There used to be a time when I attended a conference and left refreshed and energized. Ideas buzzed in my mind and I felt like I could tackle the world. I couldn’t get back home fast enough just so that I could dive into writing. Where have those days gone? Like Elvis, they appear to have left the building.
I enjoyed meeting everyone at this conference. I thought overall that this Nationals was far better than the previous two. Yet upon return to my home, I’ve been plagued with writing insecurities and mountains of self-doubt…that I CANNOT afford to have right now.
I’ve been thinking about where this doubt came from and realized it wasn’t just from a few random comments I overheard. It also trickled into my psyche through the publisher spotlights I attended. I went to Nationals firmly believing in what I’ve been writing and left with self-doubts on my ability to compete in the marketplace.
The conclusion I’ve come to is that I don’t think big conferences are good for me. I mean I loved meeting Kathryn Lye (bless her heart for being so understanding about my communicative skills or lack thereof) and all my blog buddies, but overall big conferences don’t seem to help my writing. If anything, they hurt it. I plan to think long and hard before I sign up for another.
Archive for August, 2006
I couldn’t wait. I was too excited about this cover and needed to share. Enjoy! 
I had dh draw ‘4′ names randomly. (I can never stick to the giveaway number. *g*) The winners are: Shannon, Somewhere in Time, Maureen, Exodus, Nicole, Exodus, and Cece, Somewhere in Time. I need you all to email me with your snail mail address so that I can get your books into the post. Congratulations!!! Thank you to everyone who entered. 
First, I’d like to wish my dad a very Happy Birthday! May you have many, many more.
The spotlight on Avon is courtesy of Cindi Myer’s Newsletter. Thank you, Cindi!
The Spotlight on Avon was a lively session with a lot of information. The spotlight was presented by Lucia Macro, Executive Editor for Morrow/Avon; Mai Chen, Editor, Tessa Woodward, Editorial Assistant, and another editorial assistant whose name I did not catch. Senior Editors Lyssa Keusch and Erika Tsang were not present, but they also acquire for Avons romance program. In the core romance program, Avon publishes four historical and one contemporary romance each month. They also publish various lead titles and trade paperback fiction monthly. Theyre looking for 90,000 to 100,000 word manuscripts historical, contemporary, paranormal, romantic suspense, chick lit and womens fiction, multi-cultural and erotica.
The spotlight on Avon is courtesy of Cindi Myers Newsletter.
Lucia Macro primarily focuses on Avons established, lead-level authors but she does acquire some books from new authors. The perfect book for her is a sexy, emotional story with great dialogue and an amazing author voice. She wants lively, interesting, vibrant characters who are pro-active no wimps allowed.
In historicals the editors are still primarily interested in 1800s English and Scottish settings and medievals, except for historical erotica, in which any setting goes. In romantic suspense they prefer dark, gritty stories. For contemporary romance, Avon is moving away from romantic comedy. The editors would like to see meaty stories that may have comic moments, but with depth. Erica Tsang has a special love for paranormal romance of all types. Avon is also very interested in African-American romance, either historical or contemporary.
Mai Chen spoke about the Avon Red program. Avon Red publishes one erotic romance each month in trade paper. Theyre looking for romance-driven erotica with a strong emotional under-current. Books may be historical in any time period, contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, urban fiction and either short stories or full-length novels. 25,000 - 40,000 words for short stories, 80,000-90,000 words for novels.
Avon does accept unagented material. Authors must query via email first to avonromance@harpercollins.com. Put Query in your subject line and in the body of the email indicate any particular editor youre interested in submitted to. The two editorial assistants review all the email and they offered a list of Dos and Donts for authors:
Do proofread very carefully.
Dont send the same query over and over send it once. You will get an answer.
Do research. Make sure the person youre querying and the imprint youre interested in actually exist.
Dont query for poetry or YA. Avon romance does not publish these.
Do query in your query explain what your story is about.
Dont argue with the editors if youre rejected.
Do follow up if you havent heard anything in four weeks.
Dont follow up the next day.
Do be original.
Dont have a plot twist solely for the sake of a plot twist.
Dont get discouraged.
In May 2007 Avon will launch Avon Inspirational, publishing Christian inspirational romance. The line will be handled out of Avons San Francisco office but interested authors may query to avonromance@harpercollins.com and the query will be directed to the appropriate editor.
Avon Fan Lit is a new online venture in which authors compete to write a collaborative e-books. Avon editors will create six story lines and participants will vote for their favorite. Once the story line is selected, participants submit a chapter each week and everyone votes on the best chapter. The top ten vote-getters go to a final vote. Each week starts a new chapter. Winning authors are profiled on the site and will win prizes. The final product will be published as an e-book. The project launches August 23rd. You can sign up now at Harpercollins Avon Fan Lit
St. Martin’s spotlight was interesting. They broke down the levels of promotion that they put into new and established authors. What I found interesting was the fact that they seem to be the only publishing house that puts a lot of emphasis on promotion. They have one person who deals strictly with Wal-mart, another for Amazon, and even another for independent sellers. They have programs in place to reward retailers for supporting new authors. It’s truly impressive.
