Category Romance Questions?

Woo, Zipotes! Way to toss the questions out there. I'll give it a stab...all IMHO + a couple years kicking around the romance range, of course.

1st ?: It is not EASY to get published anywhere. Period. If you have written a book that fits a specific Har/Sil imprint, you're probably just as well to query direct. Harlequin doesn't have a lot of 'contract play' in their series imprints as I understand things. They are also looking for 'authors' not just 'books'. Meaning if you'd like to write for, let's say Harlequin Blaze, they'd like you to consistently Blaze. While Avon does accept queries, they don't do classic 'category' to my knowledge. They want single title. They take a query by email...and will reject you as quick as you can hit send. Unless you have a killer concept or hook.

2nd ?: If you want to write 'category' you do have to have their theme and word count in mind at all times (which is the main reason I don't write category...guidelines I can follow. Rules I sorta suck at) But your best bet is to write the book that comes most naturally to you and then start shopping a home for it.

3rd ?: Many, many authors have a more financially rewarding career writing these "smaller category romances" than fly-by-night single title authors who have sales that flame out badly enough to burn up their second book offer. (and calling them "smaller" is not necessarily the way to 'make friends and influence people' if you're actually serious about writing romance.)

4th ?: (1st, see the end of 3) Less respect than...what? Romance in general does not garner a great deal of 'respect' in the literary world. But will a romance reader think less of...lets say Susan Gable (just cuz she's here) for writing a 'category' Harlequin Superomance than they'll think of Susan Wiggs for writing a MIRA (also a Harlequin imprint) single title family story? Not a chance! They are both successful authors' who have found their niche.

5th ?: Yep. Never read a 'category romance' in 1st person. Now you're treading toward chick lit. Harlequin's Red Dress...category

is it easier to get published directly by them? (as opposed to finding an agent or querying non-category publishers?)

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Having an agent is always an advantage. You're not on the slush pile, but will have already been "screened" and placed on the desk of a specific editor. The agent is your advocate and looks out for your best interests.

Do you write specifically what they want in mind (theme, characters, word count, etc.) or do you look for a category to fit your book?

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Both, if possible.

If you have a story, themes & characters that suit a specific line, then go for it, but they are VERY specific on word count and deadlines. You make sure to deliver on both. They want a specific product for readers who expect a specific product.

Can you have a career writing just these smaller category romances?

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Not to denigrate the genre or its hard working writers, but most of these stories are brain candy. You read one, pass it on, buy and read another. Most of the times the names of the characters don't stick (not in my brain, anyway) but they keep you engaged until the story is over and you get a satisfying happy ending. I can count on one hand the category writers whose work impressed the hell out of me. They tend to read outside the romance genre, so their work reflected that. No cliche phrases, and a touch more sparkle to the prose!

You can make a living at it if you write fast and have a supporting spouse with another paycheck and health care insurance, but whether that is a career is up to you.

If it is what gets you buzzed and passionate about the craft of writing, gets you excited to wake up every day and hit the keyboard, then it is a career. If it's just cranking out words for a check, then not so much.

Do you think there is less respect for authors published in category romances?

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I have a respect for any writer who can finish and sell a book to a commercial market. To me, writing is writing, whatever the genre. The main thing is WRITE WELL.

The world in general has a patronizing 'tude toward romance and its writers. They hear about writers like Cassie Edwards, sample her sadly out of date (and plagiarized) wordage, and assume ALL romances are that badly done. They miss out reading really good ones by the best writers.

But the fact is, romances account for more than half of all fiction sales (in paperback I think) and that is a hell of a lot of reading. A lot of people put them down, but a lot more ARE reading them!

Do they usually frown upon first person POV?

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Read the lines and see how many books are in 1st person. I've never seen a category in 1st, but I don't read each one that hits the racks.

What kind of paycheck will you get?

ALWAYS assume you will get paid the smallest amount listed. The big numbers go to special cases like the climax of a popular series, or to well known and popular writers.

The Knight Agency reps a lot of romance authors. When you're ready to sub something, look them up.

As others have pointed out, the guidelines for category/series romance are, indeed, rigid.

There’s a good number of best-selling romance authors who got their start writing series romance - Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Lindsey McKenna, Janet Evanovich – and others. I believe, that once they developed a loyal following, and were no longer under contract, they moved on.

The reason for that, in my opinion, is that Har/Sil romances have a shelf life of thirty days. After a month, unsold copies are returned and the next months books come out. If you’re not selling books, you’re not earning royalties. You can’t sell a backlist that’s not currently in print.

