This spotlight was another one that held MANY surprises. I’ve read a few Warner books and thought they were good, but a little on the safe side. I think after hearing their talk, they’re looking to change that opinion. Not that they knew what my opinion was…but you get the picture.
Like Harlequin, Warner is looking for a Desperate Housewives kind of book. (Suburban housewives acting out of character, etc.) They welcome submissions from 85K-100K.
Currently, they have a lot of vampire submissions, but are still open to good stories. In other words, if you have a good vamp story, send it. They also want light paranormals and dark paranormals. And, like all the other publishers, but Dorchester, they are looking for really SEXY reads. They said they want them in regular contemporary romance, historical, and paranormal. They emphasized this several times.
Also, Warner is on the lookout for kick-butt heroines like Laurell K. Hamilton’s books. They specifically mentioned her by name as a comparison for what they want. They said they’d love to see a combo of romance, erotica, horror, and fantasy. Pretty interesting, eh? I certainly thought so.
They’d like to see more narrative non-fiction. They gave an example of a non-fiction book they have coming out called 50 First Dates, which chronicles a woman’s dating habits. Their 5 Spot line is searching for chick-lit and matron-lit. Again, the type in the latter books will be bigger for ‘older’ eyes. Like Harlequin, they’re looking to put extras at the ends of books just like DVD’s have. These will range from alternative scenes to things found on the author’s website.
I guess I was shocked because I really didn’t expect Warner to actively pursue such a wide range of genres. It’s not often a publisher mentions being on the lookout for the next Laurell K. Hamilton type book and also Desperate Housewives type novels. They did say that if you query and you haven’t heard from them after 6 weeks to please send another letter.
This pretty much wraps up the sessions. Sorry I couldn’t make it to the Dorchester talk. I’ve yet to figure out how to be at two places at one time…but I’m working on it. 
If you have any questions, fire away. I’ll try to answer them.
May 5th, 2005
Thanks Jordan! You rock!
by Trace May 5th, 2005 at 12:04 pmThanks Trace!
by Jordan May 5th, 2005 at 12:46 pmThanks for passing on all this great information, Jordan!
by Amy K. May 5th, 2005 at 1:49 pmNo problem, Amy. Hope you can use it.
by Jordan May 5th, 2005 at 2:55 pmooo, this gets better and better. Looks like I got a lot more options than I thought with the current wip… whenever I finish it.
Thanks, Jordan. 
by Jaq May 5th, 2005 at 3:05 pmJaq, I thought the same thing after hearing this talk.
by Jordan May 5th, 2005 at 3:28 pmJordan, thank you so much for posting all this info! Lots and lots of good news out there.
by Charlene May 5th, 2005 at 6:59 pmThank you tons for the fabulous information!!
by Sylvia Day May 5th, 2005 at 8:35 pmYou’re welcome, Charlene and Sylvia. Hopefully we’ll all be able to take advantage of this news. Jordan, who once again must look at her goals and rearrange her writing schedule in accordingly…
by Jordan May 5th, 2005 at 8:39 pmGREAT info, Jordan! Thank you SO much for taking the time to share with all of us.
by Patrice Michelle May 5th, 2005 at 8:39 pmAnytime, Patrice.
by Jordan May 5th, 2005 at 8:40 pmAdding my thanks too, Jordan. Good stuff!
~Dreamweaver
by Dreamweaver May 5th, 2005 at 10:31 pmI’m hearing nonstop everywhere that publishers are asking for Desperate Housewives type novels. Which means that it is the last thing I’ll write because they are about to be inundated with them! LOL.
by Suzanne May 6th, 2005 at 4:44 amSuzanne, I’ve never seen the show (ducking from the rotten tomatoes), so I KNOW I couldn’t write anything like that. I’m sure you’re absolutely right about the influx of ‘Desperate Housewives’ manuscripts hitting the editors’ desks. They’ll be buried in them. LOL!
by Jordan May 6th, 2005 at 9:57 amI haven’t seen the show either, Jordan. I feel like *such* a square.
by Tracy May 6th, 2005 at 11:21 amTracy, We can be uncool together.
by Jordan May 6th, 2005 at 12:30 pmCount me in…we can be a trio of uncoolness *g*
by Cece May 6th, 2005 at 1:06 pmConsider yourself counted!
by Jordan May 15th, 2005 at 9:38 pm