Over at the BookEnds, LLC blog, Jessica Faust said:
"Kim said that the one thing she’s hearing over and over is that romance editors are excited about the resurgence of interest in historicals. It seems everyone is hunting for new, fresh historical romance voices so you historical authors should get cracking. You’re in demand again!"
Ohhh, I got goosebumps! I have a feeling that something goods about to happen. I really do. I've had this feeling for the past six months and it's getting stronger.
She also had a post on submission guidelines. She said they've changed in the past year, so if you're planning on sending a query and you haven't checked the guidelines lately, she suggests you do so before mailing out that query.
Head on over to the Bookends blog and see what else Jessica Faust has to say.
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In the October 21, 2207 edition of Cindy Myer's Market News Newsletter, Cindy did a Spotlight on Dorchester Books from the RWA National Conference.
Here's what she said:
The Spotlight on Dorchester was presented by Editor Leah Hultenschmidt and Senior Editor Chris Keeslar.
"Dorchester is one of the oldest independent publishers, in business since 1971," Chris said in his introduction to the company. Dorchester publishes all varieties of mass market paperback fiction (and a little bit of trade and hardcover fiction.)
They are not a small press and have wide distribution in all major outlets.
They publish all genres — westerns, thrillers, horror, science fiction and fantasy, romance, and detective fiction. Romance is the major part of their list. They have a number of bestselling authors on their romance list. They also buy a number of new authors each year.
They have three romance editors on staff. Each authors gets individualized attention. They can react quickly to changes in the market and are willing to try new things.
The acquisition process is streamlined. There’s no huge editorial board that has to approve acquisitions. “We don’t pay as large an advance as some larger companies,” Chris said. “But that allows us to take chances.”
They buy books they love. Each year they do a contest for new writers in conjunction with Romantic Times — the American Title contest.
“We like to publish things that are different, that don’t fit into any particular categories,” Chris said. “Books that really touch nerves.”
"Things that don’t pigeonhole well are perfect books for Dorchester,” added Leah.
Historical romance continues to be strong for them.
They do all kinds of different settings and time periods from ancient times through the 1930s and 1940s: Americana, Victorian, Scottish, British Colonial, World War II, Native American historicals.
They were one of the first houses to publish paranormal romance. They do dark and light paranormal, historical and contemporary.
Dorchester publishes contemporary romance “with a twist.” They do very little straight contemporary romance. There should be a touch of paranormal or mystery or something that makes it different and unique. Chris prefers contemporary romance with strong humorous elements.
They’ve also published a lot of humorous romantic mysteries. They publish romantic suspense — darker, fast-paced and “thrilleresque.” There must be a suspenseful, valid mystery and a believable romance.
Editorial Director Alicia Condon is especially interested in romantic suspense. Dorchester has always published futuristic romance and continues to do so. This is a special interest of Chris’s. He doesn’t see enough of this.
All the editors work on all the different sub-genres and authors may submit to any of them. If something comes in that doesn’t work for them that they know will work for another editor, they will pass it on.
If your work doesn’t get passed on to someone else you’re probably wasting your time to re-submit to a different editor at Dorchester.
Dorchester publishes African-American romance, edited by Monica Harris.
If you want to subscribe to Cindy's Market Newsletter, you can do so by by sending a blank email to:
Posted with permission per Cynthia Sterling Market News Newsletter
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As I mentioned in a previous post, on the Monday, October 8, 2007 Bookends, LLC Blog post, Jessica Faust said:
"An editor at St. Martin's also told me recently that they would love to find a really great Western historical romance. Great news for lovers of this genre"
I just love hearing that. :)
Here's the link to that post:
http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/
Happy Writing!
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