Undoubtedly, it’s a good place to get your feet wet. Read the forums on eHarlequin.com. Lots of good advice to be had there.

Good luck with your wip.

What they said.

Plus: I'd shy away from first person. The "chick lit" line at Harlequin (Red Dress Ink) is dead. I went into my local Home-from-Home (bookshop) today and their display hasn't included Red Dress for many moons.

Best way IMO to pitch to Harlequin is to borrow/buy and read several books from the line you like most. That way, you're writing what you like to read, and won't be thinking, "Yuck" as you work on your WIP.

I'm trying to break into Harlequin Steeple Hill. They contacted me last spring out of the blue and requested a submission, which we promptly sent, which they promptly rejected due to "our readers wouldn't accept a marriage-of-convenience story." There are loads of thematic things that they believe do not fit in one line or another. That's not to say they won't pub something with that theme by someone else...

Fusstration speaks again. We're busy thinking on which one of my projects to send them next, that might NOT have le theme sans acceptability.

Blessings on your efforts, and may your WIP find a comfortable and profitable home.

I love the Harlequin/Mira books. I read alot of them, and personally when I read I want fluff. Call me silly but when I am stressed and I read I don't want to think too much and I just want to be entertained.

e-harlequin also has a writing part on their site that shows their submission guidelines for what they are seeking at this time. Check it out!

Deb Kinnard said:

What they said.

Plus: I'd shy away from first person. The "chick lit" line at Harlequin (Red Dress Ink) is dead. I went into my local Home-from-Home (bookshop) today and their display hasn't included Red Dress for many moons.

Best way IMO to pitch to Harlequin is to borrow/buy and read several books from the line you like most. That way, you're writing what you like to read, and won't be thinking, "Yuck" as you work on your WIP.

I'm trying to break into Harlequin Steeple Hill. They contacted me last spring out of the blue and requested a submission, which we promptly sent, which they promptly rejected due to "our readers wouldn't accept a marriage-of-convenience story." There are loads of thematic things that they believe do not fit in one line or another. That's not to say they won't pub something with that theme by someone else...

Fusstration speaks again. We're busy thinking on which one of my projects to send them next, that might NOT have le theme sans acceptability.

Blessings on your efforts, and may your WIP find a comfortable and profitable home.

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Steeple Hill are very specific on what they want and they do avoid alot of what they consider to be non christian topics. Marriage had to be for love within their novels along with no sexual contact, strong language etc.

BTW, I'm targeting some of the Steeple Hill lines too

Deb: You should look into Dorcester Publising and Kensington I am pretty sure they have started Christian lines that are not so specific and they are open to submissions!

smoothseas said:

As others have pointed out, the guidelines for category/series romance are, indeed, rigid.

There’s a good number of best-selling romance authors who got their start writing series romance - Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, Lindsey McKenna, Janet Evanovich – and others. I believe, that once they developed a loyal following, and were no longer under contract, they moved on.

The reason for that, in my opinion, is that Har/Sil romances have a shelf life of thirty days. After a month, unsold copies are returned and the next months books come out. If you’re not selling books, you’re not earning royalties. You can’t sell a backlist that’s not currently in print.

Undoubtedly, it’s a good place to get your feet wet. Read the forums on eHarlequin.com. Lots of good advice to be had there.

Good luck with your wip.

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You can as you say move on, tho Nora Roberts still publishes Harlequin special releases and with the Mira line.

You like cats too hey? I adore them this is my baby charlie

First, Lainey, bless you for holding me up with Susan Wiggs.

Now, to address some of this.

First of all, Avon does NOT publish "category" romance. At this moment, pretty much the only place that does is H/S. Avon publishes genre romance, but so does Kensington, Ballentine, Berkley, St. Martins, etc. Harlequin also publishes single title books. Mira books are NOT category romance.

Do I think category romance writers get less respect than single title writers? Yes. (Remember that other thread around here where I said each "group" always think other groups have it better? <G> Yeah, same probably applies here.)

Yes, a lot of H/S books are "mind candy." I don't write mind candy. At least, I try not to. I try to write a book that's different enough that SOMETHING about it sticks with you. But a lot of the lines are intended to be exactly that - a chocolate bar. Or maybe some of them are cotton candy - not much substance at all.

I'll willingly admit that there are some category romances that just make me want light my hair on fire. (Hi,Jersey! <G> Sorry to steal your line, but it's applicable. <G>) When I set the book down and five minutes later I can't remember anything about the book...that doesn't please me as a reader.

