american idol for the writer
Yesterday I checked that email address I never check – and I’m glad of it. Amidst all the annoying chain letters, the phentermine and porn spam, I had a note from the lovely Dina.
The food blogess and publishing girl sent me an email re: Gather.com’s First Chapters Writing Competition. It’s being promoted as something like American Idol for the Writer. The social networking site is teaming up with Touchstone/Simon & Schuster to look for unpublished authors – with full length commercial-fiction manuscripts. The contest goes something like this…
The first three chapters will be posted online, one at a time, where the Gather.com community will vote for their favourite. The manuscripts still remaining after three elimination rounds (one for each chapter) will be judged by a panel of industry big wigs including Carolyn K. Reidy, President of the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group; Mark Gompertz, Executive Vice President & Publisher of Touchstone Books and George Jones, Borders Group CEO.
The winner will receive a publishing contract with Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, a $5,000 cash prize from Gather.com and promotion and distribution by Borders.
All you writerly people, what do you think? Anyone fancy it?
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21 Responses to “american idol for the writer”
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You will be amazing!! Go for it!
I wish we could vote for you… 
DO IT!
Thanks for the link! I wrote a short story for a creative writing course a few years ago, and it never occurred to me until just now that, with a bit of tweaking, it could actually be a first chapter of something. See you over there!
Sounds like fun but the fine print says American residents only. Oh well…
I hate that it is so misleading you have to enter your entire manuscript I am a gather.com member as well (although sadly not a very active one I tend to delete all of the emails that fill my inbox) and that it has to be fiction. It’s also based on votes from teh community
instead of the actual editors or publishers themselves I am weary of these contests I am always afrais of someone stealing my work. Be careful but, if you go through with it.. good luck!
Trish – sorry. Didn’t catch the ‘American Resident Only’ caveat.
Christina – I did note that this was based on votes from ‘the community’, but I read, somewhere in the fine print, that if the final judging panel (who do have both publishing and marketing power) do not think any of the finalists are worth the deal, they can, at their discretion, choose another non-finalist to award the ‘contract’ to. As for someone stealing anything. The good news is this: if it goes online at gather.com under your name, you have rock solid evidence it’s your work – should anyone try to kidnap it.
This sounds like a good idea. They aren’t going to have a jackass like Simon make snide online comments about the writers, are they?
Wow. I happened to click on your link for the blogging pledge and saw this. Very, very interesting!
WOW! That´s amazing – way to go =)
yae yae yae!!
This is GREAT Buffy!
WAY TO CLICK!!!!
hehe
Sounds pretty awesome.
Go for it! Time to get famous, methinks.
Be sure to read ALL the fine print – but it sounds better than some of the contests out there.
Please refer to Bernita’s comment, all.
Hiya! Thanks for the comment on my blog. I’ve heard of this contest too…in fact it was just two days ago. I’m very leary about it. I’m going to investigate further into it to make sure it is legit. If I find out it is okay, I’ll have to wait for a reply from the publisher who currently has my manuscript. You are not allowed to have it with anyone during the contest. If you choose to participate, make sure it is ‘for real’ before sending out your baby online!
Go for it Buffy!
It sounds loverly, except for that finished manuscript part. I would enter myself, except I don’t have three chapters to submit. Only a bunch of research and a first few pages. Guess I need to get on it more.
are you going to go for it?? call me chick! im headed for the hills next week
loves!
How is your exercise going?
To continue promoting healthy blogger lifestyle, I am going to post our Healthy Blogger Pledge every Monday. Currently 18 bloggers have joined us. I will specially visit and comment our participants every Monday, to push them exercise more and to attract more participants!
This minute is for all of us!
I will Exercise for Comments!
Sunflower
Thanks for the info, here’s another comment to exercise to.
Just to be brave and get over the fear of having other people judge you, DO IT!
I think you’d be great for this! Do winners get to sing too?
See you at the roll call!