Avon Romance Contest

*reposted with permission from Cindi Myers Market News Blog:

Avon Books is giving away $1000 to the person who comes up with the best idea for a collection of Regency-set historical novellas. The novella collection will be titled It Happened One Season and the novellas will be written by best-selling authors Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D’Alessandro and Candice Hern. You job is to come up with the theme of the stories and three major plot points.

The deadline is Valentines Day, February 14th, 2010. Go here  for rules and guidelines. .

Avon Blog
It Happened One Season Contest Page
Cindi Myers Market News Blog

Newsflash! Avon Seeking Submissions from Debut Authors

This information was posted to one of my writing lists today. Avon has decided to dedicate 2008 to finding debut authors! Take a look at their guidelines. How To Submit A Manuscript *Please note Avon's new submission policy To submit your romance or women's fiction (only), please query first. You must query by e-mail. When you do so, please put QUERY in the subject line. Due to the overwhelming amount of spam e-mail received, subject lines that have manuscript titles often do not reach the editors. Your query should be brief, no more than a two-page description of your book. Do not send chapters or a full synopsis at this time. Also, please not send attachments—THEY WILL NOT BE OPENED. You will receive a response—either a decline or a request for more material—in approximately one to two weeks. Please e-mail your query to: avonromance@harpercollins.com. Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope big enough to contain your manuscript, in case we have to return it to you. We cannot reply to submission materials without a SASE. And be sure to keep a copy of your manuscript! Please send either a query letter, or the first three chapters (50-100 pp) and a 5-10 pp synopsis of the whole story –- not the complete manuscript. If we like that partial, we will ask to see the whole manuscript. Please do e-mail manuscript submissions or query letters. Send your manuscript to any of the following Avon editors: >CarrieFeron, Executive Editor >Lucia Macro, Executive Editor >Lyssa Keusch, Senior Editor >Micki Nuding, Editor Avon Books 10 E. 53rd St. New York, NY 10022 Because of the many submissions we receive, it takes four to six weeks to answer a query letter and three to six months to evaluate a manuscript. If you haven’t received a response after that time, please drop us a postcard listing your name, address, phone number, title of manuscript, whether it was partial or complete, when you originally sent it and to whom. We look forward to receiving your submission to Avon Books Good luck! *Info via the January, 2008 Romance Writers Report & Avon Website.