Can you make a decent living at writing those "little romances?" You can, but it depends on a LOT of factors, not the least of which is which line you're writing for. Some lines sell way better than others, hence they pay better. Desire and the original Harlequin Romances still sell really, really well. It depends on how many books you can write per year (which also matters in single title land. <G>)

Nora Roberts no longer writes new books for any of the Harlequin lines or imprints. She and Harlequin had a parting of ways a few years ago. (Totally stupid, IMHO, on Harlequin's part. Sorry, HQ, but that's the truth. Like killing the goose that laid the golden egg.)

There have been a FEW 1st person categories, but FEW is the operative word. 3rd is much more standard, and thus a "safer" choice if you're writing with the intent to sell.

If you're going to target a specific line, then you'd better do your homework because they each do have a very specific feel to them. Some of them are closer in tone, but still each is unique - otherwise, why bother having different lines?

Okay, I think I've addressed everything. Any more questions, just fire away.

(And Gil, some of my best, noncliche turn-of-phrases got edited out of my stuff. <G> Wasn't category enough. The problem with that is, if it happens enough, you adjust your writing accordingly, and then the pretty prose is no longer the way you write. )

Susan G.

Susan, Nora Roberts books still show on the site and I am sure that she had released another through them recently?

brainstorm77 said:

Susan, Nora Roberts books still show on the site and I am sure that she had released another through them recently?

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They're reprints. HQ will keep printing her old stuff indefinitely because they can still make money off of them, and if they were to stop printing it, Nora might want her rights back.

In fact, from what I understand, that was the bone of contention between NR and HQ -- she asked them very nicely NOT to re-release any of her backlist during the same month that she had new books coming out from one of her other publishers -- in an effort to not confuse her readers into buying a new copy of an old book instead of a new copy of a NEW book.

HQ declined. (Mind you, NR was still writing some new stuff for them, too.)

NR said, okay. No more new books for you.

Silly, silly HQ.

And now Nora has the official NR logo that indicates NEW books.

Susan G.

Ok that explains it. A big loss on their part for sure.

Zipotes said:

Can you have a career writing just these smaller category romances?

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I just wanted to chime in and say that you can definitely have a career writing category. Friend of mine has a buddy that writes for Harlequin category lines exclusively. Thing is - you need to be able to produce a lot of books on a consistent basis, I believe. Some authors put out 3 or 4 a year between lines.

And ditto about Harlequin not liking 1st person. You occasionally see it in Blaze, but there's usually a second POV also tossed in, the hero's POV. Most of the time editors want to see the hero's POV as well as the heroine's.

Good luck!

Irysangel said:

I just wanted to chime in and say that you can definitely have a career writing category. Friend of mine has a buddy that writes for Harlequin category lines exclusively. Thing is - you need to be able to produce a lot of books on a consistent basis, I believe. Some authors put out 3 or 4 a year between lines.

And ditto about Harlequin not liking 1st person. You occasionally see it in Blaze, but there's usually a second POV also tossed in, the hero's POV. Most of the time editors want to see the hero's POV as well as the heroine's.

Good luck!

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Exactly and not every writer is going to turn into the next best selling author where no matter what they write it sells instantly, for example Danielle Steel and Stephen King who can write anything and people will buy it!

Irysangel said:

I just wanted to chime in and say that you can definitely have a career writing category. Friend of mine has a buddy that writes for Harlequin category lines exclusively. Thing is - you need to be able to produce a lot of books on a consistent basis, I believe. Some authors put out 3 or 4 a year between lines.

And ditto about Harlequin not liking 1st person. You occasionally see it in Blaze, but there's usually a second POV also tossed in, the hero's POV. Most of the time editors want to see the hero's POV as well as the heroine's.

Good luck!

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More than just being able to produce 3 books a year you have to be able to SELL 3 books a year to Harl. - fewer and fewer authors can do this anymore. More likely if you sell in a category line you will be scheduled in for a couple a year - some sell one then can't sell another for some time then sell again, so they have one a year or one every 18mos. Though there are always exceptions. Just tossing that in because you COULD still make a decent living in category romance by keeping your name out but you often don't actually have that much control over that.

ps - on Inspirational books - Steeple Hill has ended its 'lit' line - Steeple Hill Cafe (Barefoot Brides - my Jan book was the last one, i think) and expanded in other areas (suspense, historical). They are going to 6 a month soon so its a good time to get in and to get a shot at more than a couple a year.

annie jones
Barefoot Brides - Jan
Somebody's Hero - Love Inspired, Mar 09

Have they ended the whole line or just the Cafe line?

brainstorm77 said:

Have they ended the whole line or just the Cafe line?

