Fast Track Fiction

INFORMATION FOR WRITING COMMUNITIES: E-publisher offers new writers a fast route to stardom

Fiction Fast-Track: first winner published, second round now open for entries     ApostropheBooks.com recently launched Fiction Fast-Track, a unique new talent competition with a twist: it's the readers who vote which e-books gets published.   The global e-publishing company, which was set up earlier this year and adds a new e-book to its list every ten days, is hungry to publish more outstanding fiction.   The winner of the first round has just been published: The King of Spain by first-time writerRobert Ford. Robert Ford, winner of the first round of Fiction Fast-Track Main backer and bestselling author Martyn Forrester said: "We know there is great new fiction out there, it's just that conventional publishers can no longer afford to shoulder the risk. For far too many years now, the unknown fiction writer has stood little chance of getting a look-in.   "That's why we're setting out to change the landscape. We're going to find and publish a new author every two months and sell their work through Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and more than 130 other digital retailers worldwide. All this - and we will split every penny from the title's sales 50/50.”   Communications manager Louise Downham added: “Because we like making things interesting at Apostrophe Books, we're not going to decide who we publish - our readers and website and Facebook visitors are.   "The leaderboard shows which books have been judged the best by our readers, who will have read the first chapter and given a star rating. It is updated in real time, so you could change its order just by reading and rating a book.”   To enter, would-be authors must submit a complete novel or collection of short stories,though only the first 2,500 words will be put to the vote. Readers can vote and comment on the Fiction Fast-Track website atwww.apostrophebooks.com/fictionfasttrack and every two months the winning entry will be published alongside Apostrophe's existing critically-acclaimed authors. Apostrophe is also happy to help get the books into print. “If a conventional publisher loves a winner's e-book and wants to award them a hardback contract, then we will be delighted,” explains Martyn. “In fact we'll be doing all we can to get our winners into print." Fiction Fast-Track e-books will join the 15 titles already published by Apostrophe Books (www.apostrophebooks.com/books), across a wide range of genres: Nick Cook’s breath-taking thrillers Aggressor and Angel, Archangel; Sue Margolis’s hilarious chick-lit novelsApocalipstick and Sisteria; Jonathan Margolis’s fascinating non-fiction A Brief History of Tomorrow and revealing biography Uri Geller: Magician or Mystic; Roger Mortimer’s dramatic children’s series The Mouse Kingdom Trilogy; Bob Maddams’s moving memoirLights, Camera, Jemuru: Adventures of a Film-maker in Ethiopia; Cris Freddi’s dark collection of animal short stories for adults Pork; Christopher Robbins’ astonishing account of America's secret war in Laos, The Ravens, and revealing biography of Nazi-hunter Michel Thomas The Test of Courage; and celebrity showbusiness agent Michael Whitehall’s quirky memoir Shark Infested Waters: Tales of an Actors’ Agent.   For more information, visit www.apostrophebooks.com or the ApostropheBooks.com Twitterwww.twitter.com/apostrophebooks and Facebookwww.facebook.com/apostrophebooksltd pages.