Wisdom of the (bookish) crowds

Listening to NPR on the way home the other evening, I was intrigued by a story about a recent contest that allowed participants on a writer’s forum to serve as the screeners for novels.

As background, aspiring novelists used to send unsolicited manuscripts to publishing houses, where the novels would reside in the so-called “slush pile.” Every so often groups of editorial assistants would gather and read through them, hoping to find the next great undiscovered American novel.

The NPR piece gives several reasons for the demise of this practice, including the events of 9/11 and the apparent preference of editorial assistants to now consume salads at their desks instead of the traditional pizza in the conference room. Personally, I think it’s this, because if you don’t read, you can’t write well. But I digress.

The contest was developed by publishing house Touchstone Books and Gather.com, a social networking site. The founder/CEO of Gather.com, Tom Gerace, set up a writer’s forum when he noticed users posting short stories and poems on the site, asking others to critique their work. The First Chapters competition had 2,600 entries, and as one writer pointed out, competing in this way was a bit nerve-wracking. Participants submit their writing, and others vote on it. Winner Terry Shaw noted:

“Anyone can say anything they want,” Shaw points out. “And of course you’re following it closely, and watching the votes. That was a strain. If you send something off to an agent, thousands of people don’t get to look at it and praise you or mock you.”

Two writers were selected as winners; Terry Shaw won the grand prize for his novel The Way Life Should Be, and Geoffrey Edwards won runner up for Fire Bell In The Night. Borders, another partner in the competition, will carry both books in its stores when they are released on September 18. The competition was so successful First Chapters is now holding another contest for romance novelists.