Lessard Public Relations Blog

Contest Rules                                           *Permission to forward*

2009 New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award

Contest Rules and Entry Form:

The 2009 New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award- * A provisional contest- for published authors to award excellence in published romance fiction. The contest is judged exclusively by readers, librarians and booksellers. The first place winners in each category are awarded $50.00 and a certificate. The second and third place winners in each category are awarded a certificate. This info is also on our website www.necrwa.org

Eligibility:

-            Open to any member in good standing of the Romance Writers of America (membership verified).

-            Books must have a 2008 copyright date and must be received by January 7, 2009.

-            Entry fee is $25 for each title submitted. An author may submit more than one 2008 released book with separate entry form and fee for each title.

-            Author must submit three autographed copies of the entered book. Books will not be returned.

-            E-books accepted in printed form-loose. No novellas or anthologies, please.

-            Finalists will be notified by February 27, 2009.

-            Winners announced at our 2009 Let Your Imagination Take Flight Conference, March 27-28, 2009.

Categories for entry:*

Short Contemporary (50,000 to 70,000 words)

Long Contemporary (over 70,000 words)

Romantic Suspense

Historical

Erotic Romance

Futuristic; Fantasy; Paranormal or Time Travel

*Any category with less than ten entries will be incorporated into another category. If possible, entrants should suggest an alternate category.

Judging:

-            All entries will be judged by readers, librarians or booksellers.

-            Judges give each entry a score of 3-10 (10 being the highest).

-            The books are given to the judges as thank you gifts for judging. They are not returned to the author.

-            The judges’ decisions are final.

*Provided this contest is successful it will become an annual event.

Send entries (three autographed copies of book + $25 entry fee, made payable to NEC, and entry form) to: Valerie Harris,

Any questions, please call the contest coordinator, Valerie Harris, 781-874-0771 or email: vharris94@comcast.net.

Contest Entry Form                                                   *Permission to forward*

New England Chapter Romance Writers of

2009 New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award

2009 New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award

Author’s Name:________________________________________________________

Pen Name (If applicable:_________________________________________________

Address:______________________________________________________________

City:_________________________________________________________________

State:________________________________________________________________

Zip:_________________________________________________________________

Phone:_______________________________________________________________

E-mail:_______________________________________________________________

RWA Membership number:______________________________________________

Category:____________________________________________________________

Book Title:___________________________________________________________

Send entries (three autographed copies of book + $25 entry fee + entry form) to:

Valerie Harris,

– by January 7, 2009. 

Any questions, please call the contest coordinator, Valerie Harris, 781-874-0771 or email: vharris94@comcast.net.

Make checks payable to “NEC”

DO NOT WRITE BELOW 

____ 3 autographed books      _____ 2008 pub date              _____ RWA member              _____ fee rec’d  

E-books sales have not slowed down, they are on the rise. According to the International Digital Publishing Forum in conjunction with the Association of American Publishers retail sales of e-books reached $31.8 million in 2007. Sales increased 59 percent more than the $20 million in 2006 sales. Sales in 2005 were $10.8 million and in 2004 were $10 million. 

For more information on the technology and the sales of e-books http://www.gazette.net/stories/031408/businew193926_32377.shtml

Congratulations to the following 2008 RWA Award Recipients:

• RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award – Vicki Lewis Thompson
• RWA Emma Merritt Service Award – Linda Winstead Jones
• RWA Service Award – Jill Limber, Nicole Burnham
• RWA Vivian Stephens Industry Award – Sue Grimshaw, Romance Buyer, Borders Group Inc.
• RWA Steffie Walker Bookseller of the Year Award – Dianne Defonce, Borders, Fairfield, Connecticut
• RWA Librarian of the Year – Susan Gibberman, Schaumburg Township District Library, Schaumburg, IL
• RWA Veritas Award — no nominations submitted.
• The RWA Grant recipient for 2008-2009 is Sarah S. G. Frantz, Assistant Professor of Literature, Fayetteville State University.

LeeAnn Lessard from Lessard Public Relations will be giving a workshop on “Demystification of a Marketing Plan That Works on All Financial Levels” at the New England Conference.  The New England RWA Chapter is hosting this event on April 11-12, 2008 in Natick, MA.  Susan Wiggs will be the keynote speaker, Susan Brockman the luncheon speaker and Virginia Kantra will host the extra workshop open to the first 100 registrants.

For more information and to register for the conference go to New England Conference

Listen up!!

Tired of submitting to slush piles and getting rejected before the editors even see it?

Want a chance to get your book before a print editor???
Want a guaranteed that the editor actually reads it?
You don’t ever get that request for a FULL manuscript??

