HQN vs. Harlequin Historicals...same thing?

Are you talking about submitting the same ms to different lines? That's a no-no.

HQN. . .

Submitting to HQN requires an agent, I believe.

RE: submitting to the two different lines at the same house, my agent recently submitted a novel of mine to both Red Dress Ink and HQN at Harlequin. The only reason he did that was, the novel is a "chick lit" romantic comedy set in a modern-day medieval reinactment society. Shortly after he submitted it to RDI, HQN put out a call specifically for medieval-themed romances. There are strong medieval elements in my book, since it takes place in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) but it's still a modern-day romantic comedy, which HQN also publishes a lot of.

Michelle Styles is discussing this topic on Romance Divas this week - about how Historicals are in competition with single title and not category...and how they are open to more time periods and locations than people assume.

May 1st-4th come to the Romance Divas Classroom and ask the questions you need to know to target category romance.

* How did authors decide which line fit their voice/story?
* How do authors study their line(s)?
* What hints do they have for new writers?
* Where do they see the line going?
Historical - Michele Styles

HQN vs. HH

HQN accepts unsolicited queries, but beyond that, yes, you must be agented or solicited at a conference. But the primary issue is that the same book won't be right for both HQN and Harlequin Historicals (HH). HQN is looking for competitive single-title romance, and that generally means for us a book that's longer, wider in scope, and effectively competitive with the stuff that Avon/Ballantine/etc. are putting out. HH titles run a little bit shorter, tend to be somewhat more focused on the hero and heroine (although not exclusively, as a series title might be) and in fact might be the better choice if your setting is not one that's traditionally marketable, because HH has such a strong overseas presence. And finally, HH is based out of our London office, while HQN is based in New York, so it's best to query them sequentially and individually. (Now I have to go figure out if that query you mention is sitting on my desk!)

Same thing with RDI vs. HQN--these two imprints publish distinctly different books, and the author/agent ought to determine whether they think their book is chick lit or romance and submit accordingly. (That said, the last book I bought was actually submitted to RDI and passed to me, because it was actually a romance but featured a very chick-lit voice.)

Crinklish. . .

Crinklish, the book that my agent recently submitted to HQN sounds like the RDI book that was passed to you----it's a contemporary romance with a very 'chick lit' voice. I don't know if you are the editor he submitted to there or not, but chances are it's the only manuscript in your office dealing with the Society for Creative Anachronism. (visit www.sca.org to see what THAT is!) Long story short, it involved modern-day people dressing up in garb and staging huge medieval battles, along with kings, queens, and lots of other fun medieval stuff! (Note that this is not the same thing as Ren-faires.)