Many big name authors started out writing for the Harlequin and Silhouette category lines, including Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockmann, Cherry Adair and Susan Mallory. Do you aspire to join their ranks? The Presents line features ruthless billionaires, greek tycoons and many secret babies. Alpha males at their brawniest and the women who tame them. I have often thought this would be a fun line to write for.

Harlequin Presents/Modern Heat guidelines
Length: 50,000 words

Upmarket, glossy and sharply contemporary, these stories sparkle with lively dialogue and sizzling sensuality! They offer all the international glamour, passion and alpha-male heroes you expect from Modern/Presents, with a flirty young voice and a whole load of sass! These entertaining romances reflect the life experiences of today’s young women, within a chic, glamorous and usually urban setting. The heroines are often your twenty-something girl-about-town but there’s no compromising on the hero: he must be very alpha and absolutely to die for! There’ll be sparks flying when these two meet—and nothing short of fireworks once they get to the bedroom!

I Heart Presents Contest details:

1. The competition entry must consist of either the first chapter and synopsis of a Harlequin Presents or Modern Heat novel
2. Please email your entry to writingcompetition@hmb.co.uk
3. The WINNER receives an editor for a year
4. TWO RUNNERS-UP will be given critiques of their first chapter entries and an editorial consultation
5. The competition will close on November 2nd 2009 and the winner will be announced in December 2009 on I Heart Presents
6. More detailed rules will be added to I Heart Presents on July 9

PS: I’m passing this information on, but I have no involvement in the contest. Please visit the I Heart Presents blog for all your contest needs.

Romance is the most maligned genre of literature, despite being the highest grossing. How do publishers afford multi-million dollar contracts for first time literary fiction authors? On the backs of romance. We, romance readers, are the most loyal fans. We are powering through the recession, earning even more profits for Harlequin despite the buying downturn through the rest of the economy. Unfortunately, most people who criticize the genre as “bodice-rippers” and “crotch novels” have never read one. I’ll leave the eloquent arguments to Smart Bitches who Love Trashy Books and Dear Author. Check out the stats on romance readers from the Romance Writers of America to see that we’re a highly diverse, highly educated bunch. Escapist fantasies? What book, besides a textbook, isn’t an escapist fantasy? That’s what reading is. That’s what TV and movies are. ENTERTAINMENT.

Romance novels are delicious. Nom…nom…nomnomnomnomnom.

What I want to share with you now is the time honored wisdom: Don’t Knock it till You’ve Tried it

Here are 13 recommended books (all of which I’ve read and loved) in each subgenre of your reading persuasion. Go ahead, try one. I double-dog dare ya.

1. Contemporary: This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
2. Paranormal: Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
3. Historical: It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
4. Regency: The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne
   
5. Science-Fiction: Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair
6. Fantasy: The Moon Witch by Linda Winstead Jones
7. Suspense: Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard
8. Young Adult: Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith (sigh, or Twilight…but who’s left who hasn’t read it?)
9. Women’s Fiction: Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
10. Erotica: Go Fetch! by Shelly Laurenston
11. Contemporary Category Romance: Marriage at the Millionaire’s Command by Anne Oliver
12. Paranormal Category Romance: Raintree Inferno by Linda Howard
13. Suspense Category Romance: Strangers in the Night by Kerry Connor

I heart eHarlequin. Not only do they have excellent writing guides and fabulous online sales, but they keep giving away free eBooks like it’s going out of style. It’s Christmas time again!!! If you missed the Harlequin free book a day over the holidays, or you’re like me and just want moooore, check out the Harlequin Celebrates site to download 16 free ebooks. That’s right SIXTEEN FREE EBOOKS. I am in heaven!

I’d like to draw your attention to two of the 16 offerings:

SNOWBOUND by Janice Kay Johnson
2008 RITA® Award for Contemporary Series Romance!!!
How can you go wrong with a Seattle RWA member and a RITA-winning book???

When a blizzard strands Fiona MacPherson and her students in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, their only hope of survival is to seek shelter at Thunder Mountain Lodge. Their host is John Fallon, a handsome, enigmatic war veteran haunted by secrets and scars that may never heal.

John Fallon never imagined he’d be playing host to this captivating teacher and her eight teenage charges. But when his solitude is shattered by their arrival, his world shifts on its axis. He needs Fiona—but does she need him? There’s only one way to find out. The ex-soldier must find the courage to reach out to the remarkable woman who has transformed his life…

SLOW HANDS by Leslie Kelly
I recently discovered author Leslie Kelly when her hubby friended me on Twitter. (Let the record show that Twitter is useful for promotion!) Ms. Kelly’s Harlequin Blaze book DON’T OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS was fabulously hot, witty and delightfully romantic. I was swept off my feet by the story and laughed out loud at the sharp dialog. Ms. Kelly has won a fan and I can’t wait to read her free offering from Harlequin. (I would have bought Slow Hands along with her other eBooks yesterday if the eharlequin site hadn’t failed on me. Free is better!)

This is Maddy Turner’s lucky day. The civilized society girl just bid on sexy rogue Jake Wallace at a charity bachelor auction—and won! But Maddy knows Jake’s dirty little secret. And it should keep her from trying out her new boy toy. Too bad she can’t stop herself from indulging in raw, quite uncivilized sex all the same….

Jake Wallace is utterly bewitched by Maddy—and utterly bewildered. How can this tantalizing woman melt so rapturously under his ministrations one moment, then turn into a haughty queen the next? He’s determined to get to the bottom of Maddy’s agenda. One slow, delicious inch at a time…

Let’s Celebrate!

Smart Women Read eBooks

I took the survey and you should too. The results will be used for the “Smart Women Read eBooks” panel being presented at the Tools of Change Conference in New York, February 9 through 11, 2009. The presenters (including Kassia from Booksquare, Sarah from SBTB, and Harlequin’s Malle Vallik) would like to get a sense of how women read ebooks, what you like/dislike about digital text, and what you want from ebook publishers.