Amazon India has launched its annual Kindle Direct Publishing Pen to Publish Contest which is the fifth year of the competition for self-published writers.
Writers can submit original and previously unpublished entries in English, Hindi and Tamil languages for a panel of judges.
Contestants must self-publish their ebook, which should be at least 5,000 words, through the KDP service. Entries will be assessed by a panel of judges on a number of criteria, including originality, creativity, quality of writing, and customer feedback. The contest is open to entries from July 10, 2022 to September 10, 2022.
This year, the top 10 entries in each language will win cash prizes. The winning entry will receive a cash prize of ₹1 lakh, while the first runners-up will be awarded ₹50,000 and second runners-up will win a cash prize of ₹30,000. The other seven participants from the top 10 will get f ₹10,000 each.
Amol Gurwara, Director Kindle Content – India, Amazon, says, ‘The fourth edition of the Pen to Publish surpassed our expectations and encouraged us to continue with this annual contest. Taking forward our promise to empower writers from all walks of life through self-publishing and help them become authorpreneurs, we are happy to announce this fifth edition.
‘We aim to encourage enthusiastic writers to turn their passion for writing into a career by self-publishing their work and look forward to receiving more entries this year as well.’
Sudeep Nagarkar, Author and judge – English language, KDP Pen to Publish Contest fifth edition, says ‘KDP has been offering authors an option to publish across languages. The Pen to Publish Contest motivates writers to share their untold stories with readers across the world. I am excited to be a part of the contest and look forward to reading some exciting work by up and coming authors.’
Deepti Mittal, winner of the fourth edition of the Pen to Publish contest, says’, ‘When I participated in the contest last year, it was my first experience in self-publishing, and I was amazed to discover how KDP made the process extremely easy and for my book to gain a large readership.
‘Complete access and control of my work on Amazon Kindle along with an attractive royalty rate of up to 70% was a lucrative offer and winning the contest further motivated me to become a full-time author. Ever since, I have published more than six books with KDP.’
Entries should include pentopublish5 as a keyword in the book’s information when the publish their book through KDP.
More information on the contest can be found at www.amazon.in/pentopublish