STATUS: Just when I think I’ve tamed technology… yes, there is an issue with the double opt in section of subscribing to the newsletter (you might be getting a system error message). We’re on it. It should be fixed by now but try again tomorrow and let me know via the blog comments if you are still having issues. Thanks y’all.
What’s playing on the iPod right now? MANIC MONDAY by The Bangles
(this just might be my theme song) Manic everyday.
I know, I know. I’m a little slow to ring the death knell of the Sobol Awards over here at the Pubrants blog. I was delighted of course and not in the least bit surprised. If you haven’t heard the news, the contest is no more.
Now what does surprise me is how much Simon & Schuster’s imprint Touchstone/Fireside desires to publish a winner of a contest. They’ve lined up another possibility but this time, there’s no fee! It’s open to any unpublished author with a full manuscript.
You post the first chapters and the world (a la American Idol style) gets to vote on which manuscripts make the cut and go on. Well, the world of gather.com subscribers that is. Final judging compliments of Carolyn K. Reidy, the president of the adult publishing group at S&S, and George Jones, chief executive of Borders.
Here’s the article in the book section of the NY Times.
Here’s the website for gather.com. You need to sign up (which is also free) to get more details.
But the winner gets a book contract from Touchstone and 5k from Gather.com (and no silliness about being repped by an “agency” that has never brokered a publishing deal).
Now that’s a contest I can support. Go check it out.
(heads up about the contest compliments of my client Mari Mancusi)
Am I wrong in thinking the following should send up warning flares?
“Entrants acknowledge that Simon & Schuster and its respective parent,affiliate and subsidiary companies (collectively the “Designated
Entities”) have extensive respective histories in creating, acquiring
and developing literary, artistic, musical and other material,
including stories, ideas, themes, plots, titles, screenplays,
manuscripts, formats and other developments and other materials
(collectively, the “Materials”). Moreover the Materials which the
Designated Entities may hereafter use may have originated with or may
have been acquired from the Designated Entities’ employees or others
and may duplicate, parallel or resemble an entrant’s Submission.
By submitting a manuscript, entrants acknowledge that they understand
and agree that the Designated Entities’ use of material containing
features and elements similar to or identical with those contained in
their Submission do not entitle entrant to any compensation. By
entering, entrant waives any right of action against the Designated
Entities or their successors and assigns in connection with the
Designated Entities’ use of the Material (or any part thereof)
whether or not the Material contains features or elements similar or
identical to those contained in entrant’s Submission.”
Still having opt-in problems with the newsletter registration as of Monday evening.
While the Web gurus are working on the opt-in problems, maybe they could work on this. If “country” is left blank — the form says to specify country if “not United States” — the verification page defaults my country to “Albania” and I have to set it to “United States.”
Best.
Still having opt-in problems with the newsletter registration as of Monday evening.
TUESDAY evening.
On the First Chapters contest, does it raise any flags that winners have to accept S&S’s standard contract within 5 days?
One of the problems that I can see with an online contest such as this is that the first few entrants would get the largest number of the votes, so a great submission coming late might not get any. As such the winner would be based not on the quality of the work but how soon it was submitted.
I would also be a little suspicious of what the publishing contract might read like. It’s possible that it could be filled with clauses to benefit the publisher. And because it’s a contest, there may be no room for negotiation.
Anon 1,
I’m pretty sure that the part you quote is standard publishing language. They have to put that in so that the crazier disgruntled authors out there can’t try to sue them for publishing books with similar ideas to said authors’. (“Hey, they’re publishing a book about a chosen one who finds a magical amulet. My book was about a chosen one who finds a magical amulet. Thief!”) Similar to how every novel has to have the disclaimer about “all similarity of events and characters to actual events and people is coincidental” even if it’s not coincidental. I’ve never heard of a publisher actually stealing someone’s manuscript and passing it off as someone else’s.
