It can be argued that the web has done many things for literature, but one of my favorites is how the digital era has lowered the barrier of entry for conversation around books. Amazon, Shelfari, and Twitter (to name but a few) all make it incredibly easy to say -- in as few characters as possible -- "I love this book!"
In the spirit of short, sweet, and clever, the website "Book: the Sequel" is challenging users to draft the first sentence of an imaginary follow-up to famous books. Didn't like the way things left off in Great Expectations? Thought Pride and Prejudice needed more zombies? Well, here's your chance.
Dig deep and you may find a sequel-starter worthy of actual publication; "Book: the Sequel" will leap from the screen to the page this spring. Writers find out May 30th if they are among those to be published in the book. Check out the call to action from Book: the Sequel below:
Ever wonder what happens to Harry Potter after twenty years of marriage and a steady government gig?
Or what Karl Marx would say about today's financial crisis?
If the Bible had a sequel, what would its first sentence be?
Write that sentence and you could be published! It's easy!
1. Pick a book.
2. Imagine its sequel.
3. Write the first sentence.
4. Give it a great title.
5. Click Submit Sequel Now! to enter. [link]
Follow the countdown to publication on Twitter, spread the word on Facebook, and find out on May 30th whether you are a Published Author!
Some inspiration to get you started:
"See, I was right." -From Das Kapital 2, by Karl Marx (sequel to Das Kapital)
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man who has lost his fortune in a Ponzi scheme, his job in structured finance and his retirement savings in toxic assets, must be in want of a wife. -From Busted and Bailed Out by Jane Austen (sequel to Pride and Prejudice)
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Comments: 9
Do contributors get to share the royalties?
No. I thought not.
(Is this YOUR enterprise, Mr. Steib? Is there any reason why this post should NOT be reported as spam?)
I think it's a great idea and it sounds like a lot of fun as well. How is this spam?
Marilyn
But I wonder: Do community members get a share of Facebook's ad revenue? Or do they get a cut from the publisher if quoted in a newspaper? Or interviewed on television? No, I thought not.
Hmmm.