There's just a week left for publishers to enter books for the 2012 Guardian first book award – but with only two entries allowed per publisher, we're aware that there are hard choices to be be made, so we're launching a hunt for an extra title to join the longlist by popular demand.
Last year's hunt led us to Juan Pablo Villalobos's Down the Rabbit Hole – an exquisite little fable about Mexico's narcoculture, which was championed by its translator Rosalind Harvey and was the first title to be published by And Other Stories. It went on to make the shortlist, and was among the favourites titles with last year's Waterstones reading groups.
The great strength of the first book prize is that it offers a chance for books of different genres to compete: we're proud of a list of past winners that ranges from short stories about China and Zimbabwe to a graphic novel and a biography of cancer.
The last two years have seen a flurry of new ventures, and new ways of trying to make publishing pay, from crowd-funding to self-publishing. But with over 100,000 titles published in the UK every year, it's harder than ever for new writers and publishers to break through.
Any debut first published in this calendar year in the UK is eligible, and we're particularly keen to hear about all those new and small publishers who might not have the means, or presumption, to submit books through the official channels.
To nominate a book, we only ask that you submit a user review and post the link to the review in the message field on this blog. If the book doesn't exist on our datebase, you can post a review into the message field.
In this case that old saw "it isn't all about winning" is demonstrably true. Down the Rabbit Hole wasn't the only book that first caught our eye through the 10th title hunt. It was hotly contested by Michael Stewart's King Crow – which went on to win the Not the Booker prize – as well as several other novels that we subsequently picked up for review.
So go on, surprise us. We'll select the the 10th title from the suggested titles, bearing in mind the debate on the site. This doesn't mean we'll be swayed by shameless longrolling, but we'd like to know the reasons for your enthusiam.
We'll announce the 10th title at the end of July, and it'll go forward to the longlist, to be judged as usual by Waterstones books groups around the country, along with our central panel.
Now it's over to you. Each poster can nominate one title. Here's a handy four-point guide to making your nomination (instructions shamelessly lifted from Sam Jordison's Not the Booker nominations guide):
Let's suppose I want to vote for The Old Man and the Sea by up-and-coming author Ernest Hemingway.
• First I go to the search page, and enter "Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea" into the search field.
• Second, I write a review of no fewer than 150 words in which I try to give a flavour of the book and of its plot and explain why I think the book is important and why others might like it. Then I hit submit.
• Third, once it has appeared on the page I hit the "link" button that appears in the top right-hand corner of the box containing my review. When the link text appears I "copy" it.
• Fourth, I return to this page. I go to the comments box at the bottom. I type Vote: Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea into the comments field. After that I type something like: "Here is my review." I highlight that text with my mouse, and hit the button above the comment field that says "link". A prompt box appears asking for a "web address". I paste the copied text in. I hit "post your comment".
That's it! Now over to you.