It will be interesting to see how the voting goes. With American Idol the singers are chosen by the public…the people who will be buying their music. With this contest it seems as though other writers and people in publishing will be voting. I write commercial fiction, and sell it, too. I certainly wouldn’t want to be judged by the literistics of the blogging world. They aren’t in touch with the public or the mass market (if they were commercial fiction sales would be rising like the ratings on American Idol). And I doubt many of the voters will even “get” the concept of best seller, which isn’t necessarily the most literary. And, unless I’m wrong, it sounds like Touchstone is looking for the next Bridges of Madison County.
As of Wednesday morning (Jan 17), there are already 61 first chapters posted on the Gather site.
I think this contest has very little downside for an unpublished author with a completed novel that either has made the rounds and not hooked an agent, or has been set aside for now in favor of a new work.
I doubt very much S&S will find a genuine, stunningly terrific novel through this contest. But they may find a handful of reasonably decent, publishable books that didn’t float to the top of anyone’s slush pile.
The criticisms about the “standard contract” seem valid to me, but that’s why I think this will mostly turn up decent, but not wow-you-wonderful work. To someone with a decent novel gathering dust or rejections, a standard contract is one contract better than no contract at all.
Regarding the American Idol/popularity contest digs: American Idol does not allow people to vote for all qualifiers. They screen out the worst before the public votes. The Gather contest is the opposite: They have the public vote before the judges pick the winner. It will be interesting.
Also, a back-room editorial board picks 25% of the first round winners regardless of how “the public” votes. Since you have to submit a synopsis along with the manuscript, this ends up being just another slush pile.
I have entered my gathering-dust first work (which, sadly, our heroine Agent Kristin rejected), which I’ve shelved for now so I could focus on my new WIP. Who knows? Sometimes, Joel, ya just gotta say WTF.
What exactly does “commercial fiction genre”; does this exclude fantasy/sci-fi?
“On the First Chapters contest, does it raise any flags that winners have to accept S&S’s standard contract within 5 days?”
This was my one concern. Jessica Faust has been blogging about option clauses lately and I wuld hate to have a non-negotiable options clause.
Also, I think most agents would be hesitant to take on an author whose contract was non-negotiable. Especially if it was small. In fact, I believe that if they had nothing to do with the contract signing they couldn’t even claim any commission for the first book; I think they would have ot wait for the second.
Of course, if a writer hasn’t had any luck publishing, maybe these are all of insignificant import. I don’t know.
But really, it is free and probably not too much of a risk if you do have a manuscript that hasn’t had much luck.
At the very least, it’s not a scam.:)
Maprilynne
“Regarding the American Idol/popularity contest digs: American Idol does not allow people to vote for all qualifiers. They screen out the worst before the public votes. The Gather contest is the opposite: They have the public vote before the judges pick the winner. It will be interesting.”
Yes, it will be interesting. But with AI the people who screen out the worst are professionals who have a proven track record for getting the most viable commercial talent out there. They have multi-million dollar instinct when it comes to knowing what the public wants, (Simon Cowell, for example). And, the point I was trying to make about “the public” is that “the public” won’t actually be voting on this…most of “the public” won’t even know there is a contest in the first place(how many people do you know who will actually vote, in your town, or your personal circle?). These votes will come from people who are writers or in publishing, not the mainstream public. By the public, and I want to be clear with this, I mean mainstream American…like the people who vote for AI singers. Sorry, while the readership of gather.com is smart, talented and wonderful, they are not the mainstream public I’m talking about and I wouldn’t want them to judge anything commercial I write.
…most of “the public” won’t even know there is a contest in the first place….
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I wasn’t actually disagreeing with you! Just trying to point out what you stated better.
Rumor has it S&S are dealing with exactly that scenario – “You stole my idea” – in another venue, which may be why the contest language was added. It’s ridiculous and frivilous, but it has to be done.
I can sort of describe how this would work, from doing a lot of tie-in work, where this issue comes up a lot, but what follows is FICTION – speculation based on past experience and publishing gossip. I do NOT claim this is what really happened. Okay?
Picture this: S&S is publishing novels set in a TV or movie universe – they do a LOT of these. They receive a ms in April, and a May episode/movie/book has a similar theme or plot. Clueless writer starts making noises and threatening legal action.
