries in 5 genres; search through some of the other entries to read and review work from other aspiring authors.
I rarely (never) send out mass emails, but this is an exceptional opportunity; I am grateful for word-spreading and review-writing.

Go here now to Read and Review Vultures.

Thank you!


As promised, the entire text of the semi-finalist email. If choosing a book for publication isn't exciting enough, check out the final paragraph for reviewer prizes:

MK,
Thank you for participating in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. We received thousands of submissions and were impressed by the incredible talent and creativity seen in the entries. We are happy to inform you that you have been selected as a semi-finalist.
You can find your entry on Amazon.com via the following link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00124CNWQ, and access the main contest page where all entries are located at www.amazon.com/abna
Please note that we are continuing to update semi-finalist detail pages with any custom cover images that were submitted, editorial reviews, and other minor changes. These changes will appear online in the next few days.
Now that you're a semi-finalist, feel free to encourage friends and family to review yours and others' entries. The three customers who provide the most high quality reviews will be qualified to win one of three customer prizes, including an Amazon kindle reader, $2000 in Amazon gift card value, and an HP photo printer. Learn more at www.amazon.com/abna.
Good luck!
ABNA Admin Team