Well here is your chance!!

Win a chance to have your completed or nearly completed manuscript read and receive a one page critique from

Hilary Sares
Kensington editor
(Debut, Brava, Approdisia lines)

YES!!!!

FIFTEEN people will win this amazing opportunity.

Yes, 15 people will have their full or nearly completed manuscripts read and will receive a one page critique from editor Hilary Sares.

How do you win this amazing chance??

RAFFLE — $100 per entry.
Enter as many times as you want.
(all money is going to a worthy cause)
~~~~~~~~~ Rules: ~~~~~~~~~

You may enter as many times as you want at $100 a “ticket”. The more times you enter, the better your chances are.

Winners will be randomly selected from a drawing of names.
on December 21st, 2007

~~~~~~~~ What do you get? ~~~~~~~~

15 people with completed or nearly completed manuscripts (any genre!) will have their manuscript read
by Hilary Sares (Impress her and she could even want to buy you ~~ if you are what she’s looking for!)
All 15 will get a one page critique of their manuscript.

But that is not all….

RUNNERS up will get….

2nd place Runners up…. (#16 and #17 winners)

Chris Keeslar
Senior Editor, Dorchester Publishing
(Leisure Books and Love Spell)
~~ will read and critique 100 pages ~~
you get to put a proposal of 100 pages before Dorchester’s editor, and receive 1 page critique.
Again, he will consider buying if you impress him!
(Historical Romances, Magna, Contemporary, Paranormal)

Leah Hultenschmidt
Editor for Dorchester Publishing
(Leisure Books and Love Spell)

~~ will read and critique a 100 pages ~!
you get to put a proposal of 100 pages before Dorchester’s editor,
and receive 1 page critique. Again, she will consider buying if you impress her!
(Historical Romances, Contemporary, Paranormal)
3rd place Runner up (#18, #19, #20 and #21 winners)

Leanne Burroughs
Publisher/Editor of Highland Press, will read and critique 4 full manuscripts -the publisher/owner of
Highland Press will read and giveeach a 1 page critique.
Again, she will consider buying.

(Historical Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary,
Mainstreams YA, Childrens)Trade size PRINT Books

Details….The raffle runs through midnight EST December 15, 2007

The random drawing will be held on: December 21, 2007

So 21 people will have a very Merry Christmas!!! Winners will be notified by phone and email on that day.

All monies raised go to help author Dawn Thompson’s hospital and medical bills. Dawn recently had a bad fall. She’s been
in the hospital and will be there a week or two more. She is on a limited income, is a new writer so has to wait for nearlya year or more to start receiving her royalties. She doesn’t have family to help herand has a lot of needs not being covered by her insurance. Money will go to help her pay for medicine not covered, and other needs arising from her recovery.

All drawings will be final. No Refunds

Any questions about the contest email
Deborah Macgillivray
Kensington, Dorchester, & Highland Press author
writer@deborahmacgillivray.co.uk

To enter

Name:

email address (working email addy for you will be billed $100 through Paypal):
Penname, if any:

Your full address:

Your Phone number:

The Title of your manuscript:

The genre of your manuscript:

Is your manuscript completed? Yes NO

If no - expected completion date

Once your email application is received you will be sent a “ticket” bill through Paypal at $100.00 for each entry.
You pay enter has many times as you want to increase your odds.

You will be helping a fellow writer get back on her feet after trauma, and you finally get that GUARATEED
chance to be read by some top print editors.

This note from Hilary Sares:
I promise a two-week turnaround or less for all the winners.

Once an author has signed with Sourcebooks what is she/he expected to do to promote their book?

Our authors work with our PR and marketing departments to create as many promotion opportunities as possible.  

What does Sourcebook do to promote their authors and romance fiction titles?

*Ads in Romantic Times and Romance sells*Bookstore promotion when possible (New Release table, etc.)*hundreds of ARCs to librarians and booksellers and pre-publication reviewers*extensive web marketing*PR plans based on individual books/authors 

Is a marketing plan needed or welcomed with a submission to Sourcebooks?

Always welcomed, but not needed. 

Your website mentions that you have a large distribution. Can you elaborate on that and explain how this will help sell more of your titles? 

We distribute to the book trade, gift trade, wholesale and library markets, academic markets, online retailers, mass market retailers, airport stores, and international wholesalers. We have a sales force in-house of about a dozen people managing key accounts and markets, 30 commissioned reps in the independent book market and about 110 in the gift trade. This kind of distribution assures that all books are presented to all accounts and gives the books the best shot at reaching the broadest possible audience. 

