Hachette Book Group / Grand Central Publishing

"Publishers in the Hachette Book Group (including Grand Central Publishing, Business Plus, FaithWords, Center Street, Mystery, Orbit, Little, Brown and Company, Back Bay Books, Bulfinch, Springboard Press, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) are not able to consider unsolicited manuscript submissions and unsolicited queries. Many major publishers have a similar policy. Unsolicited manuscripts, submissions and queries will not be answered and the publisher will have the right to destroy any unsolicited material or mail without returning to the sender."

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/customer_faqs.aspx#2-6

No problem, it is hard to find within the website, I used Google.

Anyone have experience with Grand Central Publishing? One of their editors is judging a contest I was considering entering and I was wondering if it was worth the $30 entrance fee to get my work in front of her. . .

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/publishing_grand-central-publishing.aspx

They were formerly Warner Books so I'm guessing yes. . . any thoughts?

They do publish some great writers -- but the ones I know about, got to Hachette via agents. I don't know that I'd pay $30 to enter a contest for
them. Is the contest actually sponsored by Hachette, or is the editor just
moonlighting? Since they're already closed-off from unagented submissions,
this seems like a rather heartless way to generate extra cash from desperate
writers.

Filigree

Oh no, nothing like that.

It's the Marlene Awards sponsored by the Washington Romance Writers.

http://www.wrwdc.com/ee/index.php/marlene_awards

Basically you pay the $30 contest fee, send a synopsis and the first 35 pages and the judge is one of the Grand Central editors.

At first when I researched them, I was curious to see if Grand Central was a POD publisher, but then when I saw that they're part of a big publisher, I was wondering if they were a new imprint or if anyone had any thoughts on if this was a good deal.

I've been looking at a lot of contests and some of the prizes are being read by an agents. I always dismiss those because I can get read by an agent without paying a $30 fee. I tend to enter the contests that have a MS critique as a prize or in this case an editor who I couldn't normally reach by myself.

I'm still going back and forth with myself to see if it's worth the $30 entrance fee or not. I'm leaning towards no . . . but having that to put on my writing resume (assuming I win,place or show) might be something to think about. feh.

When Time Warner sold the book group in 2006, Warner Books had to change its name. They actually had until 2011 to do it, but got it done early and became Grand Central in 2007. There's a New York Times article on the name change here.

Hope that helps a little!

Grand Central is a big player. I know about them because they published Jacqueline Carey's first books. It sounds like a legitimate contest, then, and might be worth your $30. At the very least, you'll get your work in front of capable judges.

Filigree

Thanks for the information everyone!!!

Jamie, only the top 3 entries (finalists) in each category will be judged by the editors. Otherwise, the first round judges are unpublished or published authors who usually give decent feedback, which might be worth the entry fee.

Grand Central is definitely a big player.

Grand Central Publishing / Forever Yours

Next month, Grand Central launches a new digital-only imprint for romance.

Sounds promising, IMHO.

http://books.usatoday.com/happyever...l-announces-new-digital-only-imprint/607478/1

They will be accepting unagented submissions. The linked article above lists a submission address.

Seems like everyone wants in on the romance ebook market....

Yup.

Penguin/Berkley also launched, or is launching this month, a digital imprint: InterMix. Not sure how separated that one is, though -- they don't seem to be taking submissions, just possibly directing some of the authors they contract into the program.

Right now they've only published a handful of Nora Roberts' backlist that haven't been available before in ebook format.

Anyone submit yet?

I submitted on January 19th. No news yet...

Bethy,

You submitted via that email address in the orginial news article? I haven't seen an imprint page come up on Grand Central's site for more information like who to address the query to, etc.

The Forever Yours Facebook page has the updated guidelines (including how to format your manuscript) and the submission address.

Their submission guidelines are on their Facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/ForeverRomance

I subbed on 2/4...I'll let you know if and when I hear anything.

Thank you, mlhernandez!!!!

HAHA! Thank you, Erin!

Well, now you have it twice!

I would assume this is royalty only?

Thanks for posting the link.

triceretops said:

I would assume this is royalty only?

Click to expand...

That's my assumption...like most other digital publishers.