The Gather.com First Chapters Romance Writing Competition is a first time author’s gateway to publication. One novelist will win a guaranteed publishing contract with Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster! Enter from August 1-22, read and vote starting August 27.

Gather.com is very pleased to announce the next generation of our First Chapters Writing Competition. On August 1, 2007, Gather will launch the First Chapters Romance writing competition in conjunction with Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Books imprint and Borders enabling a talented Gather member to win a guaranteed publishing contract along with a $5000 cash advance!

Here’s How It Works: Starting August 1 through August 22, aspiring romance novelists will have the opportunity to submit a full-length romantic fiction manuscript for consideration. Over the course of the competition, authors will post their first two chapters in the First Chapters Romance Group. These chapters will be rated by the Gather community along with the Gather Editorial Team, and five finalists will be selected through two rounds of voting. One Grand Prize Winner will be chosen for publication by a panel of judges.

I’m not entering – I think I used up all my good contest ju-ju with FanLit – but I hope some of you will! Let me know, so I can come around and vote.