For
Immediate Release
Contact
Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster: Contact
Gather.com:
Jean Anne Rose Liz
Bradley
Pocket Books Kel & Partners
jeananne.rose@simonandschuster.com liz@kelandpartners.com
(212) 698-7579 (857)
891-5531
GATHER.COM AND POCKET
BOOKS/SIMON & SCHUSTER ANNOUNCE
FIRST CHAPTERS
ROMANCE WRITING COMPETITION
FOR GUARANTEED
PUBLISHING CONTRACT
BOSTON, MA and NEW YORK, NY—July 12, 2007 —Gather.com, the leader in social media for adults,
and the Pocket Books imprint of Simon & Schuster, a global leader in the
field of general interest publishing, today announced the Gather.com First
Chapters Romance Writing Competition. Designed to target romance
writers—one of the world’s most passionate groups of readers and
writers—the First Chapters Romance Writing
competition provides Gather.com members with the unique ability to rate
submitted manuscripts, ultimately
selecting the next great romance novelist. The grand prize winner will receive
a guaranteed publishing contract with Pocket Books, along with a $5000 advance. The winning book will receive
promotion at Borders®, the official retailer of Gather.com, in
addition to being sold at all Borders and Waldenbooks stores across the nation
and wherever else books are sold.
The First
Chapters Romance Writing Competition follows Touchstone/Simon &
Schuster’s recent decision to publish not one, but two unknown fiction authors
in the original First Chapters competition, which drew over 2,600 manuscript
submissions from across the country.
“There is always a need for smart, informed,
sexy romance writing,”
noted Louise Burke, Executive Vice President and Publisher, Pocket Books.
“Judging by the success of the initial First Chapters competition, we believe
Gather.com will provide us with an ideal platform to discover new talent.”
“We are confident that
Gather.com’s community of readers, writers and
aspiring authors will bring a great new romance author to the public’s
attention,” commented Maggie Crawford, Editorial Director, Pocket Books.
“We are
truly excited to work with Simon & Schuster again to give aspiring romance
writers a launching pad for their careers as professional authors,” said
Gather.com Founder and CEO Tom Gerace. “It’s a thrill to have the Gather.com
community actively participating in choosing one of our members to be published
by such a prestigious publishing house.”
As the retail sponsor of Gather.com, Borders,
a leading retailer of
books, music, movies and stationery items, will invite members of
Borders Rewards,® its customer loyalty program - now numbering over
18 million - to participate in the First Chapters Romance Writing Competition
and feature the winning title in over 1,000 Borders and Waldenbooks stores
nationwide.
“Borders
is excited to give our customers the opportunity to showcase their writing
talent in Gather.com’s First Chapters Romance Writing Competition and help
launch a new author,” said Michael Tam, chief marketing officer for Borders
Group.
GATHER.COM FIRST CHAPTERS ROMANCE WRITING COMPETITION
TIMELINE
Submission period: 08/1/07 - 08/22/07
Full romance manuscripts submitted to romancenovel@gatherinc.com.
Round
One: 08/27/07
– 09/18/07
Posting of chapter
one at romancenovel.gather.com - Gather.com community votes to select 25 semi-finalists
Round
Two: 09/24/07
– 10/08/07
Posting of second chapter at romancenovel.gather.com
–Gather.com community votes to select five finalists
Round
Three: 10/11/07
– 10/30/07
Grand Prize Judging Panel votes to select a
Grand Prize winner
Grand
Prize Winner announcement: 10/30/07
Members of Grand
Prize Judging Panel:
·
Lauren
McKenna, Editor, Pocket Books
·
Maggie
Crawford, Editorial Director, Pocket Books
·
Tom Gerace, Gather Founder & CEO
·
Sue
Grimshaw, Romance Buyer, Borders
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 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.
About Borders, Inc.
Borders
Group, Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BGP.
Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., the company is a $4.1 billion global
retailer of books, music, movies, and gift and stationery items. Through
its subsidiaries, Borders Group has more than 32,000 employees and operates
over 1,200 stores worldwide. More information on Borders Group is available at www.bordersgroupinc.com.
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