I entered my manuscript in a contest, because at this point, I am willing to dance naked on national TV to get my novel published. This is the contest: The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. If I win, I get published and a $25,000 advance. Plus a big screen plasma TV–seriously. I’m not sure who thought up these prizes. Anyway, part of the contest involves the reviews of Amazon customers. Once the novels are posted, I am asking all of my blogging friends to flock to Amazon and essentially stuff the ballot box. Don’t do anything illegal or unethical, but review me and get your friends to review me and get their friends to review me, and so on. My odds of winning are no worse than 1 in 5,000, since they are stopping submissions once they get that many entries. I figure that is at least as good as my odds of getting an agent. I’ll keep you posted as I get more details.
P.S. I will skip the self-publishing prize if I win one of those. I’d rather not publish than self-publish.
The Hobgoblin of Little Minds 
Keep us posted! I’ll vote early and often but only if I can come over and watch your big TV!
Count me in. Your promise reminds me of that scene in Love, Actually where Bill Nighy’s aging rock star promises to sing naked on TV if his Christmas hit makes Number One. Which it does.
absolutely. just let me (us) know when and where. I’ll post the info on my blog too (not that it will garner you much but you never know). And I agree, I would rather not publish than self-publish, too.
scratch my back i will scratch yours
… thanks for the lead to the amazon thingy….
sounds curious.
anything ti procrastinate studying…..let me know when and where. maybe i’ll recruit some friends….
Count me in! Good luck!
wow– this sounds like a really great idea, hobgoblin! you will have to keep us updated! I hope you win 🙂
Cool! I’ll do it.
Ready and willing!
Will do. Good luck!
Thank you all for your offers of support! I will find out on November 12th if my submission meets their official guidelines, and I will give you more information then. Remember: vote early and vote often!
I can’t wait — I love voting!! Good luck, Hob.
Count me in!
You better believe I’ll help stuff the ballot box!