CreateSpace Self-Publishing Competition- winner announced!

Having met many of you at our Self-Publishing in the Digital Age conference, we suspected the standard was going to be very high and, blimey, we weren’t wrong. Subjects ranged from scorching passion in Goa and family bonds tested in wartime Britain to divine intervention and human genetic engineering.

As you all now know, a good book description can make all the difference between your book drowning in the tsunami of content or being found, and loved, by readers.

Keeping this in mind, we were looking for:

* a strong start that drew us in straight away

* an ability to sum up the story clearly and succinctly

* a great finish and enough mystery that we are left wanting to know more

Alysoun Owen, Editor of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook had this to say about the winning entry:

A strong, quirky and thus intriguing title, combined with a sharp, succinct description that suggests a real-life drama that will appeal to the YA market (and all of those who have been teenagers) gave this book immediate appeal.  It aims to cover a broad canvas of emotions from illness, love and the lack of it, friendship and bullying. We thought this book seemed to have just the right mix of ingredients to encourage readers to take up their Kindle and read on.

And the winner is:

If Everyone Knew Every Plant And Tree

By

Julia Johnston

Ollie is drowning. No one notices.

Oliver Campbell, fourteen, fanciful and funny in equal measure, struggles to unravel the knots of emotion when his little sister, Lily, falls gravely ill with a mysterious disease. Irritating and puzzling to his two older half-brothers, neglected by his self-absorbed mum and dad, and unfalleninlovewith by Poppy Teasdale, he longs to be something more than invisible.

Quirky Kamal doesn’t think it’s weird that Ollie, his best friend, is fascinated by words and plants; he knows what it’s like to be different and to be bullied; he coaches him on love, and how to clinch his dream-girl; he tickles him with his high-falutin language and aspirations; he impresses him with his fortitude despite a tragic past; he is there when his life takes a terrible turn; he is loyal to the end.

Ollie’s two special people throw him life jackets, but will they be enough to save him…?