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Just the cafe. Annie's post says they're expanding in suspense and historical.

Susan G.

Susan Gable said:

Just the cafe. Annie's post says they're expanding in suspense and historical.

Susan G.

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I guess the Cafe line wasn't selling that great... Same as they did with Bombshell line some time ago.

(And Gil, some of my best, noncliche turn-of-phrases got edited out of my stuff. <G> Wasn't category enough.

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BUMMER.

I had the same thing with a work-for-hire I did. I put some good wordage in, but they didn't like it. They were afraid that someone half as brainy as the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons would have a conniption if I didn't adjust things. (They never *said* dumb it down, but that's what they wanted.)

D'OH!

brainstorm77 said:

I guess the Cafe line wasn't selling that great... Same as they did with Bombshell some time ago.

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Well, that's the bottom line. Live and die by the numbers. That's why a while ago I wrote a blog piece about the importance of readers supporting the lines and/or authors that they really enjoy by buying new copies of those books. Used book sales don't count, books borrowed from a friend or a library don't count, pirated copies definitely don't count...

I'm not saying NEVER buy used books, or don't borrow from the library. I do BOTH of those things myself. I'm saying if there's a line or author that you really fall in love with, and you want to keep reading more of the same (line or author), help keep that line/author in business.

Because publishing IS a business, like any other. And we live and die by the numbers just like other businesses.

Susan G.

Susan Gable said:

Well, that's the bottom line. Live and die by the numbers. That's why a while ago I wrote a blog piece about the importance of readers supporting the lines and/or authors that they really enjoy by buying new copies of those books. Used book sales don't count, books borrowed from a friend or a library don't count, pirated copies definitely don't count...

I'm not saying NEVER buy used books, or don't borrow from the library. I do BOTH of those things myself. I'm saying if there's a line or author that you really fall in love with, and you want to keep reading more of the same (line or author), help keep that line/author in business.

Because publishing IS a business, like any other. And we live and die by the numbers just like other businesses.

Susan G.

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I agree with you. I'm a regular customer at e-harlequin, mainly I enjoy the Steeple hill historical line alone with the regular Harlequin Historical line.

brainstorm77 said:

I guess the Cafe line wasn't selling that great... Same as they did with Bombshell some time ago.

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Ya know it's not that simple. With Bombshell, Next, Luna, any of the lines that have folded over time, there are a lot of factors that include things like distribution and competition and expectations, long-range forecasts and decisions made at different levels in the company and probably other things none of us will ever know (and I'd rather not speculate about or expound on my own opinions in a public forum )

When you draw that kind of conclusion on a forum like this, you might want to keep in mind you are making assumptions about those authors and about a publisher's business. And like I said, it's just not (usually) that simple.

Love Inspired category books sell very well, are expanding and there are new lines.


Annie Jones

L.Jones said:

Ya know it's not that simple. With Bombshell, Next, Luna, any of the lines that have folded over time, there are a lot of factors that include things like distribution and competition and expectations, long-range forecasts and decisions made at different levels in the company and probably other things none of us will ever know (and I'd rather not speculate about or expound on my own opinions in a public forum )

When you draw that kind of conclusion on a forum like this, you might want to keep in mind you are making assumptions about those authors and about a publisher's business. And like I said, it's just not (usually) that simple.

Love Inspired category books sell very well, are expanding and there are new lines.


Annie Jones

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Well personally I would think ultimately it would come down to sales. If a line was selling great why would they shuck it? That doesn't make sense.
Oh and BTW its not a personal attack on any author, but if you want to take it that way then there is nothing I can do about that.

Sheesh. I said you make assumptions not attacks.


I know I can come off sounding scolding when I'm just trying to balance things out. The deal is this whole thread shows how much people do assume about the business.
Can't speak for others but after 12 years pubbed, I still feel I have a lot to learn myself.

annie jones
Barefoot Brides - Steeple Hill - out now
Somebody's Hero - Love Inspired - Mar 1

L.Jones said:

Sheesh. I said you make assumptions not attacks.


I know I can come off sounding scolding when I'm just trying to balance things out. The deal is this whole thread shows how much people do assume about the business.
Can't speak for others but after 12 years pubbed, I still feel I have a lot to learn myself.

annie jones
Barefoot Brides - Steeple Hill - out now
Somebody's Hero - Love Inspired - Mar 1

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I thought thats what the whole point of these forums was .. To learn.. share opinions etc?