This just in: Announcing a brand new writing competition from the world’s best-selling romance series!
It’s an exciting time for Harlequin Presents: from January 2008, there will be 12 of our intensely passionate romances available every month. And with this increase of titles comes a great opportunity for aspiring authors – we will be looking to buy more books for publication!
The old saying goes that first impressions are lasting impressions – and when it comes to reading a Harlequin Presents, that certainly holds true. If the first chapter doesn’t immediately grip the reader with its pace, passion and intensity, then she won’t continue to turn the pages.
So Presents is inviting unpublished writers to show us how they can grab the attention of our readership with first chapters that really sizzle. The INSTANT SEDUCTION competition offers prizes that are chances of a lifetime for the lucky winner and runners-up:
First prize – win yourself an editor for a year!
Two runners-up will be given editorial critiques of their first chapter entries and also a personal telephone consultation about their writing!
Visit the Iheartpresents.com blogsite for full details of the competition – and the chance to prepare for publication with an exclusive series of writing tutorials prepared by the editorial team at Harlequin Presents, including advice on First Chapters, How to Write a Synopsis, Loving the Alpha Male and Generating Emotional Conflict.
These are quintessential stories that capture the pacing, power, passion--and satisfaction--of love. Just about every top selling romance author on the New York Times list started her career as a Harlequin Presents reader, so learn from the masters of conflict, seduction, drama and intensity.
Writers...start your computers!
3 comments:
Hi Isabel,
Will any of the manuscripts entered in the contest be published? Can they be submitted for publication in the regular fashion if they are not selected as a conference winner?
Thank you for the clarification.
Charlotte
Excuse me. I meant "contest", not "conference" winner.
(That's what I get for blogging at work!)
Charlotte
Charlotte: The best place for correct answers is to go to www.iheartpresents.com. I'm not privy to any of the internal workings of the contest.
But I can offer some general observations that may (or may not) hold true in this case:
Some publishers feel a strong commitment to their readers to maintain a certain level of quality. They don't have contests that "guarantee" publication, as the publisher has no "guarantee" that any of the submissions will meet their standards.
However those publishers are still VERY hopeful the contest will discover new talent and publishable material--that's why they are running the contest--ideally immediately or with further development.
I can add specifically that Harlequin has acquired a remarkable number of new authors through internal contests, Writing Round Robin, and judging external contests.
Harlequin Presents is very successful line & is expanding, so they are certainly looking for new writers. It's an opportunity, and the contest is just one way to encourage submissions and alert writers.
But its also a very special line, with its own tone and intensity, and that requires writers that get what Presents are about and deliver.
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