Archive for September, 2009

Congrats to our winners!

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Thank you for voting and submitting your guides to the GuideGecko Writing Contest!

We are overwhelmed by the results: We have received over 65+ entries from all over the world, and your 1000+ votes have decided on the winner: Congrats to Karl, Oliver, Anisah, Naleeza and Lorraine!

The top three titles will be showcased on the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Karl wins the trip to Frankfurt to promote his title to the world.

For more details, please take a look at our detailed contest results page with all participating guides and the number of votes.

And, if you are going to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair: Come by our booth at B100 Hall 3.0 for a chat with Karl and us. We hope to see you there!

Press Release: GuideGecko Announces Winners of International Writing Contest

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Winning titles will be showcased at the world’s largest book fair in Frankfurt, Germany

Singapore, September 28, 2009 – GuideGecko.com, the innovative publishing platform and bookstore for travel, lifestyle and entertainment guides is pleased to announce the winners of the first GuideGecko International Writing Contest. Budding authors from all over the world have submitted 67 independent travel, lifestyle or entertainment guides within the 5 week contest.

The 1st Prize is awarded to Mr. Karl I. Muller of Rancho Palos Verdes near Los Angeles, California, for his guide titled “Budget Travel in Japan”, garnering a total of 295 votes. Mr. Muller, now living in Seoul, Korea, is awarded a personal trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2009 to promote his title.

The 2nd prize goes to Mr. Oliver Hickfang from Bochum, Germany for “PocketTravel Chengdu”, his personal contribution to promote Chengdu to travelers worldwide in an effort to help overcome the tragedies of the recent disastrous earthquake. “PocketTravel Chengdu” received 198 votes. Ms. Anisah Ahmad from Singapore wins 3rd prize for “Hong Kong: A Diamond in the Rough”, garnering 128 votes. GuideGecko will feature the top three titles at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The 4th and 5th prizes go to Naleeza for “Malta” and Ms. Lorraine Koh for “Stargazing in Seoul”, respectively, who win Lonely Planet travel guides of their choice. Winners have been selected by online voting on www.GuideGecko.com.

“I am extremely excited and happy to have won this contest, competing with entries from all over the world.  I look forward to attending the book fair, giving me international exposure in the process.  This is a wonderful opportunity to advance my writing career,” says Karl I. Muller, the 1st Prize winner and author of “Budget Travel in Japan”.

Mr. Muller will be promoting his winning title at the Frankfurt Book Fair from 14 to 18 October 2009. Frankfurt is the largest and most important book fair in the world, attracting over 10,000 journalists and 299,000 visitors. The winning guides will be showcased on GuideGecko’s booth B100 in Hall 3.0, starting point of the official book fair press tour. All winning and participating guides are available at www.guidegecko.com. Detailed contest results can be found at www.guidegecko.com/writing-contest-submissions.

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About GuideGecko

GuideGecko is an innovative publishing platform and travel bookstore for travel, lifestyle and entertainment guides. GuideGecko currently offers more than 2200 guides on 169 countries and 270 cities and regions around the world. All well-known series are available, including Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and Insight Guides, along with a large variety of less conventional titles such as Hedonist’s Guides and Trailblazer, amongst many others.

GuideGecko invites casual writers, bloggers and established authors to publish and sell their own guides on www.GuideGecko.com. GuideGecko makes such guides available as PDF downloads and as printed books/booklets. Publishing is free and authors earn 50-75% on every copy sold. Become a writer and get published on GuideGecko!

GuideGecko International Writing Contest on the finish line

Friday, September 18th, 2009

As you may have read in our press release, we organize a big international writing contest in conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair. Three travel guides will be selected and showcased on the fair, and the grand prize is a personal trip to the fair in Ocotber. That’s a tremendous opportunity for budding and established authors to meet up with publishers from all over the world, to pitch story ideas, and maybe even sign a contract on the fair. The contest is almost finished, but you still have a chance to submit your own works if you are quick.

The contest is open to all travel, food and entertainment guides. So go ahead, publish your own guides and register for the contest. We may see you in Frankfurt!

Frankfurt Book Fair? The one in Germany?

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Yes, the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany:

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest and most important book fair in the world. Held annually in October (14-18th of October this year), it attracts more than 299,000 visitors and 10,000 journalists. Over 7000 exhibitors from 100+ countries will present their titles, and GuideGecko is one of them! We will have our own booth at the fair at B100 Hall 3.0, and will also contribute two titles to the special Books On China exhibition: Two nice and comprehensive travel guides by our China expert Cheryl Probst, ‘Parents Guide to Beijing‘  and ‘DIY  Beijing: A guide for the independent traveler‘.

Please drop by our booth and say hello!

Busy preparing for the Frankfurt Book Fair

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

It’s been a while since the last post, and that’s because we have been very busy preparing for the Frankfurt Book Fair and our International Travel Writing Contest. We will have our own booth at the fair, and of course, we want it to look as nice as possible. We have lots of events going on during the fair, including presentations for publishers and bookstores (hint, hint… something new coming up!) as well as for authors, lucky draws, early bird specials, and a small get together. Yes… and now back to preparing all of these!

If you are planning to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair, please come by our booth at B100 in Hall3.0 and say hello!