Question about publishing with Harlequin

Your best bet is to take a look at their guidelines:

http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=538&chapter=0

You don't need an agent for a good number of their lines and not all of their imprints are category length. I can't answer as to what your odds of acceptance are, nor can I tell you what to expect, but this is as good a place as any to start.

How to work with HQ?

a) Read their guidelines ( If they want 75K words, don't send them 75,001.)

b) Read their most recent releases--which are going to be about 12-18 months old, since that's when the contract was signed.

c) An idea on advances is to be found here:

http://www.brendahiatt.com/id2.html

There is wide variance, though. A 1st novel sale is not going to get the same money as a mid-lister with many titles under the belt.

The money isn't all at once, either. You get so much on signing the contract, so much on acceptence of the final MS, and so much on release. They dole it out a drop at a time, and it is a VERY GOOD IDEA TO HAVE AN AGENT TO KEEP TRACK of them all.

One of my buds has several books with them and her agent has to stay on top of things to remind HQ to send the checks in a timely manner. Some writers have to make with the squeaky wheel thing to get their money. Do you want to use up valuable writing time by making phone calls to the corporate office? Or would it be better to turn that job over to a specialist who knows how to play the game?

Not only does her agent keep the cash coming in, she alerts my bud to new projects coming down the pike. A year or so back they were hunting for 12 writers to each do a novel for the Silhouette "Athena Force" series, and my friend would never have heard of it but for her agent.

This is the result:


Agents--the good ones--are not just for selling what you send them, they are looking for new markets for you!

Mine has snagged me no less than three book deals this year that I'd never have found on my own. Well worth that 15% she earns!

Well, I don't have an agent, and I know a number of authors who don't, and we still find out about special series. I "almost" sold one of the NASCAR books, but they'd overbought. Found out about that because a fellow author recommended me to the Senior Ed who was in charge of the project.

Another way authors get into special projects is through their editors.

Some HQ authors swear by having an agent to be "the heavy" with HQ, so they don't have to be the nag. But if you can wear the business hat as well as the author hat, you can manage without one.

MIRA is pretty much the only imprint where you absolutely need an agent to get in. (Although I do wonder if someone already in the HQ house could get into MIRA without one. I'm not sure, to be honest.)

First time advances vary from line to line, but run about $4-5,000-ish.

The most important advice I could give you is to do your homework. Besides reading the guidelines, get out there and READ THE LINE! Get to know the flavor of the specific lines - that will give you a better idea of where your writing will fit.

It's still not an easy task, as many of my unpubbed friends who've been trying to crack the HQ nut for years will tell you.

Best of luck with your writing, and if I can answer anything else for you, feel free to ask.

Susan G.

Lorreign said:

Susan, how did you send it in? Maybe I didn't look deep enough, but I only saw a couple of addresses. Do you send it to a main editor with something like ATTN: the editor you need to talk to? That's one of the main questions I wondered when I was perusing. Or is there somewhere on the site that mentions that? lol. I can be daft at times at the obvious.

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The www.eharlequin.com site has ALL the information you need, including all the guidelines for each line, and how to submit, including the name of the Senior Editor for each line. Here's a direct link to the Guidelines page:
http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=538&chapter=0

Also, if you poke around the forums, there are chat areas for each line, and you can often begin a "relationship" of sorts with editors there.

I believe Superromance is having a contest soon. Actually, yes, I found it. The deadline is October 31. This might be a good way to get your stuff read even faster. Check out the rules here:

http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=1199&chapter=0

Susan G.

Susan: Thanks for your info on Harlequin.

I have a question for you:

Red Dress Ink's submission guidelines has a part that says:

"As of September 1, 2004, we no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts or proposals. We will accept query letters only. Any unsolicited manuscripts or proposals received after this date will be returned without evaluation."

When they say "query letter" is that literally just what they want
without any synopsis and/or first 3 chapters?

Thanks Susan. You are so appreciated, as always

Josie said:

"As of September 1, 2004, we no longer accept unsolicited manuscripts or proposals. We will accept query letters only. Any unsolicited manuscripts or proposals received after this date will be returned without evaluation."

When they say "query letter" is that literally just what they want
without any synopsis and/or first 3 chapters?

