Romance Question

Laurawrites said:

Hello, this is my first post in this genre.

I'm generally a paranormal/thriller author, but recently I have undertaken a project for a romance.

I am aiming for the Intrigue line of Harlequin. I think that writing for a completely different genre will offer some beneficial experience on creating material beyond what I normally do. I would love to be published in a spectrum of fiction genres.

I'm fairly new to the company, but grew up in a house where these books were read daily. I have many older relatives who would love to read something I've written, but don't have the tastes for my usual material. They're accustomed to the very short and gentle Silhouette books. I'm afraid Intrigue is the closest I can get to their usual material, right now.

Anyways, I've visited the site, I've taken notes on what I need to do. Is there anyone else here aiming for that line? Does anyone have experience with them?

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My best advice to you would be to read some of the most recently published books to get a strong feel for the line. You need to internalize the rhythm of the line. If you can find any new authors for the line (and I don't know that I've heard of too many new authors for that line) that's even better.

The eHarlequin website has a great community where each line has its own thread. Generally you can find authors and eds for those lines lingering around -- great place to ask questions!

Good luck!

Susan G.

Hi Laura

As far as I know, Paula Graves is Intrigue's newest author. Her book came out in June of this year and is still available at eH's website. However, it will probably be gone at the end of the month.

Elle

You might also look into Silhouette Romantic Suspense, which is the newest evolution of Intimate Moments. Both Intrigue and SRS will be doing romantic suspense, but if it's "suspensier," Intrigue will do them, where the more romance-y stuff will be appropriate for SRS. But as Susan notes, the eHarlequin website is a great starting point to familiarize yourself with the material.

Harlequin is very specific about what they want and word count. If they want 75K words and get 80K, you'll have to trim to fit!

Always read their current releases, Those were bought by H 12-18 months ago.

And ALWAYS read outside the whole genre, rather than just the line. Get some mysteries, mainstreams, S/F & Fantasy into your head. That helps you avoid "genre incest." (Your book reading exactly like all the other books.)

I write in paranormals, but read mysteries. When I write a mystery I'll read horror, and so on.

You can always tell which romance writers read outside romance--their stuff is fresh!

You might want to check the romance cliches thread in this section--it's pretty dang funny!

Good luck!

I just want to reiterate what others have said: there's no substitute for reading a whole passel of the books in the line you're targeting. There's a definite, distinct but subtle feel to each line, and it's an exercise in futility if you don't write stories that have the right feel.

I recently picked up about a dozen recent-ish books within one of Harlequin's lines to study them, and reading them back-to-back was enlightening, even if my conclusion was that I don't have the right voice to write them.

JD

Laurawrites said:

Hello, Susan.

Thank you so much!

I noticed you have a book through them. What was your experience like? I've found greatly contasting information online. Some authors have complained that they never hear from them (one author posted it had been 8 months and still no reply) while others say it was only a matter of days. I've also heard conflicting reports on everything from editorial work (too difficult) to advances (too small) to royalties (again, too small through impressive figures).

Thanks again.

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Well, all of this varies. Which is why you're getting such conflicting reports.

On the time it takes to hear from an editor: it depends. My first book, it took 5 months to hear back on the partial that they wanted to see the full, and then another 5 months to get The Call.

I have a partial with an editor now that's been in the house for over 2 months.

The editorial staff is stretched thin. Very thin. So it takes time to get answers. It also depends on the editor and exactly how much she has on her plate (general answer: a LOT) at the time.

Editorial work on a book: It varies. It varies based on the line, the editor, how bad a shape the ms is in, the phase of the moon, etc. Sometimes edits are very heavy, sometimes they aren't.

Advances for first time authors varies based on line (remember, your advance is a reflection of what they expect to sell.) But the average advance for a first time author at Harlequin runs around $4-5,000. That's higher than some other houses, I can assure you.

Royalties in category is a standard 6%. (Although I'm sure there MAY be some authors who have some wiggle room, but that wouldn't be the newbies or those of us down on the bottom rungs. <G>) Yeah, other houses offer about 8%. But, Harlequin has a huge distribution. Thanks, I'll take it happily. (That's not to say that I wouldn't like a higher royalty rate. Of course I would. <G> But this is working right now.)

Sales numbers will vary as with every book. That's just all there is to it.

So, there's good reason you're getting a variety of responses. If someone thinks they're going to get a $20k advance, then HQ's advance might look small. However, if you've seen the Show Me the Money report ( http://www.brendahiatt.com/id2.html ), you'll see that some houses have lower advances including Kensington and Dorchester/Leisure.

This is not a get-rich-quick scheme, that's for sure. As "they" say, don't quit your dayjob.

All in all, I'd have to say I've been very satisfied with my Harlequin experiences. (Not to say there aren't things I'd change or things I might wish had happened differently, but overall I feel it's been very worthwhile, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.)

Susan G.