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Jan. 19th, 2007 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erastesIf you haven't published traditionally before and have a completed MS of commercial fiction, you may want to check out this contest being conducted on gather.com. There's no entry fee, and the winner gets a publishing contract with Touchstone (div. of Simon & Schuster).
http://www.gather.
Eligibility and Submission Guidelines
Eligibility:
• Authors who have not previously published a full length book (excluding self published and vanity press) are eligible to compete in the First Chapters Writing Competition.
• Manuscript submissions (hereafter the “Submissions”) must be original, previously unpublished, completed book length manuscripts in the commercial fiction genre.
• All Submissions must be in English. Submissions must not violate copyright laws; must contain properly cited material, if applicable; and must be previously unpublished (except on Gather.com or as previously noted), original material.
• Writers cannot submit more than one Submission in the Competition.
• You must be 18 or older as of January 11, 2007 and must be a legal resident of the United States or the District of Columbia to be eligible to enter.
• Submissions may not be submitted elsewhere unless and until the entrant has been eliminated from the Competition. By entering your Submission in the Competition, you hereby give Touchstone/Fireside (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) first publication rights to your manuscript until such time as you are eliminated from the Competition.
• This Competition is run only on the Internet.
• By entering this Competition, you agree that if you are selected as the Grand Prize Winner, you will sign Simon & Schuster’s standard publishing agreement within five days of receipt of the agreement.
How to Enter:
Before 11:59 PM (EST) Thursday, March 15, 2007, you must complete three (3) steps in order to enter The Gather.com First Chapters Competition:
1) Email your Submission as an MS Word file attachment or equivalent to: firstchapters@gatherinc.com.
• The document must be delivered in complete form, drafted in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 1 inch margins throughout, paginated and double-spaced and must include numbered chapter breaks.
• You must also break out the first three (3) chapters, sequentially, in a separate document so that they may be posted on Gather.com.
• The chapters should be clearly numbered and each be between 2,000 and 10,000 words in length. The chapters will be posted in sequential order, chapters 1 through 3 only.
• The subject of your email should read First Chapters Competition Entry.
• In the email you must include your name (first, last), email address, manuscript title, manuscript word count, brief 500-750 word synopsis of the plot, 500 word or less author bio.
• We will email all entrants to confirm receipt of their Submissions.
• If you have entered the Competition and have not received a confirmation notice of your submission within three business days, please email firstchapters@gatherinc.com.
2) To complete your entry, you must click on the link in your confirmation email to join the First Chapters Competition group on Gather.com. If you have any trouble registering for the site and the First Chapters group, please email firstchapters@gatherinc.com for help. The Competition administrator will post your entry to Gather.com within 2 business days. Submissions will not be returned.
3) If any excerpt from your Submission has been previously published on Gather.com, remove it from the site.
How The Competition Judging Will Work:
• Round 1: The first chapters of all valid Submissions will be posted by the competition administrator to firstchapters.gather.com for the community to vote on, for a period of 14 days, when members can read and rate each entry. This means that each entry will be live for 14 days from the date it was posted and entries will be posted as received through the March 15th deadline. At the end of the Round 1 submission/voting period, 20 writers will advance to the next round of competition, 15 based on the highest number of votes and ratings from Gather.com members, and 5 selected by the Gather editorial team.
• Round 2: The second chapters of the 20 remaining writers’ manuscripts are posted for a reading/voting period of three weeks. At the end of the voting period, 10 semifinalists are announced, 7 based on the highest number of votes and ratings from Gather.com members, and 3 selected by the Gather editorial team.
• Round 3: The third chapters of the 10 semifinalists’ manuscripts are posted for a reading/voting period of two weeks. At the end of the voting period, 5 finalists are announced, 4 based on the highest number of votes and ratings from Gather.com members, and 1 selected by the Gather editorial team.
• Round 4: The Grand Prize judging panel -- Carolyn K. Reidy, President of the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, Mark Gompertz, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Touchstone, Borders Group CEO George Jones and Gather.com Founder and CEO, Tom Gerace -- will select 1 Grand Prize Winner to receive a $5,000 cash prize from Gather.com, and publication of the book by The Touchstone imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Notes on Judging: Gather will monitor the Competition for irregular voting patterns and fraud, and will disqualify votes and entrants if, in the Sponsor’s sole judgment, we determine that the integrity or fairness of the Competition has been, or could be, compromised. Entrants are eligible to vote in the Competition but are expected to do so fairly and in the spirit of the competition.
The “editors’ pick” winners throughout the competition will be selected at the Gather.com editorial team’s discretion, and will be selected independent of member ratings and number of votes. The editorial team will judge entries on the criteria listed below.
All members who vote in the Competition as well as the Grand Prize judging panel must consider the following criteria equally when judging: 1) Quality of writing (including grammar and spelling); 2) Author’s ability to engage the reader; 3) Originality of the author's voice; 4) Potential of the finished book in the marketplace.
Competition Calendar:
January 11, 2007 – May 31, 2007
Round 1: 12 Weeks (approx.)
• 1/11/07: Launch of competition submission period for full manuscripts. Each valid submission’s first chapter is posted by contest administrator to the First Chapters site for a 14 day voting period by Gather members.
• 3/15/07: At 11:59 pm EST the Competition submission period closes, but voting continues for two more weeks for first chapters received on the final day.
• 3/29/07: Round 1 voting ends
• 4/3/07: 20 Round 1 winners announced
Round 2: 4 Weeks (approx.)
• 4/4/07: 20 second chapters from Round 1 winners’ Submissions go live on the First Chapters site for a three week voting period by Gather members.
• 4/25/07: Round 2 voting period ends
• 5/1/07: 10 Round 2 winners announced
Round 3: 3 Weeks (approx.)
• 5/2/07: 10 third chapters from Round 2 winners’ Submissions go live on the First Chapters site for a two week voting period by Gather members.
• 5/16/07: Round 3 Voting period ends
• 5/22/07: 5 Finalists announced
Round 4: 1 Week (approx.)
• 5/23/07: 5 Finalists submissions sent to judging panel
• 5/31/07: WINNER ANNOUNCED
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 10:46 am (UTC)(PS: Your cut tag didn't work. ~smooch~)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-19 02:49 pm (UTC):D
Date: 2007-01-20 07:09 am (UTC)"dunno if you still check this journal but i wanted to tell you something amusing :D
my old roommate in florida told me she had an awesome gay book she thought id like and would mail it to me. today she emailed me telling me someone in hp fandom named underlucius wrote it!!! Hahaha, so great. so yeah, i'll be reading your book soon :P"
Re: :D
Date: 2007-01-20 10:40 am (UTC)That's so funny! I wonder what they did - they must have gone and investigated "erastes" and discovered that he used to be underlucius!
I hope you enjoy it, and thank you so much for letting me know - it's lovely to know that there are people out there (not on my flist as well as on it, obviously) who are reading it.
xxx
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 10:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 10:42 am (UTC)Simon Cowell has a lot to answer for...
no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 10:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-20 11:54 pm (UTC)