Press Release: Amazon Announces Winner of the Third Indie Literary Prize for Spanish-Language

SEATTLE — November 10, 2016 — (NASDAQ:AMZN)—Amazon today announced that Ana Ballabriga and David Zaplana, with their title Ningún Escocés Verdadero—a thriller that involves religion, mystery, art and deception—have won the Third Indie Literary Prize for Spanish-language authors worldwide. From July 1 to August 31, more than 1,400 authors from 39 countries entered the contest by uploading their titles to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) (https://kdp.amazon.com). The top countries participating were Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, the U.S. and Argentina, and the books were sold to customers in 71 different countries. To be eligible for the contest, the stories had to be original, unpublished works written in Spanish, and exclusive to Kindle through enrollment in KDP Select. After selecting five finalists, submissions were carefully reviewed by a panel of judges to determine the winning title.

Ningún Escocés Verdadero tells the story of Elías, a private investigator specializing in art-related crimes, who is hired by the Spanish Bishop of Murcia to search for the Cross of Caravaca, stolen in the year 1934. His mission is to restore it in time for an upcoming visit from the Pope. At the same time, Elías is tasked with acquiring a mysterious painting, which also goes missing soon after he purchases it in an auction in Madrid. From there, he meets an enigmatic and beautiful woman who will lead him down a dangerous path to the truth.

“Hope, excitement, restlessness, joy, anxiety and happiness. We have gone through all these emotions throughout the contest, since we submitted the novel until we learned we were the winners,” said authors Ana Ballabriga and David Zaplana. “We know where we came from and how hard it was to get here, so now the future seems like a wonderful place.”

“For the third year in a row, we were amazed by the talent participating in the Indie Literary Prize for Spanish-language. It is great to be able to bring amazing characters such as the ones in the thriller Ningún Escocés Verdadero to a broader audience for Spanish readers and, in the future, to English readers as well,” said Charles Kronbach, Director, Kindle Direct Publishing. “This initiative is a great way to make new books available to our growing Spanish-speaking customers worldwide. The incredible engagement we see every year, both in terms of authors and readers, confirms that there are many more books out there that haven’t had a chance to be read and there are millions of readers eager to discover new stories.”

Contest ambassador and best-selling author Ismael Cala, said, “Winning a contest is not a matter of luck, but talent and perseverance. I congratulate the winning authors, the finalists, and all of the participants. Whatever the outcome, all of them have written a book and have made it available to others under the auspices of Amazon. The accomplishment is collective and our history is being added to day by day.”

Ningún Escocés Verdadero will be published globally in Spanish by Amazon Publishing, and translated into English and published globally by AmazonCrossing in digital, print and audio formats. Ana Ballabriga and David Zaplana are now part of the group of winners of Amazon’s Indie Literary Prize for Spanish-Language, which also includes Myriam Millán, winner of the prize in 2015 with her book La hija del Dragón; and Jorge Magano, 2014 winner with his title La mirada de piedra. Complete information on the contest, participating titles and terms and conditions can be found at: www.amazon.com/concursoindie.

KDP is a free and seamless way for writers and publishers to make their ebooks available to Kindle readers around the world. Titles enrolled in the contest are available in full in the Kindle Store and most of them are also available for free for Kindle Unlimited customers. All Kindle Books can be read on Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets, and free Kindle reading apps for computers, iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

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