In May 2011, the publishers of many of the world's most famous authors - including Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling and Stephen King - join to support The Next Big Author.com: a new initiative which encourages budding authors to write the opening to a novel in May.

World-leading Publishers including The Random House Group, Orion, Bloomsbury, Little Brown and Hodder & Stoughton will read and provide critiques for the top-rated opening chapters written that month. The initiative aims to encourage and support new talent towards literary success.

The Next Big Author site includes writing tips from Elmore Leonard on the homepage, who is published by Orion, one of The Next Big Author’s participating publishers.

To participate, please visit TheNextBigAuthor.com