Thanks Susan. You are so appreciated, as always

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Yes, they mean a query letter ONLY. 3 Chapters and a synopsis is refered to as a proposal or a partial, and you can see that they specifically say that any unsolicited proposals will be returned.

Thanks for the hug and appreciation! That's always nice, and I appreciate it back. <G>

Susan G.

Susan Gable said:

The www.eharlequin.com site has ALL the information you need, including all the guidelines for each line, and how to submit, including the name of the Senior Editor for each line. Here's a direct link to the Guidelines page:
http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=538&chapter=0

Also, if you poke around the forums, there are chat areas for each line, and you can often begin a "relationship" of sorts with editors there.

I believe Superromance is having a contest soon. Actually, yes, I found it. The deadline is October 31. This might be a good way to get your stuff read even faster. Check out the rules here:

http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=1199&chapter=0

Susan G.

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Do you know what type of story they are looking for, I mean as in (contemperary, historical, supernatural, etc...)

author_martina said:

Do you know what type of story they are looking for, I mean as in (contemperary, historical, supernatural, etc...)

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You need to know what a Superromance is before you can try to write one. The best way to do that is to read some of them. Or at least check out the line by reading the summaries, etc. for the last few months. You can find them at www.eHarlequin.com.

Do your homework is always great advice. ( I used to be a teacher. <G>) I can tell you that Superromance is a contemporary line, geared toward realistic heroes and heroines (in other words, no sheiks in this line, very few millionares, though they're not unheard of completely, no paranormal) with strong emotional conflict, but until you get a feel for the flavor of the line, it makes it hard to write one.

Susan G.

Thanks, I have read lots of Superromance books over the years but not recently. I guess I will check out the newest ones and see if anything I am currently working on might fit the bill.

author_martina said:

Thanks, I have read lots of Superromance books over the years but not recently. I guess I will check out the newest ones and see if anything I am currently working on might fit the bill.

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LOL. Okay, sorry, but your question, especially asking if they want historical or contemporary, really made it seem as if you hadn't a single clue what a Superromance was at all.

The most important insider clue I could give you right now is that they want a clear focus on the romance, and especially strong emotional conflict between the hero and heroine.

Susan G.

Contests and Copywrites

>>>In consideration for winning the award of a prize in this Contest, winners agree that his/her entry and the copyrights and any other rights therein become the sole property of Sponsor, which may edit, modify, publish, promote, display, broadcast and otherwise use entry submitted for any purpose without further permission, notice, or compensation in any media now known, or hereafter developed. Winners will be required to sign a Copyright Assignment. <<<

Hi all,

I'm enjoying the thread, and followed the link regarding the contest. The above was copied from the rules for the contest. Could anyone expain this?

Thanks!
EM

Elaine Margarett said:

>>>In consideration for winning the award of a prize in this Contest, winners agree that his/her entry and the copyrights and any other rights therein become the sole property of Sponsor, which may edit, modify, publish, promote, display, broadcast and otherwise use entry submitted for any purpose without further permission, notice, or compensation in any media now known, or hereafter developed. Winners will be required to sign a Copyright Assignment. <<<

Hi all,

I'm enjoying the thread, and followed the link regarding the contest. The above was copied from the rules for the contest. Could anyone expain this?

Thanks!
EM

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Ummmm...yikes. That reads to me as if the publisher is actually going to take the full copyright if you win the contest.

That's a big bad no-no to me. It's a reason there have been contests I haven't entered in the past.

Basically what that says is that if you win, the publisher OWNS the copyright. (Not that they have license to publish your work -- that THEY will hold the copyright.) They can do what they want with it without giving you any further money. (compensation.) They can publish it however they want (even in modes not currently created -- that's actually standard with Harlequin contracts. They grab pretty much all rights, including those not yet invented. Seriously. However, they don't generally OWN the copyright -- only on continuity projects, not your average book.) and they can edit it, etc. however they see fit.

It's always good to completely understand these things before you enter. Or sign a contract, for that matter. Good question!

Only each individual can decide if the terms are worth it to them.

Susan G.

I did read that clause late last night before I fell asleep.

Good sleep reading, hee hee.

