Are you an unpublished author looking to get your fabulous work of fiction in bookstores near you? Well, put away your query letters and fear of rejection and enter The Gather.com First Chapters Writing Competition. The winner of this writing competition will receive:
- a publishing contract with Touchstone/Simon & Schuster
- a $5,000 cash prize from Gather.com
- promotion and distribution by Borders
Don’t have a novel at the ready? Readers are needed, too! In the weeks to come, you can join other book lovers and writers to help read and rate the entries. Who deserves their big break? YOU can help decide. With this almost unprecedented opportunity, you or someone you know could be the next bestselling American author.
Here’s How It Works: Starting today through Thursday March 15th, 2007, aspiring novelists will have the opportunity to submit their full-length commercial fiction manuscripts for consideration. Over the course of the competition, the first three chapters of entrants’ novels will be posted to the First Chapters Group for evaluation by the Gather community and Editorial team. The community and Gather Editorial team will select five finalists through three rounds of voting. And one Grand Prize Winner will be chosen for publication by a special panel of judges.
Round 1: January 11 – April 3, 2007:
The Gather community will vote on the entrants’ first chapters to select 15 of 20 writers to advance to the next stage. The Gather Editorial team will select an additional 5 writers to advance to round 2.
Round 2: April 4 – May 1, 2007:
The 20 remaining novelists will have their second chapters posted on First Chapters where the Gather community and Editorial team will narrow the pool down to 10 semifinalists.
Round 3: May 2 – May 22, 2007:
The third chapters of the 10 semifinalists’ manuscripts will be reviewed and rated by the Gather community and Editorial team and 5 finalists will be selected (4 by Gather members and 1 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, Borders Group CEO
- Tom Gerace, Gather Founder & CEO
The Prize:
In addition to receiving a publishing contract with Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, the winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize from Gather.com, plus promotion and distribution by Borders!
The four additional finalists will receive a $500 cash prize.
For More Information:
Read the Eligibility & Submission Guidelines here.
Read the Complete Contest Rules & Regulations here.
Contact the First Chapters contest administrator at firstchapters@gatherinc.com.
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Comments: 250
Sincerely,
Steve
Non-Fiction????
Also agree that the contest 'name' should be changed ... it does not fit the description of the contest ... even with the 's' included. !!!!
Gather can do better than that!
I need to get clearer description of the contest...
I'm bummed because I don't think Fantasy/Scifi qualifies as "commercial fiction" ... does it?
I have posted several articles, poems, shorts etc and not one, not even one comment on my post. I agree with Linda, I do not think the judging would be fair. I do not mind rejections from traditional editors, but to be knocked down by a clique, is not for me.
Robert A Meacham- author- if you think I'm full of air- google me.
Talent competition or not, in the end it's up to the judges. Less whinin' more writin'!
JR
Lighten up, people. It's a writing contest. They've always got all sorts of restrictions.
a. Each of the first three chapaters must be separtated into a document (i.e., 4 total documents submitted), or
b. All of the first three chapters must be submitted in a single separate document (i.e., 2 total documents submitted).?
I'm a little confused. Choice a. above seems to make more sense to me.
Also, you may not be picked by the community but you can bet that industry personnel will be checking out the contestants so there is a chances of being discovered that way.
I joined a similar community for ideas and ideas the community didn't picked got funded and became businesses within a short time frame because investors came and found something they likes in spite of the community voting.
If you get good feed back maybe you can do the internet self publish for you work.
This is an opportunity for all even if you do not win the contest you can still win a following or being discovered.
So, cheer up, be positive and good luck to all.
The $5000 "Prize" is an advance against royalties. That's not a very big advance from a mainstream publisher.
It's never a good idea to sign a publishing contract without the advice of an agent, but there will be nothing for an agent to negotiate here. The contest rules stipulate everything. The winner is required to sign the standard S&S publishing contract.
The book may not be published as hard cover.
As an American I'm embarrassed by this parochial view and want to assure other nationalities that this is not the position of all American citizens. Many of us know the web as the international place it is and celebrate that.
Sure we occassionally forget, sitting at a computer perhaps deep in the middle of our country, and assume mistakenly that the person we're "talking" to is from our national neighborhood. But we're just typers on the net. Gather is a business and seeks to be a player in this international arena.
Gather, you insult many of my friends when you treat them as non-citizens of your space.
Because I think many folks will have things to say about this, I've posted a piece about it called Gather is an International Space.
I still might enter, however. Like most writers I'm a glutton for punishment...
: )
Sadly, I must agree with the writer above who says he's a "glutton for punishment". I have earned a very decent living as a writer for 30 years, and even if I were eligible (that is if I were American) I would not waste my time sending entries to contests. Your time is better spent pursuing an agent to represent your work.
Cheers from Canada.
However, even if I wasn't expressly excluded because of my nationality, I would not enter this contest. Like the Amazon Short Competition, it is flawed. It will become yet another popularity contest, with those who can rustle up enough connections to give 10 votes being short listed - if not deliberately sabotaged through drive-by, poison one votes being awarded. Quality will not matter if the writer/s have insufficient connections; and someone who can marshal many connections who will award 10 stars out of loyalty can win, even if the writing is lousy.
For heaven's sake, and for equity, Gather, learn how to run a competition that is both open to all members and fair. As it is, you do your corporate self a great disservice.
I'm pulling up drafts of my last novel...time to tinker. March 15th ain't far....
The title of this contest is appropriate. Even though entrants have to submit a complete manuscript, they're only being judged on the first three chapters.
The speculative fiction, mystery/espianoge, and romance genres are all definitely considered commercial fiction, as well as anything else that is more mainstream with a well-paced plotline. Simon & Shuster is obviously looking for something that will appeal to a mass market. Literary style storylines will probably see little success here.
