Kingworth had this to say about her experience, "Late in December 2008, my youngest sister said, "You should enter Secret Speakers in Textnovel's cell phone novel contest. I told her I didn't think it would be eligible. It was too long. But then I did some research about cell phone novels in Japan and discovered there are two forms: short form and long form. Well, well.

My 10 year-old laptop, Spunkie, was on her last legs and I knew I could use the prize money to get another computer. Little did I know that within just a few days the young adult fantasy about a young girl who had spent the last nine years of her life living in a cellar would jump to the number one spot for both Editor's Picks and Most Popular Story.

I began posting chapters of Secret Speakers from my blog just one week before the contest ended. So many authors had been posting their serialized chapters on Textnovel for so long that it didn't even occur to me that I had a chance. 

Thanks to Goodreads.com, I have a wide circle of book-loving friends. I sent out a call to thousands of my friends there, many who were early readers of the Secret Speakers manuscript. Within days, their loyal votes at Textnovel gave me that chance.

No one was more surprised than I was to get a call from Stan Soper, founder of Textnovel, who announced that Secret Speakers had been awarded the Reader's Choice award. I was thrilled, because Spunkie would now have another laptop to keep her company.

Thank you to everyone for your support, your kindness, your words of encouragement. You mean more to me than you'll ever know. Thank you Textnovel.

Karey Shane, a/k/a K.S.R. Kingworth