Are your books available in bookstore shelves in bookstores in the

All the major bookstores in North America and extensively in the UK, Australia,

How long have you been publishing romance fiction books?

The Fall 2007 is our first season, but I’ve been acquiring over the past year and a half. 

What kind of romances are you looking for and what aren’t you interested in?

Single title (minimum 90,000 words) in all subgenres: time travel, paranormal, historical, contemporary, romantic suspense, erotic romance. 

How many titles per year are you planning to publish for the next few years?

15-20 

What are your submission guidelines?

Attached in a separate document—or email me deb.werksman@sourcebooks.com and I’ll email them to people, or visit our website www.sourcebooks.com 

Does an author need to have an agent in order for your publishing house to look over their work or will you also take unagented submissions?

We will take unagented submissions 

Will you consider previously published books?

Only with a very strong sales history 

When you look at a new submission what exactly are you looking for? Good voice, story, characters?

*a hero I can fall in love with (or who makes me appreciate my husband J)*a heroine to whom I can relate (I LOVE an unusual heroine)*a world is created

*I can talk about what makes it special in just a sentence or two

I had the pleasure of interviewing Deb Werksman, romance editor of Sourcebooks to find out more about Sourcebooks and what they are looking for.  I’ll be splitting the interview over the next few days.

Who is Sourcebooks?

Sourcebooks is a 20-year-old general trade publishing company. We are the largest woman-owned independent publishing house in the US, and one of the fastest growing indies.  

What genre of fiction are you currently publishing?

We publish commercial fiction, women’s fiction, Jane Austen sequels, and romance fiction. 

Who is your target audience/reader?

For romance fiction, our audience is a 25+ female readership. 

What are some of your up coming romance fiction titles?

We’re very excited about:*No Regrets (Fall 2007), a Regency romance with a most unusual heroine (she’s fat and wears glasses, and can’t believe that she’s driving the hero wild with desire!). *Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake (Fall 2007), a time-travel with a modern career woman thrust back in time into the social whirl of the Regency period and the arms of an unscrupulous rake!*The Cat Slave Chronicles (Spring 2007), a paranormal/sci-fi romance with a hero from a planet where the inhabitants have a feline gene—he purrs, he likes to rub up against you, he’s gorgeous and sinuous and he has some really unusual, um, equipment…*SEALed with a Kiss (Spring 2007), with a Navy SEAL hero who reluctantly accepts the heroine’s help to connect with his young son. In the process, she discovers that even a hero needs help sometimes, and he discovers a new definition for “high maintenance.”*50 Ways to Hex Your Lover (Spring 2007), a fun, funny paranormal from Linda Wisdom, who’s written 70 romances and sold over 13 million books.*New trade paper releases of Georgette Heyer Regency romances (Cotillion, Fall 2007; False Colours, Spring 2008) and historical fiction (An Infamous Army, Fall 2007; The Spanish Bride, Spring 2008).   

Announcing the Opal Carew Erotic Romance Contest!

Authors
Do you want a chance to get your work in front of Rose Hilliard, the
Acquiring Editor for erotic romance for St. Martin’s Press?

Readers
Do you want a chance to sample the work of some future best-selling
authors?

Opal Carew’s debut novel will be released from St. Martin’s Press in
July as part of their new venture into erotic romance and she wants to
share her good fortune with other aspiring authors.

Authors can submit entries until May 31, 2007. Entries will be posted
for readers to enjoy as they are received, probably beginning in
mid-April. The top three entries will be selected and sent to Rose
Hilliard, the Acquiring Editor for erotic romance for St. Martin’s
Press, by the end of June.

To enter, come to
http://www.opalcarew.com/writing_contest_entryform.html
to see complete contest details and enter your first chapter.

To read, come to
http://www.opalcarew.com/writing_contest_entryindex.html
and enjoy all the fabulous entries.

In honor of Writers Post Journal third anniversary we are hosting our first paranormal romance novella contest with Lachesis Publishing (www.lachesispublishing.com).  There are three categories: Romantic Fantasy, Futuristic Romance and Paranormal Romance. Romance must be an element, but may not be the major element, of the plot. The first place and second place winners in each category will be published in trade paperback and e-book by Lachesis Publishing. Third place winners will be featured in a year-long serial in the Writers Post Journal.  The cost of the contest is $10 USD per entry. All entries must be received by May 15, 2006. Any entries received after this date will be refused and would be participants will be advised with an e-mail.
 
For more information http://www.lbfbooks.com/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=6
 
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Johnston
Editor, Writers Post Journal
Publisher, LBF Books
www.lbfbooks.com