Cindi Myers Market News's Blog

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.”  ~E.L. Doctorow

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The editors at Carina Press recently shared their preferences, and the types of manuscripts they’d like to see on their desks, through their blog. Some highlights:

Rhonda Helms is really interested in stories with strong multi-cultural elements, really funny romance, steampunk, westerns, historical novels featuring real historical figures, stories with mythological elements and futuristic stories, to name a few of the many subjects she’d like to see.

Melissa Johnson would love to see romances that cross class or cultural lines.

Alissa Davis likes geeky beta heroes, runaway brides, m/m fantasy romance, erotic historical romance and medical romance, to name a few of the subjects that capture her attention.

Mallory Braus would love to see your zombie hunter romance, your 19th or 20th century historical mystery, a story with a psychic FBI agent, and stories with quirky characters.

Alison Dasho would love a funny fantasy adventure, dark  mystery and crime (maybe the aftermath of a kidnapping) and “complicated” contemporary romance.

Denise Nielsen would love a dark, edgy Edwardian or Victorian novel or a jazz age historical. On the contemporary side, she likes unlikely heros and heroines, and modern reinterpretations of myths and legends.

Jeff Seymour likes stories that don’t fit neatly into a genre, as well as short, fast-paced adventures with series potential.

Deborah Nemeth looks for interesting sleuths around which to build a mystery series, m/m romance, epic fantasy, strong contemporary romance, unusual historicals and steampunk.

Angela James is taking on very few new clients, but she would love to find a 70,000 word erotic contemporary, a space opera, sports-themed contemporary romances and contemporary romance trilogies.

For more details, read the complete blog post here.  And you’ll find Carina Press’s writers’ guidelines here.

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Do you know an aspiring young writer (ages 14-19)? One Teen Story is a new digital magazine aimed at this age group. They’re sponsoring a contest for young writers but the deadline is May 31, 2012 — tomorrow. (Sorry, I just found out about this. ) There’s no fee to enter. Stories may be any genre and can be between 1,500 and 4,000 words. Find all the details here.

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Ellora’s Cave is searching for sweet Regency romances, 12,000 to 25,000 words for a Cotillion Christmas Surprise collection. Stories must be set at Christmas and center around a surprise. The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2012. Find more details here.

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Today I’m the guest over at The Readiacs. Stop in and say hello and you could win a copy of Always a Bridesmaid.

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As always, feel free to share the information in this blog with others. All I ask is that you give me credit as the source and include a link to the blog. Thank you.

“What a writer brings to any story is an attitude…” John Gregory Dunne

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The Historical Novel Society is sponsoring its 2012/13 International Award for an unpublished historical novel. First prize is $8,000 and e-publication, with professional copy-editing and cover design). Both previously published and unpublished authors are eligible to enter. Any type of historical fiction is eligible for this contest. The entry fee is $15 for Historical Novel Society members and $25 for non-members. Send your first chapter of up to 5,000 words and a synopsis by September 30, 2012. The judges will announce the 30 semi-finalists by November 30. The semi-finalists will be asked to submit their complete manuscript. Judges will announce the three finalists by January 31, 2012 and the winner will be announced by March 30, 2013. Find more details here.

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Entangled Publishing continues to expand its offerings. In addition to single title romance and their Indulgence line of contemporary category romance, their romantic suspense line, Dead Sexy, debuts next month. And editors are seeking submissions for three new category lines. Bliss, edited by Stacy Abrams, features slightly sweeter (though still sexy) romances set in small towns and featuring family. Covet, edited by Liz Pelletier, features category-length paranormal romance while Brazen, edited by Heather Howland, is Entangled’s hot, sexy line of romance. Get details on all these new lines and what the editors are looking for here.

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Entangled is also looking for themed stories for some upcoming anthologies. For their Rockin’ Round the Christmas Tree collection, they’re seeking 20,000 to 40,000 word novellas with themes related to either “Ring My Bell”  for their Ever After line. The stories should quote from the song and words from the song should be part of the title of the story.

For the Flirts collection, your story should revolve around lyrics to “Santa Baby” and be 10,000 to 15,000 words.

Get all the details on the Rockin’ Round the Christmas Tree collections here.

Entangled editors are also on the lookout for stories for another, Christmas and winter holiday themed collection of Flirts — 10,000 to 15, 000 word stories to Christmas, Hannukah, or Kwanzaa.

If you have a story that centers around New Years, consider submitting it for the Ever After New Years collection. Your story should be 20,000 to 40,000 words and, as with all Entangled stories, contain strong romantic elements.  Find the details for the Flirts Christmas and New Year’s Ever After collections here.

The deadline for all of these holiday themed collections is June 10, 2012.

