eBookMall Announces Winner of America's Next Author Contest

CURACAO, December 22, 2012 (Press-News.org) eBookMall announced the winner of their "America's Next Author" writing contest after 10 weeks of intense competition between writers. They also announced that a free anthology is now available that includes all the top stories from the contest.

Winner Announced

The winner of America's Next Author 2012 is Kate Baggott, for her story "Finnegan and Grandfather Cheng."

"I cannot say thank you enough. I am amazed and grateful and overwhelmed. More and more adjectives are coming, which the editor in me does not like and demands that I stop now," said Baggott upon getting the news that she was the winner of the title "America's Next Author" and $5000 in prize money. She added that it was a thrill to win America's Next Author 2012 and thanked everyone who helped her along the way.

Baggott was chosen by the America's Next Author jury as a wildcard pick. Her story then earned a spot in the top 3 after the competition's "Battle Round." The jury deliberated between the top 3 stories and unanimously chose Baggott's story as the winner.

"Finnegan and Grandfather Cheng" is a young adult story about a 17 year old boy who wants to date a Chinese girl from school. The only way her strict grandfather will let the teens see each other is if they spend all their time studying and earn good enough grades to meet his high standards.

Autumn Stephens, an ANA jury member, said, "It was a pleasure to read and really stood out as a quiet but well-crafted story that dealt with real human emotions."

Kate Baggott is a Canadian writer living in Germany. She is the author of the short story collection "Love From Planet Wine Cooler" which is available at eBookMall.com today. More about Kate and links to her other published pieces can be found at http://www.katebaggott.com.

eBookMall also announced the contest's two runners up. Jen Barton's story "Movin' On Up" and Jill Amber Menard 's story "The Odd Duck" won $500 each.

"We're thrilled to announce the winners of America's Next Author," said Martijn Leenders, Managing Director at eBookMall. "This contest has been a great success. We found promising new authors and even managed to build a community of writers around a contest that was based on social media and writing feedback. We're very proud of all the finalists. We also want to thank everyone who was brave enough to enter a new kind of writing contest. Each contestant was daring enough to put their writing in front of the world and risk criticism for the chance at a big reward. Congratulations to everyone!"

Anthology Released

eBookMall has released a free anthology that is available for download today at http://www.ebookmall.com/ebook/America's-Next-Author-2012-Anthology. The anthology includes the best stories from America's Next Author: the contest winner and runners up, the stories from the weekly nominees and wildcards, as well as a selection of stories that made it onto the wildcard shortlist.

This ebook is available in PDF and ePub formats and is DRM-free. It can be read on nearly any computer or device without restrictions, including Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android, and eReaders.

America's Next Author Contest

America's Next Author was the first real social writing contest. eBookMall brought the writing contest into the 21st century by adding a social media element and allowing all contestants to read and review each other's stories. Winners were chosen based on a unique combination of votes from readers and publishing industry experts.

The contest involved 8 weekly nomination rounds in which the top-ranked author from each week was nominated from the finals. The official jury members also nominated 6 authors as wildcards. These 14 authors went head-to-head in an intense "Battle Round" and at the end of that week, the top 3 authors moved on to the Jury Round.

During the contest, writers were able to use their Author Pages as platforms to build their online followings, and they received valuable writing feedback from readers and fellow writers. Authors who were near the top of the Author Ranking each week showed great dedication and a superb ability to market themselves online, which is a necessity in today's publishing world.

America's Next Author will be back in 2013 with an expanded and improved contest.

Contact

press@ebookmall.com
http://www.ebookmall.com/press

Online

America's Next Author -- http://www.ebookmall.com/americasnextauthor
Twitter -- https://twitter.com/aNextAuthor
Facebook -- http://www.facebook.com/AmericasNextAuthor

America's Next Author was organized by veteran eBook retailer eBookMall.com, reseller of eBooks from the world's biggest publishers such as Random House, Simon & Schuster and MacMillan. eBookMall has been a leader in eBooks since 1999 and sells digital books in the popular PDF and ePub formats that can be read on Windows, Mac, iPad and iPhone, Android phones and tablets, and dedicated eReaders.