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.

Dorchester, the publishing house that brought you the American Title and Mr. Romance contests, is again looking to social networking for their next publishing contract. (Marie Claude Bourque, the winner of American Title V, will be published in February 2010.) Dorchester is bringing cell phone novels–popular in Japan–to America by inviting aspiring authors to post their novels in short increments online. Fans and readers will download, read and vote on their favorites. The winner of the NEXT BEST CELLER CONTEST earns a coveted publishing contract with a $2000 advance.

“Our increasingly fast-paced and chaotic lifestyles have created challenges for many individuals who can’t or won’t make the time to read.  Between fragmented attention spans, the enthusiasm and devotion cultivated by fan participation in reality television and the social networking revolution, we think the time is perfect to bring readers and writers together through Textnovel and we hope to discover America’s Next Best ‘Celler’.” -  Brooke Borneman, Dorchester’s Sales and Marketing Director

The serial novel was popular in the Victorian era, with now-famous authors Charles Dickens and Louisa May Alcott making a career out of it. Dorchester’s latest contest pairs Victorian romanticism and futuristic technology; Did someone say Steampunk?

The winner of the American Title V contest was announced last night at the RT Booklovers Convention in Orlando. For those of you who’ve been following the blog, you know I’ve been pulling for my writing friend, Seattle RWA member Marie-Claude Bourque. The competition was fierce, but she’d survived round after round until only two contestants were left. She did it! She wins a coveted publishing contract with Dorchester Publishing for her book ANCIENT WHISPERS. Inspired by the poem Evangeline (Longfellow, 1855), ANCIENT WHISPERS is the tale of a immortal bold sorcerer and his quest to be reunited with the fiancée he lost tragically centuries ago.

Go Seattle! Go Seattle! GO!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

How long would it take you to write a creative, compelling short story? Could you do it in a week? How about 24 hours? There are three days left to register for the Short Story Challenge 2009, an international writing competition where writers race the clock and each other to compose magic. Writers are assigned the same genre–here’s hoping it’s romance!

HOW IT WORKS:

• Anyone may compete from anywhere in the world
• There are 2 rounds
• 1st Round (January 16-24, 2009) : Writers are placed randomly in heats. Each heat is assigned a genre and a subject (ex. comedy : competing lemonade stands or horror : a family reunion).
• Writers have 1 week to write an original short story (2,500 words max).
• Winners are chosen from the 1st Round to advance to the 2nd round and compete for thousands in cash and prizes.
• 2nd Round (March 13-14, 2009) : All of the writers receive the same genre and subject at midnight (EST time) and have just 24 hours to write an original short story.
• A panel of judges review the final round stories and winners are chosen!

I don’t think I’ll participate this year, but good luck to all who do!

Your vote is needed in the second round of the American Title V Contest, sponsored by Romantic Times and Dorchester Publishing. In the last round each of the eight contestants were judged on their first lines and one was eliminated. Character descriptions of the hero and heroine are the subject of judging in the second round.

To vote, e-mail votes@romantictimes.com by December 29th, 2008 with book title in the subject line. (One vote per person. Your e-mail address will be used for the purpose of this contest only and will not be shared.)

Marie-Claude Bourque‘s paranormal romance reuniting star-crossed lovers from Acadian legend needs your votes. Email votes@romantictimes.com with “ANCIENT WHISPERS” in the subject line to vote for her!

ANCIENT WHISPERS
(Paranormal)

Heroine:

A pediatric nurse in Providence, Lily yearns for a peaceful life in her own dream home with her beloved great-aunt under her care. Purposefully ignoring her latent magical abilities, she seeks an existence far different from her unstable childhood. Can she be ready to embrace the soul of another and fulfill her legacy as the priestess of an ancient coven?

Hero:

With black curls falling over his smoky-green eyes, Gabriel Callan’s dangerous air betrays none of the turmoil brooding in his heart. Member of the Priory of Callan, a Celtic brotherhood of cursed immortal sorcerers and alchemists, each deadly and haunted by a tragic past, Gabriel remains tortured by the devastating events of the 1755 Acadian deportation. He wants nothing more than to reunite with his lost soul mate, now reborn to this century as the cool-headed Lily Bellefontaine. But is it Lily that he loves, or the memory of his lost fiancée?

Check out Marie-Claude’s Desert Island Interview or see the book trailer and read the Longfellow poem that inspired her paranormal romance.