Keywords: Harlequin Presents Writing Competition 2009,romance writing contest, Harlequin Mills & Boon editor
by editor Joanne Grant
As Harlequin Presents approaches its spotlight month in July, we have a lot to look forward to! In honor of Harlequin’s 60th anniversary, we are launching the start of a dramatic eight-book continuity, The Royal House of Karedes, we have our first two Modern Heat sheikhs, a wealth of delicious unexpected babies and love-child stories, and four marriage of convenience themed books Forced to Marry in Presents Extra.
What more could you want…well, how about a new writing competition?
Yes, you heard me right – we will be launching a new writing competition in July!
The competition will be aimed at Harlequin Presents and Modern Heat editorial, and we will be asking for first chapters and synopses again.
Some of you may be already lost in daydreams of delicious alpha males who are just demanding that you write their story, others may be already limbering up those fingers to start typing, whilst some of you may be thinking ‘I’ll never win, so why bother?‘
So here is a little incentive: the winner will receive an editor for a year and you only need to ask our last two winners, Lynne Raye Harris and Lucy King, how that worked out for them. In fact, you will be able to do just that when they pop in to share their experiences in July. But until then, here is a little reminder:
Lynne won the Instant Seduction competition and her winning entry, and debut novel, Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge is published in Harlequin Presents, August 2009.
Lucy King won our second competition Feel the Heat, aimed at Modern Heat and her winning entry and debut novel Bought: Damsel in Distress will be available from Harlequin Presents in January 2010.
But it is not just the winners who have and success. A number of the runners-up from both competitions are still working closely with editors, and you needn’t even place in the competition to have success. Earlier this year, we were thrilled to buy another new author, Tina Duncan, who first caught our eye when she entered the Instant Seduction competition in 2008. Editorial saw her potential and kept working with her until we finally bought her book, Da Silva’s Mistress, which will be available in 2010.
So the successes speak for themselves! The Harlequin Presents editors are actively looking for and seeking talented new voices for the series, so if you think you have what it takes, watch this space!
The HARLEQUIN PRESENTS WRITING COMPETITION 2009
COMING SOON!
Wohoo – what wonderful news!! Good luck everyone… now… let’s get those creative thinking caps on!
Aha, finally! I’ve felt like a balloon about to burst since I was told this news. Get ready to write, everyone! I never expected to win, etc, but more about that in a proper blog post! Stay tuned.
Whoops, sorry about that errant coding cutting off half the post in some browsers. And that the blog went down yesterday because of server issues. Bad week for IHP when we had the big news to announce!
~Amy
Having problems logging on, so I’m “Anonymous” for now! Wooohooo, can’t wait for this competition! Off to polish my ms and looking forward to more big news.
Maya
Yay! Fab news!
Yay!!!! What fantastic news. Now…what to write. Good luck to all.
Sounds fun!
I’m looking forward to it. Began a new story a couple of weeks ago, which is now 11,000 words of text. Hopefully this will be suitable. Good luck to everyone who enters, and thanks to the editors for setting up the competition.
Good luck everyone! Can’t wait to see who wins!
Jennie
Woo hoo – such exciting news
Good luck to everyone who enters – this is a real chance to get your writing noticed. It certainly worked for Lynn, Lucy and Tina.
Kate
Are the requirements and dates posted for this yet? Does the entire ms have to be complete and polished? When are first chapters due? Thanks!
Ohh, how exciting! Am such a huge fan of these competitions
@teachtoreach and all,
The official announcement about the contest will be posted Monday, July 6, with official rules to follow soon after (if they’re not up that day, too). More details will be available then and there will be plenty of time before the deadline in case anything else crops up
~Amy
Oh, thanks for that Amy! That’s the exact info I was looking for!
Such exciting news!
This is really exciting. I have to look through all the ideas I have and see which one can be developed into a Presents novel