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Saturday 19 April 2014

Quarter Finals of ABNA

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

I like to start any discussion of contests with this excellent quote from Ecclesiastes. I've been a contestant and on occasion I've been a judge, so I know just how subjective any selection process is. But I'm still pleased that Ice Diaries has reached the Quarter Finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. 500 novels have made it this far, out of an initial 10,000. Each had its first 3,000-5,000 words assessed by two Amazon Vine reviewers. This is my favourite:


The next stage, which takes two months, is for Publishers Weekly reviewers to read the 500 novels in full, write a review on each and choose 25 to move on to the semi-finals. 25 is 5% of the current 5%, so a hard mark to hit. But I'll have my PW review...

You can see Ice Diaries' ABNA page here - and how odd it looks without its cover.

11 comments:

  1. 500 out of 10,000 is an *excellent* milestone! Congratulations! Good luck on the next lap. And, you're right, you'll have your PW review.

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  2. Well done Lexi! Love Ice diaries...think it's my favourite of yours x

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  3. Thanks, Judith!

    Rebecca, Ice Diaries is perhaps my only novel to fit squarely in a genre - perhaps I should try that more often :o)

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  4. Brilliant. Good luck in the next round.

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  5. Well done, Lexi - a small celebration is in order (or a big one?)

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  6. Thank you all - I am feeling rather chirpy. Must find more buttons to push...

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  7. Good luck in the next round! I love (and totally agree with) that review. I remember looking up from reading Ice Diaries and feeling momentarily puzzled that everything was green outside!

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  8. There are a lot of us thinking you deserve to be the winner, and we'll be cheering you on.

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  9. Ooh - does this mean I have a team? I've always rather wanted a street team of my own :o)

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  10. Congratulations! What a fabulous review!

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