Avon Books and FanLib(R) Announce Grand Prize Winners of Groundbreaking Online Writing and Voting Contest

NEW YORK, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avon Books, in conjunction with FanLib(R) Inc., a social media company, announces the grand prize winners of the AvonFanLit.com online writing and voting contest. One of these talented emerging romance writers will be published as part of an original e-book and get a "crash course" in publishing from the Avon team; the other will receive a Fox Television Studios development deal.

* Eve Ortega from Fullerton, CA ("Tessa D") will be flown to New York City to spend a day with Avon, including a meeting with an editor, a visit with the Avon art department, and will learn how books are promoted. * Sara Dennis from Rancho Cordova, CA ("Sienna") will be awarded $5000 and a 12-month development deal with Los Angeles-based Fox Television Studios.

This collaborative writing forum, which launched on August 24, mobilized the romance community in a completely groundbreaking manner. "The AvonFanLit event truly broke the boundaries of fan-author interaction," notes Avon publisher Liate Stehlik. "The participants were able to hone their writing skills through a wide array of mentoring tips from top authors and benefit from group workshopping and text polishing. The message boards were absolutely alive: participants truly evolved their writing abilities from this interactive experience. We've created the ultimate online neighborhood for romance fans."

The response to the AvonFanLit event has been "truly overwhelming," as per Jane Friedman, president and CEO of HarperCollins Worldwide. She continues, "With more than 20,000 posts to the forums and four million pages viewed, we feel that we've fostered an incredible community with which we can share new initiatives, receive feedback from, and look to for new direction in the wonderful world of romance."

FanLib(R) CEO Chris Williams says, "AvonFanLit allowed HarperCollins to tap the power of consumer-generated media in a way that thrilled fans and authors alike. This quickly became a thriving community of fiction writing that paved a powerful three-way relation between a major publisher, bestselling romance authors and an exuberant fan base."

All participants, including those who voted and those who submitted chapters, had the opportunity to win prizes donated by Avon Books and other event sponsors, including Fox Television Studios; saks.com, the online retail destination for Saks Fifth Avenue; Borders Books and Music; and Romantic Times magazine.

Eve Ortega was selected in a random drawing from the six weekly chapter winners. Sara Dennis was an editorial choice winner, selected by Fox Television Studios and Avon Books, based upon her submissions from the event. Eve Ortega will be rewarded with a trip to New York City to spend a day with Avon, including a meeting with an editor, a visit with the Avon art department, and will learn how books are promoted. Sara Dennis will receive $5000 and a 12-month development deal with Fox Television Studios.

The complete AvonFanLit novella, entitled "THESE WICKED GAMES," which includes the six winning chapters, profiles of the winners and a host of writing tips from Avon authors, editors and publishers, will be published as a HarperCollins e-book, and will be offered free to participants as a pass-along memento of the event. It will be available for sale to the general public via major e-book retailers at a price of $2.99.

About HarperCollins Publishers

HarperCollins, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world, is a subsidiary of News Corporation ; . Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing groups around the world including the HarperCollins General Books Group, HarperCollins Children's Books Group, Zondervan, HarperCollins UK, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins Australia/New Zealand and HarperCollins India. HarperCollins is a broad-based publisher with strengths in literary and commercial fiction, business books, children's books, cookbooks, mystery, romance, reference, religious and spiritual books. With nearly 200 years of history HarperCollins has published some of the world's foremost authors and has won numerous awards including the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, the Newbery Medal and the Caldecott. Consistently at the forefront of innovation and technological advancement HarperCollins is the first publisher to digitize its content and create a global digital warehouse to protect the rights of its authors, meet consumer demand and generate additional business opportunities. You can visit HarperCollins Publishers on the Internet at http://www.harpercollins.com/.

About FanLib(R)

FanLib(R) is driven by a simple idea -- "People Powered Entertainment(TM)". Partnering with major media companies, FanLib utilizes its proprietary "Massively Social Storytelling(TM)" technology to unleash the creative power of entertainment fans online. In synch with the Participation Age, FanLib's community-driven online experiences produce consumer-generated media that is ready for the marketplace. The result: More value for marketers, more manageability for producers and, most importantly, more fun for fans. Conceived by veteran film writer/director Craig Singer and developed by online entertainment pioneer David B. Williams, the patent- pending "Massively Social Storytelling(TM)" platform empowers mass audiences to create quality stories and scripts collectively and democratically. FanLib is led by CEO, Chris M. Williams, a former Yahoo! executive and film and television producer. On the Web: http://www.fanlib.com/.

In October 2006 HarperCollins and FanLib will once again join forces on an online teen contest, HarperTeen FanLit "Your Words. Everybody's Story." The event will initiate the upcoming launch, in January 2007, of the HarperTeen imprint, home of the most exciting teen publishing happening anywhere. HarperTeen FanLit will invite young adult fans to collaborate on the creation of an original story, and is designed to speak to girls ages 13 to 17 years. The author panel will consist of three bestselling author judges from the HarperTeen imprint. Authors will review submissions and provide writing tips and comments, in addition to rating entries.

Media Contacts: Publicity Contacts: Pamela Spengler-Jaffee, 212.207.7495, pam.jaffee@harpercollins.com; Buzzy Porter, 212.207.7509, buzzy.porter@harpercollins.com; Todd Beck, 310.689.7363, todd@beckmedia.com (for FanLib)