PDA

View Full Version : Recent first sales to RWA recognized Publishers


Susan Gable
04-26-2005, 02:33 AM
To offer some encouragement, I thought I'd share some information with you from the May RWR (Romance Writers Report.) In the First Sales column this month, there are11 listings. 11 First Sales! (Ha, and PA wants you to believe this doesn't happen!) These are sales made only to publishers recognized by RWA. (And while I considered putting this post in Romance, I opted for Novels because I wanted to offer encourage to all the novelists out there!)

Jennifer Armintrout sold to Luna, Harlequin books, getting a 3-book contract. Blood Ties, a vampire novel, will be a 2006 Luna release. Blood Ties was the first full-length ms she completed before selling.

Britta Coleman sold to Warner books, Center Street imprint. (I think that's their chick lit line, but I'm not certain.) June 2005 release: Potter Springs. This was her first completed full-length ms.

Laura Drewry sold to Kensington Publishing. She's been writing for 6 years, and Here Comes the Bride was her third completed ms. Release date May 2005.

R. Garland Gray sold Predestined to Medallion Press. June 2005 release.

Candace Havens sold Charmed and Dangerous, her second completed ms, as the first book in a 2-book contract to Berkley. She's been writing fiction for 3 years, and a nationally syndicated entertainment columnist for 16 years. Charmed and Dangerous will be released in Sept. 2005.

Judith Lown sold to Avalon Books. Her Regency romance, A Match for Lady Constance, was her first completed ms, and an April 2005 release.

Dorothy McFalls sold The Marriage List to NAL. It's a May 2005 release from Signet Regency, and was the fifth full-length ms she completed before selling.

Fredericak Meiners, AKA Ann Macela, sold The Oldest Kind of Magic to Medallion Press. It will be released in October 2005, and was the fifth full-length ms she completed. Macela has been writing for five years.

Janet Mullany sold to NAL. Dedication, a Signet Regency romance, will be released in Sept. 2005. Mullany has been writing for four years, and Dedication was the second full-length ms she completed before selling.

Cindy Roussos, aka Cynthia Eden, in a two-book contract with ImaJinn Books, sold her fourth completed ms, The Vampire's Kiss. It will be rleased in the spring of 2005.

Constance Sprague sold Tall Order to Avalon Books. She has been writing for four years, and this book was her third completed ms. Tall Order will be a June of 2005 release.

Besides these nine, I also know there have been a couple of other new authors recently purchased by Harlequin for various imprints/lines.

Folks, it can be done. (Despite what PA tells its writers!) Notice that many of them have been writing for several years, and have already completed a number of manuscripts. Take heart, keep trying, learning, improving. Never give up! One of the new sales I recently read about was a woman who'd been at this (writing & submitting!) for 13 years.


Susan G.

CaoPaux
04-26-2005, 03:18 AM
:Clap: :Clap: :Clap: :Clap: :Clap:

Kate Nepveu
04-26-2005, 07:11 PM
Thanks--I should do something like this when I get the new _Locus_ in, too.

Kasey Mackenzie
04-27-2005, 09:18 PM
Very encouraging news! Hopefully, more newbies will do research and figure out that PA and similar entities are blowing smoke about the industry being closed to first-time authors! I never understood that claim anyway--EVERYONE is a first-time author at SOME point, so obviously publishers are always on the lookout for fresh new talent.

azbikergirl
04-27-2005, 10:32 PM
How cool is that?!

I find it interesting that so many of these writers' first-ever novels are being published. From what I gather, this is not the norm. What is it about romance writers that make their first novels so much better than those of writers of other genres?

Susan Gable
04-27-2005, 10:36 PM
How cool is that?!

I find it interesting that so many of these writers' first-ever novels are being published. From what I gather, this is not the norm. What is it about romance writers that make their first novels so much better than those of writers of other genres?

RWA. Quite honestly, any author who is interesting in learning how to go about writing a romance novel can get an incredible education. Romance authors are generally very supportive and helpful to newbies. :)

Also remember, we have no idea how long they spend rewriting or reworking that ms. Or how much other writing they did before they started that first ms.

And it was only a couple of first-mss that sold. Generally that's not the case in romance, either.

Susan G.

azbikergirl
04-27-2005, 11:32 PM
Probably helps that a huge hunk of the fiction market is romance. I've always enjoyed reading it, but haven't tried my hand at writing it yet. I have a few ideas...

Susan Gable
04-27-2005, 11:36 PM
Probably helps that a huge hunk of the fiction market is romance. I've always enjoyed reading it, but haven't tried my hand at writing it yet. I have a few ideas...

Yes, there are a lot of opportunities in romance simply because it is such a huge segment. Now while I wouldn't recommend someone try writing romance just because of that, if you really like reading romance and have some ideas, then give it a shot.

I do something run across people who think they will use writing romance as a stepping stone to bigger and better things - people who don't LIKE romance at all. Well, that attitude is bound to creep into the story.

Write what you love to read. Your enthusiasm for the genre will come across.

Susan G.

James D. Macdonald
04-28-2005, 01:37 AM
A "first published" novel may not be a "first written" novel. That author may have eight other, earlier works in a box in the basement.

Mike Martyn
04-28-2005, 02:32 AM
Tor Publishing's website has a section soliciting romance novels. The formula they want is a. adventure and b. romance. Too bad I'm no good at b. Probably because I've been married for 29 years!

stace001
04-28-2005, 02:40 AM
Tor Publishing's website has a section soliciting romance novels. The formula they want is a. adventure and b. romance. Too bad I'm no good at b. Probably because I've been married for 29 years!

I've looked on that website before, thinking i'd send my romance manuscript straight to the publishers instead of going thru an agent, and they were only accepting SF and Fantasy....Mike you wouldn't happen to have their web address would you???? I Googled it again, but couldn't find it.

James D. Macdonald
04-28-2005, 02:47 AM
http://www.tor.com/

stace001
04-28-2005, 02:59 AM
Didn't look very hard....I found it, but thanks anyway Mike.;)

azbikergirl
04-28-2005, 03:44 AM
A "first published" novel may not be a "first written" novel. That author may have eight other, earlier works in a box in the basement.
The wording suggests that the first two writers (and the sixth) sold their "first written" manuscripts. Woot to them!

Susan Gable
04-28-2005, 03:50 AM
The wording suggests that the first two writers (and the sixth) sold their "first written" manuscripts. Woot to them!

I believe you're right on that - a couple of them sold their first completed novels. But -- we don't know how many they didn't finish, or anything like that. It COULD be their very first. It does happen sometimes. I have a friend who sold her very first ms - but she spent several years revising and rewriting it before it sold. :)

Susan G.

azbikergirl
04-28-2005, 04:10 AM
My instructor in the writer's digest workshop I'm taking had her very first novel published. And four more after that. I admire people who can write that well right out of the gate!

stace001
04-28-2005, 05:06 AM
and Jim:Thumbs: