BookOpinion

Pocket Books and Gather.com have announced their top 25 semi-finalists in their romance novel writing contest. First chapters were submitted in August, and second chapters are now up. Five finalists will be chosen and a grand prize winner will receive a contract with the Pocket Books imprint of Simon & Schuster.

“Excitement around the First Chapters competition continues to build as people increasingly realize the power that their participation has in selecting the world’s next great literary talents,” says Tom Gerace, Gather.com founder and Chief Executive Officer. “The high quality of the romance submissions has ignited a feverous flow of activity and engagement amongst our members, who have always been captivated by good writing.”

The contest gives first-time novelists a chance to get their work noticed and printed.

“Romance writers are one of the world’s most passionate groups of people,” noted Louise Burke, Executive Vice President and Publisher, Pocket Books. “The First Chapters Romance competition has allowed Pocket Books to leverage the power of social media to identify undiscovered talent and provide our customers with fresh, carefully plotted, and well-crafted romance writing.”

From now through Oct. 8, 2007, readers may check out the first two chapters for each writer and vote for the finalists. The three chapters with the most “10” votes will proceed to Round 3, along with two chapters selected by the Gather Editorial Team.

Interested in checking them out? Click here to Read the First Chapters.

Last year’s First Chapter winner was recently published along with another finalist. USA Today reviewed the books here.