For
Immediate Release
Contact
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster: Contact
Gather.com:
Marcia Burch Liz
Bradley
Simon & Schuster Kel & Partners
Marcia.Burch@simonandschuster.com liz@kelandpartners.com
(212) 698-2100 (857)
891-5531
GATHER.COM
ANNOUNCES TEN SEMIFINALISTS IN WRITING CONTEST DUBBED “AMERICAN IDOL FOR BOOKS”
NEW YORK, New York/BOSTON, Mass., May 1,
2007 —
Gather.com, the leader in social media for
adults, and the Touchstone imprint of Simon & Schuster, a global leader
in the field of general interest publishing, today announced ten semifinalists in
the Gather.com First Chapters Writing Competition. Referred to by numerous
media outlets as “American Idol for Books,” the competition has received 2,676
manuscript submissions since its inception in January. The names and hometowns
of the ten novelists advancing to round three are listed below, as well as
online at firstchapters.gather.com.
- Geoffrey Edwards—Chicago,
IL
- J. M. LeTurk—San
Francisco, CA
- Rebeccah Ruby—San
Francisco, CA
- Candida Korman—New
York, NY
- Scott Middlemist—Phoenix,
AZ
- Geeta Menon—Los Altos,
CA
- Robert Moscoso—Forest
Hills, NY
- Stephen
Prosapio—Oceanside, CA
- Rachel Schipul—Houston,
TX
- Terry Shaw—Knoxville,
TN
“The positive response to this competition has exceeded
even our wildest expectations,” says Tom Gerace,
Gather.com founder and Chief Executive Officer (tom.gather.com). “We are truly
excited to be able to provide the opportunity for our members to showcase their
remarkable writing.”
Beginning today, the third chapters of the
ten semifinalists’ manuscripts will be reviewed and rated by the Gather.com
community and the Editorial team. On May 23rd, five finalists will
be selected—four by
Gather.com members and one Editor’s Choice.
The manuscripts of the five finalists will be evaluated by an esteemed judging
panel who will select one talented novelist as the Grand Prize Winner on May 31st.
“The First Chapters competition has been instrumental in
allowing Touchstone to leverage the power of social media to identify new
writing talent,” commented Mark Gompertz, Executive Vice President and
Publisher, Touchstone. “The feedback has been tremendously successful and we
are very much looking forward to publishing the winner.”
In addition to receiving a guaranteed
publishing contract and distribution with Touchstone, the winner’s book will
receive significant promotion at Borders®, the official bookseller
of Gather.com. As the retail sponsor of Gather.com, Borders, Inc., a leading retailer of books, music, movies
and stationery items, is promoting the First Chapters competition via email to
its millions of Borders Reward® members.
“The competition is perfectly aligned to our mission to be a
headquarters for knowledge and entertainment,” said Borders Group Chief
Marketing Officer Michael Tam. “We celebrate new and emerging authors and
always want to help them gain visibility and recognition.”
The Grand Prize winner will be awarded a
guaranteed publishing contract with Touchstone and a $5000 cash prize from
Gather.com. The winning book will
be available wherever books are sold. To obtain more information regarding the
specifics of the judging, please reference the competition timeline below.
GATHER.COM FIRST CHAPTERS WRITING COMPETITION TIMELINE
Round 1: January 11 – April 3, 2007: COMPLETED
Round 2: April 4 – May 1, 2007: COMPLETED
Round 3: May 2 – May 22, 2007:
The third chapters of the 10 semifinalists’
manuscripts will be reviewed and rated by the Gather.com community and
Editorial team and five finalists will be selected (four by Gather.com members
and one Editor’s Choice).
Winner Announced: May 31, 2007:
The esteemed judging panel will select one
talented novelist as the Grand Prize Winner!
The Judging Panel:
- Carolyn K. Reidy, President of the Simon & Schuster Adult
Publishing Group
- Mark Gompertz, Executive Vice President & Publisher of
Touchstone Books
- George Jones, CEO, Borders Group
- Tom Gerace, Founder & CEO,
Gather.com
About Simon
& Schuster
Simon & Schuster, a part of the CBS
Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing,
dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all
ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children's
Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and
international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more
information, visit our website at www.simonsays.com.
About Borders, Inc.
Borders is a subsidiary of Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP)
a $4 billion retailer of books, music, movies and stationery items that trades
on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BGP. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Borders Group, through
its subsidiaries, operates more than 1,300 Borders and Waldenbooks stores and
employs more than 34,000 people worldwide who serve more than 30 million
customers each year. More
information on the company is available at www.bordersgroupinc.com.
About Gather.com
Gather.com (www.gather.com)
is the leader in social media for adults. Gather.com members connect around
shared interests ranging from politics to books and from cooking to travel, and
they’re compensated for their activity on the site. Members can engage in
conversation with state and local politicians, health and financial experts,
personal coaches, bestselling authors, and more. Over one million people visit
Gather.com each month to read content created by Gather.com members. Gather.com
has a highly educated, highly informed adult audience membership -- a
demographic elusive to most social networking sites. This demographic has made
Gather.com an exceptional partner to media companies, advertising agencies,
leading consumer brands, book publishers, and movie studios. Gather.com is a
privately held, privately funded company headquartered in Boston,
Massachusetts. Investors include Allen & Company, The American Public Media
Group, Hearst, The McGraw-Hill Companies, and Southern California Public Radio.
For more information, visit www.gather.com
or call (617) 720-4000, x1032.
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