A B N A Vets Forum ABNABooks.com is LIVE! Check u..

The ABNA Books Site is live! Check us out!
www.abnabooks.com

ABNA is the Association of Breakthrough Novel Authors.

We started as a group of entrants and semifinalists of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Through the forum, we grew into a community of writers working together to improve our writing and promote our books. ABNABooks.com is the next step in our evolution, a place to maintain that solidarity while promoting our work and perfecting our craft.

We’re still in the process of uploading writer’s information and tweaking the site,

All ABNA Authors are welcome to submit their information to the site. There is no cost for your participation.

If you would like to be a part of ABNA Books, the simplest way is to go to the online Novel Submission page where you can enter in your information and download your excerpt.

You can also send your information to [email protected]

In its current incarnation, the following is on the site:

1.) PUBLISHED WORKS
This includes ABNA entries that may already be available on Kindle, Createspace, etc.
This ALSO includes any OTHER books published by our ABNA authors: fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

2.) NOT-YET-PUBLISHED
Not-yet-published works (in theory for agents and publishers to be able to peruse). Each book can have a downloadable excerpt of 5-10 thousand words, and has a place for comments.

3.) AUTHOR WEB SITES
There is also a page that lists and links to Author Web sites.

4.) FORUM
For discussion relating to the site and writing

5.) COLUMN
There is a column by writers for writers. (If you are interested in writing a column, let me know. There will be submission guidelines on the site).

6.) NEWS
News and Updates about ABNA Writers and the site. Please send me your news and announcement that you feel would be helpful to your peers.

So...I now need your participation. If you would like to be included, please visit www.abnabooks.com and click on “Contact” and “Novel Submission”

Note: We also have categories for organization. Please choose where each book would go (there are also categories for author's already published works):

General Literature
Historical Fiction
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Romance
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Poetry
Nonfiction
Young Adult
Children's Literature

1. PUBLISHED Books (ABNA and others)
If you have already published your ABNA Semifinalist or Finalist entry,
AND
If have other published works (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry) provide me with:
TITLE, AUTHOR, CATEGORY, and 100-word-SYNOPSIS, and LINK
Please link to where readers can purchase your book

2. Not-Yet-Published Books:
TITLE, AUTHOR, CATEGORY and 100-WORD SYNOPSIS of your abna book.
If you have a cover image, please provide it in the form of a .jpg.)

***PLEASE NOTE CHANGE TO EXCERPT FORMAT:***
We have determined that the best way to have excerpts available is to have them as a .pdf that people can download. (sound familiar). Please send me your excerpt as a .PDF file. If all else fails, you can still send me a Word .doc and I can simply convert it to .pdf, but it'll be basic.

Email Address (a place for all those interested publishers and agents to contact you)
Web site address
Your participation in the ABNA contest (i.e. Semifinalist, Top 100, Top 10)

3. Author Web site list
AUTHOR'S FULL NAME and WEB ADDRESS
Provide me with ONE author web site. If you have several, choose one.

My husband/webmaster and I will continue to add content as we receive it
:)

Together we can make ABNABooks.com successful!

Thank you,
Valya Dudycz Lupescu

Valya, it looks great.  I have no idea how to create a PDF, and I looked into it -- it's way beyond me at this point.  What's the best procedure to follow if I want you to do that for me from my Word document?  Email the document and all other information?

 

Generally, to create a PDF you need some fancy program from Adobe (i'm not even sure which one.) A little trick I learned to create a simple PDF from a word document is to set up an account on lulu.com (the pod publisher). It does not cost a thing and you can upload your word document and lulu will convert it to pdf. You can then save the PDF file on your computer without ever finishing the lulu process of selling or printing a book. You can also make your project private so nobody but you has access to it. If you try it and get stuck anywhere along the way, shoot me a message and I can talk you through it.

Brent, you're so smart -- and it sounds do-able -- but Valya already graciously offered to convert my Word doc. if I send that along to her -- and I'm going to do just that, with profuse thanks to Valya.  I really feel I need to stop doing so much stuff -- creating a pdf even on Lulu would probably drive me around the bend.

By the way, Brent, if you didn't get my thanks for directing forumites to googlepages, thanks again. I'm going to be fiddling with the look and content of my website soon, but I'm very happy to have done what I already did.

Brent,

 

Thanks for the PDF tip.  As usual, you're a life saver.  It's as good a tip as your cached tip for the deleted PW reviews. 

 

Hey everyone, I suggest that you participate in Valya's abnabooks.  Once the site has been promoted, it will be a great way for your works to get the notice of agents .  I just posted mine.  Very easy to do.

 

 

Enrico

 

 

 

Valya,  Wow.  That's outstanding.  My piece still needs surgery, so I won't be posting too soon, but wanted to say thank you very very much. 

Take care,

Chris

 

There's some free open source software you can download that can create a PDF - one of the OpenOffice applications.  Can't remember which program, but its all good - it's like a free Windows Office clone.

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for being MIA, I've been working on the site when not taking care of my family (who've all had a nasty flu). Thanks for the tips, and I'll look forward to adding all your materials to the site!

Valya

Valya,
Thank you for getting my information up there so quickly. The site looks fabulous.

Susan

Thanks, Susan.
:)

Patched up my ABNA entry. Hope I have adequately dealt with my writing 'issues'. Seriously, I amputated adjectives, excised adverbs and viciously - nay, sadistically - splinched unwieldy sentences. Without anesthetic. If you don't believe me, check out ABNAbooks, 'not-yet-published', sci-fi & fantasy. SWORDBREAKER, by Shai Mendelsohn.

Thanks, Valya - and everyone who offered feedback on the ABNA forum.

Mine is up on abnabooks.com...........Lasso My Heart/A Western Historical Fiction.

 

Check it out.  I've been reading and commenting on the others that are up.  I must say, they're all great!