Entangled editors are also interested in stories about Ancient Greece and Rome (whether historical, mythical or fantasy or some other take on ancient Greek and Roman traditions and legends) for the Ever After Line. Stories should be 20,000 to 40,000 words, contain a strong romance, and contain strong elements of Greek or Roman myth and culture. The deadline for this collection is July 31, 2012 and the books will be published in late 2012. Find all the details here.

Finally, Entangled will be published a collection of Flirts centered around the theme of Guilty Pleasures. Send your 10,000 to 15,000 words that focuses on the hero or heroine’s guilty pleasure or sinful indulgence that plays a key role in their romance. Deadline is June 30, 2012 for books to be released late 2012. Find the details here.

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Inspired Romance, an e-publisher of sweet and inspirational romance fiction,  has added a new acquiring editor. Editor Delia Latham is interested in inspirational romance, both historical (think frontier romance) and contemporary, but also enjoys sweet secular romance, strange tales of the supernatural (Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight series), and epic accounts of good vs. evil (The Stand). She has too many “favorite” authors to mention, ranging from Stephen King and Dean Koontz to Janette Oke, Cathy Marie Hake and Frank Peretti. She’s convinced that a healthy hunk of humor makes any book better, but says that’s true of any kind of emotion. “Make me laugh, make me cry—make me feel something—and I’ll read on to the next page.” To submit your manuscript to Delia, email dlatham@inspiredromancenovels.com.

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My blog tour for Always a Bridesmaid continues. Today, I’m the guest at Cocktails and Books and tomorrow I’m featured on the Entangled in Romance blog. Stop by and comment and you could win a free copy of the book. Or grab your copy now at your favorite ebook dealer. You can read a free sample here.

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As always, feel free to share the information from this blog — reprint it, forward it and pass it on. All I aks is that you give me credit as the source and include a link to the blog. Thank you!

“Read a lot, finding out what kind of writing turns you on, in order to develop a criterion for your own writing. And then trust it—and yourself.”
Rosemary Daniell

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Santa Fe’s Wordharvest and St. Martin’s Press are co-sponsoring the Tony Hillerman prize for the best first mystery set in the Southwest. The contest is open to both published and unpublished writers who have never had a mystery novel published. First prize is a $10,000 advance and a publishing contract with St. Martin’s Press. Submit your book-length manuscript of at least 60,000 words, set in the Southwest and centered around a murder or other serious crime, by the deadline of June 1, 2012. The winner will be announced by October 1. Find out all the submission details here.

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Editor Jeanne DeVita at Musa Publishing’s Calliope romance line has put out a plea for GLTG (gay, lesbeian, transgender) manuscripts. While she’s interested in any romances with GLTG characters, she’d especially like to see some YA manuscripts. Send your query and/or first three chapters to submissions@musapublishing.com and put GLTG manuscript in the subject line of your email.

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Pocket Books has announced it’s giving the Pocket Star name to its ebook only line of releases. Pocket Star was formally a mass market imprint of Simon and Schuster. The new ebook only line will feature romance, women’s fiction, mystery, thrillers and urban fantasy, with a mix of re-releases and new titles, with the emphasis on new fiction. In an article in Publisher’s Weekly, Pocket’s executive vice president and publisher, Louise Burke, said Pocket sees Pocket Star as a venue for discovering new authors, as well as a way to showcase established names. Authors that launch in Pocket Star could transition to hardcover releases. Pocket Executive Editor Lauren McKenna will oversea Pocket Star. Pocket has long had a policy of reviewing agented submissions only; no word yet if this will change for the Pocket Star line.

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Get a taste of my newest release, Always a Bridesmaid, by reading the first chapter free here. And check my previous post for my blog tour running all this month, where you’ll have several chances to win a free copy of Always a Bridesmaid.  

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As always, feel free to share this newsletter with others. Reprint it, repost it and pass it on — as long as you give me

credit for the information and include a link to this blog. Thank you!  Cindi Myers

My blog tour for Always a Bridesmaid starts next week. Check the schedule below for stops. Post a comment on one of these blogs while I’m there and you have a good chance of winning a copy of Always a Bridesmaid.

You can read a free excerpt from the book here.   

And check out what one reviewer said about the book: “Always a Bridesmaid is a book with soul and emotion that skirts the edges of women’s fiction by having a guaranteed happily-ever-after of a romance, but the firm setting in reality is there… This could be a book about your neighbors or your best friend or your cousin. The author is a very good writer and the writing in this book ranked up there with the greats of contemporary romance like Nora Roberts or Debbie Macomber.”  Read the whole review here.  

Monday, May 7th Paperback Dolls

Wednesday, May 9th Laura Kaye’s Blog

Thursday, May 10th Cassandra’s Reviews

Tuesday, May 15th Novel Reflections

Wednesday, May 16th A Diary of a Book Addict

Wednesday, May 23rd Cocktails and Books

Wednesday, May 30th The Readiacs

Monday, June 4th Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

Tuesday, June 5th Passionate Book Divas

Friday, June 8th Stella Ex Libris