The Gather.com First Chapters Writing Competition Round Two FAQs

The 2007 Gather.com First Chapters Writing Competition is now in Round Two and members have started to ask some great questions. This article addresses questions members have asked regarding the competition. We will be adding to this article as new questions are posed to us.

Q) Will Gather be announcing the editorial vs. community picks?

A) No.  Gather does not want any entry to be influenced in any way except for its own merit and therefore we will not be announcing whether the finalists are community or editorial picks.

A) Regrettably, we are unable to give Gather members (including participating authors) access to First Chapters entries, ratings and comments after the entries have been removed from the First Chapters, content group.

Q) Are my chapters considered published by other publishing companies?

Q) What happens to my manuscript now? 

A) All non-winning manuscripts will be destroyed when the contest is over. Manuscripts will not be returned to the entrant.

Q) At the end of the competition, for all of those entrants who do not win, will they receive the standing in relation to all other competitors?

A) No.  We will only be announcing the winners of each round, in no particular order. A complete list of standings will not be posted.

Q) Are entries to be judged on content alone, or is grammar/spelling a consideration in the final vote?

A) We encourage entrants to thoroughly check grammar and spelling before submitting their entry. The community will be considering the overall quality of the submission. Entries are expected to be of publishable quality.

Q) What was the final rating for my competition submission?

 A) To ensure the integrity of the competition, we have developed processes that detect voting fraud and other irregularities.  We run the processes periodically throughout the competition and again at the end of the competition, across all entries. If we determine that certain ratings or actions are intended to compromise the outcome of the competition we will take corrective actions.  We do not answer specific questions on vote tabulation or fraud prevention because it will provide details that we do not make public to make them more effective over time. The scores shown on Gather do not reflect the full impact of our fraud control system (some steps are applied after the fact) to prevent users from testing various rating strategies in an attempt to reverse engineer our fraud identification algorithms. Therefore, rating averages can change throughout the contest even after a submission is no longer publicly viewable.

Q) Where can I find all of the contest details?

A) There are several articles published to provide you with the details of the First Chapters Competition. Please consult the First Chapters Writing Contest Submission Guidelines and First Chapters Writing Contest Official Rules for additional details.

Q) Who will judge the competition?

A) Community members, Gather's editorial team, and a panel of judges all play a role in selecting a winner. Details on the selection process are in point 5 of the First Chapters Official Rules.

Q) How will Gather ensure the integrity of the rating/voting system?

A) To ensure the integrity of contests on Gather we have developed fraud detection systems to monitor rating/voting patterns as well as member account validity. We run the processes periodically throughout the contest and again at the end of the contest, across all entries. If we determine that certain ratings or actions are intended to compromise the outcome of the contest we will take appropriate actions which can include disqualifying the ratings, entrants and submissions. Entrants are eligible to vote in the competition but are expected to do so fairly and in the spirit of the competition.

Q) When Borders is listed as the retail sponsor of the competition does this mean the winning commercial fiction novel will only be distributed through Borders?

A) No, while Borders will be distributing and promoting the Grand Prize Winner's published novel, the winning novel will be available wherever books are sold.

Q)  As a Round Two Semi-Finalist, can I submit my novel to publishers and other contests?

A)  Your novel is not eligible in the First Chapters Writing Competition if it is simultaneously submitted to other contests or publishers.

Q) Could you please clarify the terms around article 11?

A) Article 11 addresses the fact that Simon & Schuster, at any time in the future, may publish a work similar in nature to a manuscript submitted to this competition. This is not requiring anyone to give up the rights to their work. This article merely states that, given the fact that Simon & Schuster publish thousands of works every year, if one of their published works has a similar theme, plot, etc. to a contest entry, the contestant acknowledges this as happenstance and not as a violation of their copyright.

If you have questions that have not been addressed in the articles referenced above, please email them to support@gather.com. We will be adding to this article as new questions are posed to us. We look forward to helping you enter and wish you good luck!