Now to what they’re looking for…Monique Patterson wants stories that have lively worlds. She’s not the only editor stressing world-building. Many publishing houses mentioned the lack of world-building in the submissions they’re receiving lately. She’s looking for books that are funny, sexy, or scary. She’s particularly interested in paranormal, women’s fiction, and erotic romance. She said she loves fairytales and classic stories. Jennifer Enderlin is on the hunt for a super sexy western romance. The language in the above books can be extreme as long as it fits the story. (Again, something I heard from a lot of publishers.) Jennifer, Monique, and Rose are all looking for historicals and literary fiction. They prefer settings before 1900. They said everything after that date is hard to market and would probably be placed under historical fiction, not romance. They love recurring characters (ie Stephanie Plum series) They’re interested in Romantic Suspense, Action/adventure, Multi-cultural, and even YA. They said if you’re writing YA that it should be aimed at ages 15+. They said you can submit anthologies, but mainly they come from in house. If you do choose to submit an anthology, please make sure the book stays in the same category (ie paranormal, romantic suspense, contemp, historical, etc.). Don’t jump around. The editors are also interested in literary fiction, but NOT sweet romance. They said right now there isn’t a market for sweet romance, but they expect that to change.
A few things to know about St. Martin’s before submitting, they buy in multiple books because they believe in building a writer’s career. They prefer book-length to be between 90-125,000 words. Erotica and erotic romances can be shorter than 90K, but they wouldn’t like to see the books fall below 80K because then you’re getting into category-length territory. They do NOT buy first time authors on proposal. You need to have a finished manuscript first. All editors except Monique Patterson prefer a query letter first. Monique said she can’t tell anything from a query alone, so she wants people to send her a query, synopsis, and the first three chapters of the book. She said it takes around 2 months to hear back on a partial and 4 to 6 months to hear back on a full.
Luna, Nocturne, and other paranormal lines spotlight. Apparently, Harlequin has several lines in what they call their paranormal stream. These lines include Nocturne, HQN, LUNA, MIRA, and BLAZE. Nocturne launches this coming Oct. with two titles per month. The books should be between 70-75,000 words and lean toward fantasy in the world-building. (They want the rich worlds that come from fantasy.) They’re looking for shape-shifters, vampires, and hot alpha males with a twist. The books CAN be graphic. In fact they mentioned Angela Knight, Christine Feehan, and Laurell K. Hamilton as the types of books they’d like to see for the new line. They currently aren’t interested in historicals, unless the historical part is used to tell a vampires’ history. You can make up your own myths about the creatures in your world. They prefer darker books over comedy. The turnaround time is currently 3 months. Luna and Mira publish urban fantasy. Luna’s emphasis is on the fantasy part of the equation. They don’t care whether there’s sex in the books. They are willing to look at sexier books as long as the plot is strong and incorporates the sex.
That should keep everyone busy for a while. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my new PHANTOM WARRIOR cover. I must say that I think this is by far the best EC cover I’ve ever received.
CONTEST WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED LATER TODAY.
I attended the Pocket and NAL talks. They were both fabulous, so without further ado I’m going to get started because this is going to be a LONG entry. Please forgive any and all typos.
NAL handed out a lovely acquisitions guide and spent most of the session asking the audience what they wanted to see. I thought this was nice because they were genuinely looking for feedback. This was my favorite session out of the whole conference.