As for Gather restricting this contest to U.S. residents, they can give their money however they choose. Crossing national borders creates really complicated paperwork. When websites like Ciao! UK start paying out to its users outside of the UK border, then I have no problem when an U.S.-originated website does the same.
I confess I'm also nervous at the prospect of facing the cliques on Gather, but I'd like to give this contest a try. It looks like I'll be spending the next few weeks cleaning up my manuscript.
And, WHERE does it say Fantasy isn't commercial fiction? Never heard of such a thing! Genre romance, genre scifi, genre fantasy, genre paranormal romance - doesn't get much more commercial than that! NOWHERE does it say literary fiction, guys and gals...submit it, the worst that can happen is that SOMEONE has to read it!
Also, although possibly misleading, the name of the contest reveals that gather readers will vote on the first three chapters of the novels that are in the final competition, not on the submission required.
As for Gather restricting this contest to U.S. residents, they can give their money however they choose. Crossing national borders creates really complicated paperwork. When websites like Ciao! UK start paying out to its users outside of the UK border, then I have no problem when an U.S.-originated website does the same.
you overlook Tom's often mouthed: We think of Gather as a global company and want to include members around the world in all we do. as recently as yesterday. See Gather is an International Space
You cannot have it both ways. What Gather says is contradicted by what it actually does.
As to your: ....but I'd like to give this contest a try. It looks like I'll be spending the next few weeks cleaning up my manuscript. I sincerely wish you the best of luck. But I fear you will find this Gather competition is flawed and will have you shaking your head.
the editors of Gather Inc are not even named and there are no profiles or resumes listed for them.. and if you spend much time on this site, you will see that some of the finest writers have suddenly vanished or been deleted by arbitrary decision of Gather Inc for some TOS charge while plagiarism abounds.
be wary, be very wary of anything Gather Inc promises like improved technology and Gather Squashed Pumpkin Orange. If it can't even offer good templates/technology for edtitng and submission and refuses to give writers the tools for deleting abusive comments from their pages or controlling the drive-by one-raters, I really can't imagine that there is much concern about quality or writing skill here.
and let's not forget the promise that stood on Gather front page when it first began, stating that contributing writers would be able to earn sufficient income from their contributions to pay for basic living....
bait and switch is a time-honored Gather technique.
First Chapters Administrator's Profile
First Chapters either has not created a profile or has not allowed you to view it.
What good would it do anyone to win a prize they cannot accept - there are millions of unfinished manuscripts that aren't finished because the author lacks the ability to finish. How could anyone reasonably expect to participate in a contest seeking a new author without having ever finished writing one book?
We have posted a separate article to answer some of the most frequently asked questions. We will continually update this article as new questions come in.
I am wondering how many of you who posted plan on entering.
Honestly, I don't have any more than two or three chapters on the book I'm thinking about entering, but it would do me good to put a deadline on finishing it.
I like the idea...
While I was slightly misled by the title, I don't think asking to submit a complete manuscript is entirely too unreasonable.
Why not give it a shot?
I have absolutely no faith that the members of any resident clique are strong enough morally to eschew an opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to their fellows, even if the entries are posted blind. Too many will have been critiqued in these assorted groups not to be recognized by members of the writer's group.
Story as well as individual writing voice seem to be afterthoughts at this site, just as the craft of writing itself appears to run a distant second to the issues of who knows whom and who hangs with whom, and whose group is the hot ticket right now.
You know the old adage, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Well, I just won't be fooled again.
I hope the rumors of plagiarism here are just that--rumors.
M.L. Bushman
Unless you've resorted to self-publishing, you are aren't eligible for this competition.
as even others have said!!!!
It isn't realistic to expect readers to wade through the virtual slush pile, though. People buy books so they don't have to do that kind of work, or if they're inclined to do that kind of work they're editors, agents and publishers, and they're getting paid for their time.
Social media is cool and all, but there are limits to what can be achieved, and this may be a case where the model doesn't support the objectives. The contest would do better, would have more appeal, and would draw higher caliber entries if they more closely followed the American Idol format (as alluded to in this article). Make entrants clear a first trial administered by industry professionals, weed out the typos, weaker material, and genre fiction (if that's not what they're willing publish) -- THEN have the public vote.
This backwards approach is really only suited to a lazy panel of judges.
Welcome to the world of commercial fiction. Standard operating procedure is one has to have a completed manuscript before querying an agent. Nonfiction can be sold on proposal. I've completed all of mine before submitting though. All five. Based on this, the contest is on track as one would expect with a major publisher involved.
The least you could do is get my name right.
M.L. Bushman
Also, just a note. The title of the contest reads 1st Chapters, not 1st Chapter!
Is there someone forcing people to have memberships? If you are unhappy here, just end your membership. It is quite simple!
I live in Kenya and would have liked to send my own chapter.
But well, i wish all the people who are going to enter all the best.
Besides rambling, my message is stop whining, and start writing ! If you don't like the way things are done by somebody else, try doing something yourself ! Good Luck to all - I look forward to (hopefully) getting a sneak preview on the next great commercially successful writer of (my favorite genre) trashy adventure ! Wish it could be me, but then again, I guess I will have to write it first.
Blessings and Gratitude from an "almost a writer" in NC.
P.S. Thanks for all of the good advice and warnings though, l got all excited about the contest when I first saw it, then I realized it wouldn't work for me right now, but all the comments did make me think about a lot of things I would not have even considered otherwise.
Some of you have asked about this contest only being open to U.S. residents. The laws governing content & copyrights vary from country to country. The First Chapters contest is governed by the contests and sweepstakes laws specific to the United States. Thus, we are not able to accept international entries.
In the future, however, Gather does plan on having separate writing competitions for specific counties with large Gather.com memberships.