Changes in Harlequin/Silhouette Lines

Hey, everyone. Just thought I'd offer a heads' up. Information today came out that Harlequin is making more changes to its lines. As of Sept. 2006, the Harlequin Romance and Silhouette Romance lines will cease publication.

A new, 6-book-per-month line, based in the UK, will be started the same month to "replace" the two lines. Guidelines for the new, as-yet-unnamed line, will be available soon - keep checking on eHarlequin, where I imagine they will be available as soon as possible. For now I know they want something more romance (i.e. focused on the couple, not secondary characters), more emotional, more heroine-centered than hero-centered, no sexual explicitness, wordly (not just set in NA) and should not have a small-town mentality. Hero and heroine should be equals, and the heroine should not need rescuing.

Anyone who has a submission currently in at Sil Rom or H. Rom, now you know what will be happening there. If you recently received a rejection from one of these lines, well, the good news is it doesn't necessarily reflect at all on your writing.

Susan G.

Sheryl Nantus said:

wow - that's some BIG changes...

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Yep. I think Harlequin Romance was the "original" line.

Somehow I don't think the changes are over, either. I have no reason to say that other than gut feeling.

Susan G.

Fern said:

Thanks for the heads up.

I'm curious about what they mean regarding "small town mentality".

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Fern, I think what they mean by that is this new line will not be looking for books that are small-town set, wherein the town sort of becomes a character. There are other lines (Harlequin American, some Superromances, some Special Editions, some Desires) that are very small-town oriented. For this line, they don't want that. For one thing they want a tight focus on the hero and heroine and their developing relationship, which is actually quite common for a short contemporary. When you only have 50-55,000 words to tell your story, that's pretty much a necessity.

They want this line to be more worldly and glamorous, I think. As I said, the new guidelines should be posted soon.

Susan G.