MEASURE OF DANGER – Honorable Mention in 2014 Writer’s Digest Self-Published eBook Awards
January 21st, 2015
I’m happy to have received an award in the Genre Fiction category of this competitive annual contest! I now also have the judge’s comments, which I’ve pasted below. As my self-published ebook moves on to a republished and improved version to be released in June, it’s still nice to get this recognition for the original version submitted back in July 2014. Many thanks to my readers!
Judge, 2nd Annual Writer’s Digest eBook Awards
Entry Title: Measure of Danger
Author: Jay Klages
Judge Number: 32
Entry Category: Genre Fiction
Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 4
Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 5
Production Quality and Cover Design: 5
Plot and Story Appeal: 5
Character Appeal and Development: 5
Voice and Writing Style: 5
Judge’s Commentary:
The book Measure of Danger by debut author Jay Klages is sure to delight readers looking for a new suspense author. After reading this book, they’ll stand in line waiting breathlessly for his next release. Klages does an excellent job of creating realistic, honest-to-goodness characters who immediately capture a reader’s attention. Set in the most difficult situations, the people in this story have clear intentions and motivation, so it’s not hard to see who to root for. I like having this so easily defined so I can move on with the story without having to guess and eventually be disappointed. In a few places, the pacing slows because of some very small backstory dumps. However, I don’t think that would hold anyone back or prevent them from plowing forward since this author does such a nice job of creating one story question after another. I like the date stamps at the beginning of the chapters. It provides the information that readers need without having to flip back through the pages to try to figure it out. The chapter endings could use stronger hooks, but again, that’s not a deal breaker for most readers. Overall, I think this book is one that will develop fans who will tell their friends about what a wonderful story this is, and word of mouth is the best way to promote and sell books.
The complete winner’s list is here.