Yikes indeed. It looks like they want you to "assign" the copyright to them, I think--sign a document as such. It doesn't appeal to me.

Except (and I'm not defending anything) isn't this contest about one scene?
Maybe it put me to sleep too quickly

Anyway there are probably going be throngs of writers entering it.

But not this writer.

Cheers, Josie

Harlequin is the place I am shooting for to submit my first book to. I've read and studied their guidelines, and I hope I am in the good lines of possibly writing what they will want to accept, or not. I read a lot of books by Harlequin, and I can say it won't be easy, but it also puts more determination and hope into my story.

Good for you.

I'm aiming at Harlequin also.

Previously, I circled and circled like a hawk
writing, submitting only once or twice to Harlequin, more to other publishers.

Now Harlequin has changed their imprints and I'm starting to see the "light". I love Harlequin Intrigue, Red Dress Ink, and Silhouette Nocturne.

Because I'm a slow reader and a slow writer, I find it difficult to keep up with the lines I like.

Come to think of it, MIRA is my favorite long contemporary with a lot of variety. I love their stories. But for now I'll shoot for the slight shorter.

Plus having the published authors of various lines here to advise is really a big help to me.

Cheers, Josie

Does anyone know what the average timeline for responce is from Harlequin?

Josie said:

Come to think of it, MIRA is my favorite long contemporary with a lot of variety. I love their stories. But for now I'll shoot for the slight shorter.

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MIRA is actually NOT a Harlequin line. <G> It's a seperate imprint. It's sort of like a different publisher, but it's under the HQ umbrella, if you will. Like Red Dress Ink. That's a different imprint, too. It's not a "line," per say.

I know, it's sort of hard to know the difference, know all the nuances. But that's why MIRA can say that they only deal with agented material, and that's different from all the other Harlequin Lines.

Good luck to everyone with submissions and contest entries. Yes, from what I can tell, the contest involves just a scene, but I have no idea what the actual legal ramifications could be to turning over the copyright to one of the scenes from a ms you hope to eventually sell in its entirety.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv. <G>

Susan G.

Lorreign said:

reading that made my stomach roll. They may take the rights and not even give you any compensation for it?

ok my question is...would it be better to submit it like you were trying to get them to publish it, or for the contest? I bet there are a lot of people entering...what do you think the odds are of winning and it be positive for you. I'm a little hesitant now...cause this idea is my baby. lol.

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No compensation above what you get as the prize for the contest, whatever that prize is.

Look, I'd say if you have any hesitations, being prudent and cautious is never wrong. You can still submit the ms the "regular" way, and it's got just as good a chance of getting published as it ever did -- meaning, it's all dependent on the writing. Period. It doesn't matter if the editors see it first in a contest, or coming across their desk as a submission.

Actually, if they like in the contest, then you still have to submit it so they can read the rest of it. I don't think they're likely to buy something based on ONE SCENE, you know?

So, if the legal terms of the contest turn you off (and I can understand the hesitation) just go for the regular old submission.

Susan G.

That's interesting, Susan, about Mira and Red Dress Ink.

Martina: if you go on eHarlequin and to the talk section then to the series on the list at the right you can see all the lines there and ask them. A lot of the published authors are right there, they answer quickly and they are very friendly.

Try it, you'll like it

Any problems, I can help you, I'm lurking on there a lot

Cheers, Josie

author_martina said:

Does anyone know what the average timeline for responce is from Harlequin?

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Depends on the line, the time of year, the phase of the moon, and whether Mercury is retrograde or not. And how many editors they're down at the moment.

(I'm only sort of kidding. <G>)

It also depends on what we're talking about a response for. A query letter? A partial? A full?

For a partial, I'd expect to wait about 4 months or so. For a full, expect 6-12 months.

This is a business for the patient. Too bad that's also a quality so many of us (me, included <G>) have to work so damn hard to cultivate.

And I can tell you, sometimes we pubbed folks still have to wait 2-3 months to hear on a partial.

I've had a partial out at another house for over a year now. Patience, grasshopper. <sigh> <G>

Susan G.

I've had a partial out at another house for over a year now. Patience, grasshopper. <sigh> <G>


Susan, any word on this thing yet?

Denise M