March 1, 2006

Contact:

Dawn Rivers Baker
info@brighidsfirebooks.com
607-428-0521

Derek Stafford
LughnassadhBooks.com
derstaffo@lughnassadhbooks.com

Indie Publisher Celebrates Small Press Month With Call for Entries for Manuscript Contest

Sidney, NY -- Independent publisher Brighid's Fire Books celebrates Small Press Month by launching the search for unpublished manuscripts through its fifth annual Fiction Manuscript Contest.

The contest, which is co-sponsored by indie online bookseller LughnassadhBooks.com (www.lughnassadhbooks.com) is held each year beginning on March 1st, which is also the beginning of Small Press Month.

"The choice to open the contest in March wasn't deliberate but, when we considered the timing with Small Press Month, we thought it worked," says Derek Stafford, owner of LughnassadhBooks.com. "A small independent bookseller and a small independent publisher joining together to celebrate independent publishing by searching for new voices in fiction — not bad, huh?"

The Annual Fiction Manuscript Contest is open to unpublished, book-length fiction, with cash prizes for the top three places and the bonus of a publishing contract offer for the first place winner. Brighid's Fire Books specializes in debut fiction and uses the contest as a way to connect with unpublished authors and to find titles for publication.

"It's getting more and more difficult for new authors to break into print if they don't want to self-publish," says Dawn Rivers Baker, editor at Brighid's Fire Books. "The contest evens the playing field a bit and helps us find strong first novels that deserve to be brought to the public."

Contest details are available online at http://www.brighidsfirebooks.com/contest.html.

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