Here at FFO, we've mentioned some of Amazon.com's dances with the publishing end of the book trade, such as this article about traditional publishing. That article and this one about the Amazon/Penguin-sponsored Breakthrough Novel Award both feature fledgling writers, so that is a Good Thing. Amazon opened the slush floodgate for up to 10,000 submissions this year, the second of the award's history, and selected James King's Alzheimers-themed mainstream novel, Bill Warrington's Last Chance. Among the judges of the finalists were Sue Monk Kidd and Sue Grafton.

The competition does not seem to be limited to mainstream/literary novels. Penguin will publish the winning novel. Here is a bit more about the award, an earlier announcement by Publishers Weekly.