Never mind that it was logistically IMPOSSIBLE, or that they have people who write full-time, or that paying one of their writers is likely much more expensive than buying a first story from an unknown. Forget facts, and rationality, and whether this case has any merit, because it doesn’t.
But S&S is still forced to deal with clueless writer and his brother-in-law the lawyer, both of whom are seeing Big Bucks in the offing. It takes time, and time is money.
Better to put this language in up front, make the rules crystal clear, and be done with it.
The other alternative is to stop running contests for new writers, close themselves to unsolicited manuscripts, go to an “agented only” policy that’s strictly enforced, and generally create even bigger obstacles for writers than there are now
Sure, it’s not fair, but how many times have you heard an editor say “Great, but I just bought something similar”? That exact scenario, in this situation, puts the publisher in the path of a lawsuit, no matter now undeserved.
I find myself cleaved in twain… torn, if you will. Sign up for a contest to pit my work against the work of many others, for bragging rights, a paltry sum and a few advance copies to show my friends.
Or… keep trying to sell it the traditional way, after having an agent vett it for glaring mistakes.
I’m not a fan of the contests, most especially when they list litigious things as the first poster demonstrated (phrases like “use of material containing features and elements similar to or identical with those contained in their Submission do not entitle entrant to any compensation” leave me mildly queasy).
Part of me truly believes they are looking for a good book. The rest thinks they are trawling for ideas, to toss at their more prolific but pseudo-dried out authors.
Why wouldn’t they? I’m no lawyerly type, but it seems that the passage from the rules listed above states they have every right to do so.
American Idol selects 24, and then the voting begins.
Any of the 24 could make it. Who wins is not only talented, but someone who rises to the occasion, shows growth and range, and isn’t a one-trick pony.
Notice how many of the top 12 have recording contracts even though they didn’t win. They have talent, yes.
My main concern about the Gather.com contest is that they haven’t done enough to prevent cheating. People can easily sign up with a dozen fake accounts in order to vote their own entries higher and torpedo others. I took a look at their sign-up process, and cheating looks all too easy.
Maybe Gather’s safety mechanism of reserving a certain number of finalist slots to be judged by an editorial panel will help somewhat. I think it would’ve done a lot for Avon FanLit. The people running FanLit tried to make it sound like they had all these advanced security measures in place, but in fact, their system was full of holes.
To anon 9:52…Cool. And you were right, too. I’d just hate to see good commercial fiction judged in a contest the mass market will never even know about. If the choices publishers like Touchstone made these days actually sold books there wouldn’t be a need for a contest in the first place.
Lynne Simpson said…
“My main concern about the Gather.com contest is that they haven’t done enough to prevent cheating. People can easily sign up with a dozen fake accounts in order to vote their own entries higher and torpedo others. “
Not just a dozen but thousands. With the right autoposter it’s very easy to rig votes on a website. The US Big Brother had a great deal of trouble with this for it’s online polls.
Another problem with contests in general is the time it takes for a response. One can easily wait a year to find out who won a contest, while most agents will respond in less than a month, if that. So while one person is waiting to find out if they won, another has already landed an agent and possibly a contract.
American Idol doesn’t necessarily produce the best or most talented singer. This S&S contest on Gather is definitely not producing the best writing. Or maybe that just doesn’t matter anymore. People are so used to the story arcs of television that if you blow a few things up in the first chapter you’ve got a winner — and if you don’t, the comment fields are rife with cries of, “Nothing happens!” The whole thing is fairly depressing.
marsupialis said…
American Idol doesn’t necessarily produce the best or most talented singer.
One of the first-day entries was an experimental, stream-of-consciousness work called “Strangers Rest.” Some of the voters liked the writer’s use of language, but they raged at the non-conventional style of the story and gave it one of the lowest in the contest. In response, the writer said that if the contest really is an American Idol for writers, “then I am the William Hung of the contest. Perhaps it is my destiny to do for fiction what Mr. Hung did for the Ricky Martin song ‘She Bangs’.” Here’s a link http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976885949