Kevin Ahearn and Ian Arbuckle discuss...

The First Chapters Contest

There is a battle raging online which may decide the fate of published science fiction for years to come. In a tournament of genres, SF fans have the opportunity to tell the publishing world that people want to read science fiction.

Earlier this month, financed by Simon & Schuster, gather.com began a First Chapters Writing Competition. The first prize is a $5,000 book contract. Dozens of entries have hit the net. The total may be in the hundreds. Readers are encouraged to read a first chapter, then give it a rating, plus a comment. The best comments will also win prizes.

May the best novel entry win, but there’s more afoot than a writing competition. Every publisher in the country will be monitoring the contest, not to judge what aspiring authors are writing, but what voters are reading. The number of votes a work gets, positive or negative, will indicate reader interest. Should “chick lit” and murder mysteries and spy thrillers dominate the voting, so will they soon dominate the bookstore shelves.

Let the First Chapters Writing Competition serve as a “call to eyes” for all science fiction fans. Visit the site, scan the titles and zero in on the SF chapters and vote, rate and comment. Let the publishing world know that science fiction readers support their beloved genre.

But don’t be scammed by inferior work. While it may be unfair to judge a novel solely on its first chapter, poor writing full of cliches should not be unfairly rewarded. What’s vital is the number of the readers the work attracts.

With First Chapters, the future of published science fiction may be at hand. Without your support, SF could be headed for the last chapter.

The New York Times likened the contest to the “American Idol” for first-time novelists.

Kevin Ahearn

So... [The] idea is to perform a bit of the ol’ ballot stuffing? In politics, I think it’s reprehensible for a vocal minority to exert their will over an amiable majority. In the publishing world, it’s less important, but my distaste for the idea carries down in some form.

There is no danger of science fiction being marginalized by this and this alone. The market forces at work in publishing sway in different directions, and none of them are liable to be compromised by this project, which is essentially Marketing 101 writ large. Maybe for a year, there will be fewer SF books published, because readers that year demand more romance. It’s not a big deal.

It’s also a bit alarmist (and a minor conspiracy theory) to assume that every publishing house in the nation will be taking such strong interest in this competition. Those businesses tend to operate with extraordinary care, and would take any data gathered as only a small contribution to a large decision.

This is too small a single event to be important. And I think I’ll submit the romance novel I’ve been working on.

Ian Arbuckle