The novels Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire are represented by Whitt Brantley Management and Talent, a Literary, Film and Television Agency.
Sat 27th Mar (1-3pm). Book signing at Books Neverending in Rossville.Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards
Posted on March 8, 2010
Last year I submitted Island of Fog to the Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards. There was a bit of confusion with the post-mark deadline as the website said one thing and the confirmation email said another; there was a day's difference between them. This wouldn't matter except that I found out too late about the competition and posted ON the later of the two deadlines – so I was never sure if I had made it on time or not.
After I had submitted my novel, I wrote to ask Writer's Digest about the deadline. I received no reply whatsoever. On their website they stated that applicants would find out the results around October 2009. I heard nothing, so assumed I had missed the deadline after all.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, the 2010 competition was officially opened to applicants. I considered trying again, but thought I'd wait a bit first.
Today, on March 8th, I received a letter from Writer's Digest – notification of how I fared in the 2009 competition. So I had made the deadline after all! But here they are, extremely late in the day, letting me know how I did after the 2010 competition has already got under way. This seems disorganized and generally unprofessional to me, but hey, at least I know for sure one way or another.
So how did Island of Fog fare? Well, I didn't win! If I had, I assume they would have told me a little earlier (although I'm not 100% certain of that). Here's what they said in their covering letter:
Thank you for participating in the 17th (2009) Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Publishing Book Awards. Unfortunately, your book, Island of Fog, was not among the winners. Competition was particularly fierce this year and we could only award one grand prize and ten category prizes...
There's more, but nothing worth repeating here. There was also a "judge's commentary" attached:
Author: Keith Robinson
Title: Island of Fog
Category: Middle Grade / Young Adult
Judge: 3
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning "poor" and 5 meaning "excellent," please evaluate the following:
Plot: 5
Grammar: 5
Character development: 4
Cover design: 4
Judge's commentary:
What did you like best about this book?
This was a well written sci-fi novel. I liked the idea behind the story. Mr. Robinson had created a situation, characters and a place that work. There is that "it could happen" quality that you find in Dean Koontz novels. The dialogue feels like real kids talking. The suspense works and doesn't frustrate the reader. It makes you want to read the next installment!
How can the author improve this book?
I don't think Mr. Robinson needs to change a thing!
Heh. This is a positive summary, so I'm not put out or anything. I'm still a little disgruntled, but my gruntles come from the way the competition seems so mismanaged. I would have had better gruntles if I had received this summary last October when they initially said it would be due. Oh well!
Meanwhile, I'm waiting patiently (or impatiently) for the results of the next round of Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award winners. March 23rd is still a long way away...
Wow! That's kinda cool! I mean, yeah, what a mess with organization, and it would have been much better had you won, but those were some pretty awesome comments! I have to wonder, though, if they didn't feel you needed to change a thing, why didn't it win? Near perfection is hard to come by these days!
MTLBYAKY
Jana~
Nice one, Keith. May your gruntles never curl at the edges.
That's a good result, Keith. 5 for the plot and grammer. You can't get any better than that.
Excellent result.