Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and FanLib, the online fan creativity hub, announced their Extras contest at ExtrasContest.FanLib.com. The contest celebrates Extras, the latest installment of New York Times best-selling novelist Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series. This event stands apart as the first fully-integrated print-to-web fan creativity event for a young adult fiction series.
“For my most passionate fans, reading isn’t enough – they want to extend the story, to put their favorite characters in new situations,” said Scott Westerfeld, New York Times best-selling author of the Uglies trilogy. “FanLib.com helps these readers find each other and gives them a space to share what they’ve created.”
“Today’s young-adult audience loves entertainment that mixes content, community and technology,” said Chris M. Williams, CEO of FanLib. “The FanLib Extras event lets our partners at Simon & Schuster tap into this phenomenon to give Scott Westerfeld’s millions of loyal young fans a deeply engaging interactive entertainment experience.”
Starting October 2nd, FanLib will share three possible story “missions” related to Extras, with fans voting for their favorite. Once the winning mission has been selected, the fans are invited to submit their own stories.
In early November, a panel of judges from Simon & Schuster and FanLib will select four finalists based on creativity, entertainment value, consistency with the Uglies universe, and voter comments and ratings. The entry with the most views will become the fifth finalist. The grand prize winner will be determined by the fans, who will vote for their favorite. Results will be announced on ExtrasContest.FanLib.com on November 13th. The grand prize winner will receive a one-of-a-kind Sony PlayStation 3 skinned with Uglies graphics and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Westerfeld.
In addition to extensive online promotion of the event, Simon & Schuster has created additional targeted awareness for the FanLib Extras promotion by including a full-page ad in the author’s bestselling “Specials,” the third installment of the series, encouraging teens to continue the story themselves at FanLib.com.
“Our young adult readers enjoy an unprecedented array of entertainment options spanning the Web, digital music, videogames and more,” said Rick Richter, President of the Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division. “By prominently promoting the URL of the Uglies fandom in the book itself, we’re encouraging teens to take the reading experience one step further and join the interactive experience online where they can actually create and control the further adventures of their favorite characters from the series.”