NAL publishes books under seven different lines. The lines are as follows: Eclipse (which puts out three mass markets per month and six to twelve trade paperbacks per year), Signet and Onyx (which publishes lead mass market romances, but does not have a set number of releases), NAL Trade (which publishes Eclipse trade and women’s fiction without a set number of releases per month), Accent (which publishes trade originals and there are no set numbers), Heat (the imprint for erotic novels that both NAL and Berkley contribute to, but have no set number of releases per month…there appears to be a difference between a Heat and a Eclipse erotic novel), and Signet Mystery (a mass market line that publishes two books per month, but also releases books in hardback and trade)
Submission requirements are as follows: They prefer agented submissions, but will consider unsolicited materials. They do not accept unsolicited materials via email. Unsolicited materials should be mailed to: Editorial/Romance, New American Library, 375 Hudson, NY, NY 10014. For the initial unsolicited submission, they’d like to see: A cover letter that summarizes the subgenre of the work and a list of your credentials, the first three chapters of the work, a synopsis between 5 to 10 pages long, and a self-addressed stamped envelope. They say their response time various from three to four months, but I got the impression it might be a tad longer than that. *g*
Historical romance is acquired by Anne Bohner, Laura Cifelli, Ellen Edwards, and Claire Zion. They publish them with the Eclipse, Signet, and Onyx lines in mass market. Contemporary romance is acquired by Anne Bohner, Laura Cifelli, and Claire Zion. It’s published under the Eclipse, Signet, and Onyx lines in mass market. Romantic suspense is acquired by Kara Cesare, Laura Cifelli, Ellen Edwards, and Claire Zion. Again, it’s published under the Eclipse, Signet, and Onyx lines in mass market. Paranormal Romance is acquired by Anne Bohner, Kara Cesare, Laura Cifelli, Ellen Edwards, and Claire Zion. They publish romances with strong paranormal elements such as vampires, werewolves, shape-shifters, ghosts, witches, genies, aliens, etc. Otherworldly creatures are welcome. These books are published under the Eclipse, Signet, and Onyx lines in mass market. They said they are looking for authors who’ve created a unique world. (Think J.R. Ward, Lynn Viehl, Savannah Russe, Colleen Gleason, etc.) Erotic romances are acquired by Anne Bohner, Tina Brown, Kara Cesare, Laura Cifelli, and Ellen Edwards. They publish traditional contemporary or historical romances in the sense that they are a story between two people who meet and fall in love, but the books are more sexually explicit and adventurous. They still want the books to have a happy ending and developed characters…so a book full of nothing but shagging need not apply. (wg) They do publish both stand-alone novels and anthologies by one or more authors. They are looking for books with strong, fun hooks. These books are published under Eclipse trade paperback. Heat line is a new line of erotica that both Berkley and NAL contribute to. The focus is not necessarily on romance, but rather on sex. These books can be anthologies or novel length. They should have a intriguing premise. Anne Bohner, Molly Boyle, Tina Brown, and Kerry Donovan acquire for the Heat line. Contemporary women’s fiction is acquired by Anne Bohner, Kara Cesare, Laura Cifelli, Ellen Edwards, and Claire Zion. Think mature chick-lit that’s fun and accessible, but with subject matters that appeal to older readers. They’re looking for strongly plotted novels. These books are published by NAL trade paperback. Historical women’s fiction is acquired by Anne Bohner, Kara Cesare, Laura Cifelli, Ellen Edwards, and Claire Zion. These books are based on real women or fictional characters close to a real personage in history. They are looking for ‘people’ who’ve lived a fascinating and dramatic life, even if she’s not well known. The time period should be pre-19th century. The books are published in NAL trade. Accent is acquired by Tracy Bernstein, Kara Cesare, Ellen Edwards, and Claire Zion. They consider these books to be novels by women, for women. They want them to be thoughtful, entertaining, and uplifting. The books are contemporary or near contemporary in setting and tend to involve turning points in women’s lives. (ie family, marriage, divorce, children, parents, etc.) They should engage the readers emotions, while offering insights and hope. The books are published in Accent trade paperbacks. Mysteries are acquired by Ellen Edwards, Kristen Weber, and Molly Boyle. They want books that range from cozies to chick-lit. The novels should be warm and funny, but not too gruesome. They are published under the Signet mass market line at two per month.
I asked about urban fantasy, but as of yet they don’t publish it under the above lines. Anne Bohner suggested that if you write that kind of book to submit it to their fantasy department.
Now to Pocket books. Contrary to what all the industry rags have been saying the publishing houses are actively buying historicals. Historicals are NOT dead. In fact, it sounds like they’re about to make a comeback. That said, most houses are NOT looking for sweet historicals. The books do not have to be erotic, but they definitely want sensual historicals (ie old Susan Johnson, Virginia Henley, etc.). Maggie (I apologize for not catching her last name.) is buying historicals at Pocket. The publisher is also actively looking for time-travels. They want to know if the book you submit is part of a series. Pocket does not accept unsolicited submissions, so you have to query them first.
Editor Selena James is looking for romance, african american romances, erotic romances, and paranormal historicals. Editor Lauren McKenna is looking for women’s fiction, paranormal romances, historicals, chick-lit, and romantic suspense. Some of her authors include Gena Showalter and Kresley Cole. Editor Micki Nuding loves sexy stories. She is looking for suspense, family stories, historicals, western romances, dark (but not too dark) paranormals, chick-lit, erotic romances, and regencies (not sweet). She doesn’t like books that are angsty. She loves humor, alpha males, and sexy anything. *g*
Pocket is actively looking for erotic romances and YA adult books. They’ve developed a deal with MTV books to publish their YA work and would like to see manuscripts between 60 to 70,000 words. They are also launching a new urban street line called G-unit Fiction. It launches in Jan. 2007 thanks to a book by the rapper 50-cent. (At least I think it was 50-cent…says the person who doesn’t know jack about rap.)
I guess that about covers everything. PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK ALL THE SPELLINGS ON THE EDITOR’S NAMES BEFORE SUBMITTING TO THEM. If you have any questions about what I’ve written here, drop me a note in the comments. I’d like to add that the material I posted about NAL came directly from their acquisitions guide. Good luck submitting.
