Mumbai: Amazon today announced the fourth edition of ‘Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Pen to Publish Contest’. The contest has been conceptualised to recognise literary excellence amongst self-published authors across genres in the English, Hindi and Tamil languages. Interested participants can publish their original and previously unpublished titles either in short format (2,000 to 10,000 words) or long format (more than 10,000 words) on KDP. Entries will be judged on a number of criteria including originality, creativity, quality of writing, and customer feedback. The judging panel for this edition of the contest includes popular authors like Durjoy Datta and Anand Neelakantan for English titles, Divya Prakash Dubey and Anu Singh Choudhary for Hindi titles, and Charu Nivedita and C. Saravanakarthikeyan for Tamil titles.
For each language-format combination, up to five finalists will be short-listed, with three winners being selected from each segment. Winning entries in each language for the long-format category will win a cash prize of ₹5 lakh and a print-on-demand contract along with editorial support from Westland Publications. The first runners-up will receive a cash prize of ₹1 lakh each, while second runners-up will be awarded a prize of ₹50,000 each. For the short format category, winners will be awarded ₹50,000 each while the first and second runners-up will win ₹25,000 and ₹10,000 each respectively. All the winners will receive marketing support for the promotion of their winning eBooks on Amazon.in and a group mentorship session.
“Contests like KDP Pen to Publish provide authors a first-hand experience of self-publishing, illustrating its various benefits. When I participated in the contest, I was blown away by how easy it was for me to publish and keep full control of my work. Apart from this, the ability to publish across formats and languages, with an attractive royalty of 70% allowed me to turn my passion for writing into a lucrative career.” Says Sudha Nair, a techie-turned-author and winner of inaugural edition of the contest.
“KDP Pen to Publish Contest helps motivate authors to use self-publishing as a means to follow their passion and get discovered in the process. It nudges writers to complete their untold stories and share them with readers across the world through eBooks. I am looking forward to reading some exciting works through this contest.” says Anand Neelakantan, author and member of the Jury for the fourth edition of KDP Pen to Publish Contest.
Amol Gurwara, Director Kindle Content – India, Amazon, says, “Since its launch, KDP Pen to Publish Contest has grown in popularity, with thousands of writers across the country from different walks of life participating in the third edition of the contest. The fourth edition of the contest will continue to celebrate the art of writing while bringing writers closer to readers. We think that the short format requiring only 2,000 words will motivate more authors who are sitting on the fence to take the plunge into self-publishing. We are eagerly looking forward to discovering new authors with this contest”.
Interested participants can visit kdp.amazon.com to self-publish their book on Amazon.in between December 10, 2020 and March 10, 2021. They can then enrol their book in the KDP Select programme and include the keyword pentopublish4 in the book’s information. All eBooks entering the contest will be available on the free Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, PC and Mac as well as Kindle E-readers. For more information, authors can visit www.amazon.in/pentopublish.
