Harlequin Contests & Challenges: Pitch Challenge, Patent Your Kiss Contest, Mentor Challenge

Here are a few Harlequin contests I ran across. There are some awesome opportunities for those of you who are targeting the Harlequin Nocturne Bites or Kimani lines, or if you're looking for a mentor, or looking to get your work in front of an editor or just looking to have some fun.

Have Fun & Good Luck!

"Valentine Secrets": Harlequin Mentor Challenge

How would you like to win a Mentor For A Month? Well, now is your chance! Write a Titled, 1k start to a Valentine's-themed, secret-baby romance. All other details are up to you!

Take part in our Valentine Secrets Challenge and you'll have a chance to learn from Harlequin Desire author and long-time Community Member, Tessa Radley! Tessa started out just like you, right here on the message boards, learning from authors and peers before joining the ranks of our published Harlequin authors and now she wants to give back. She has generously agreed to blind-judge all the entries and select a winner to mentor for a month. All you need to do is write the best Valentine of your life!

Go here for more info, rules and guidelines.

Harlequin Mentor Challenge

Editor Pitch Challenge: Nocturne BITES

We're at it again! And this time, we've got another of your favorite lines for you to send your dark and sexy paranormal entries too! Nocturne Bites is looking for YOUR manuscript and Associate Sr. Editor, Ann Leslie Tuttle will be on hand to take your pitch!

To enter, send a two-paragraph blurb of your manuscript to Hosty Rae by February 17th

Five entries will be chosen by Ann Leslie Tuttle and those will be announced no later than February 22nd.

Pitches will happen February 24th, at 2 pm est. But read the rules below to ensure your entry can be accepted.

• You MUST be able to enter and post inside the eHarlequin.com chat room. If you are unable to use the chat room and your submission is chosen, we will be unable to offer you another venue option and it will be unfair to an entrant who is able.
• You MUST have a completed manuscript that is targeted to Nocturne Bites. Editors have the option to request partials or fulls.
• You MUST be available at the given chat time. As stated above, we will be unable to offer another venue or time option.
• Please include your member name, your full name along with your submission.

Editor Pitch FAQs 
Editor Pitch Challenge
eHarlequin Nocturne Bites

Editor Pitch Challenge: Kimani Romance

We're at it again! And this time, we've got another of your favorite lines for you to send your sexy, dramatic, sophisticated and entertaining love story entries too! Kimani Romance is looking for YOUR manuscript and Senior Editor, Kelli Martin will be on hand to take your pitch!

To enter, send a 1-page dbl-spaced synopsis ( not to exceed 250 words ) of your manuscript to Hosty Rae by March 1

• Five entries will be chosen by Kelli Martin and those will be announced on or around March 4th.
• Pitches will happen March 9th, at 11 am est. But read the rules below to ensure your entry can be accepted.
• NO multiple submissions.
• NO Attachments. Please include your entry in the body of the email. If your submission is sent via attachment, it will not be entered.
• You MUST be able to enter and post inside the eHarlequin.com chat room. If you are unable to use the chat room and your submission is chosen, we will be unable to offer you another venue option and it will be unfair to an entrant who is able.
• You MUST have a completed manuscript that is targeted to Kimani Romance. Editors have the option to request partials or full.
• You MUST be available at the given chat time. As stated above, we will be unable to offer another venue or time option.
• Please include your member name, your full name along with your submission.  

Kimani Romance Info
Kimani Romance Editor Pitch Challenge

Patent Your Kiss Contest

So pucker up!

Next year it's not who you kiss at midnight but where

We want to hear all about your unique kiss, from romantic to downright quirky. And if yours gets the most votes, you could win a trip for two to spend New Year’s Eve 2012 in fabulous style.

3-Night, 4-Day trip for 2 to Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino + Airfare

Hurry! You have until March 30 to design and submit your kiss. The winner will be chosen from the top ten kisses with the most votes. So don’t forget to vote for your favourite kisses in the gallery too!

Contest ends 30/03/11. Click here for details.

Harlequin Patent Your Kiss Website
Patent Your Kiss Contest
Official Rules

From the Harlequin Office for the Preservation of the Kiss

The kiss is the cornerstone of romance. It can change lives, break hearts, start a rumor or ignite passion. The mission of this office is to preserve and celebrate the kiss and we have done so proudly for more than 60 years. So pucker up and come see the important work we do.

Harlequin's "So You Think You Can Write" Editorial Week

So you think you can write? Here's your chance to show us!"

Join Harlequin editors November 1st-5th for a week of insights on writing romance. They invite writers to, "come by to hone your skills and get started on the path to publication."  There will be podcasts, chats, critiques, challenges and more!

*Snipped from the Harlequin blog:

Does your imagination run wild with vivid characters? Have you ever dreamed of becoming a USA TODAY bestselling author? Well, our editors want to make those dreams come true. We are hungry to find talented new writers for Harlequin Books. Through podcasts, blogs, and discussions with our expert editors and current authors, we’re going to help you understand the appeal of the romance genre. And there’s a special daily challenge with feedback that will give some great insights into crafting the perfect story. So for the next week, come by to hone your skills and get started on the path to publication. So you think you can write? Here’s your chance to show us!

To learn more, visit the Harlequin So You Think You Can Write site.

Harlequin Medical Romance Line Seeking Submissions

Do you write Medical Romance? If so, here’s a GREAT opportunity for you. Harlequin/Mills & Boon Medical Romance is seeking submissions!

Yes, you heard (read) right. Apparently,  Harlequin/Mills & Boon editor’s are not receiving as many submissions as they’d like for their Medical Romance line, so they have put out a call for submissions.  Medical Romance’s are popular worldwide, especially in France.

From Editor Sheila Hogson posted on the Harlequin blog:

Are you an aspiring romance writer who also:

♥ Loves medical heroes – can’t get enough of Hugh Laurie’s brilliant but guarded hearted doctor, Gregory House; the irresistible charm of Grey’s Anatomy McDreamy (also known as Dr Derek Shepherd), or George Clooney’s warm-hearted but maverick pediatrician Dr Doug Ross in ER?

♥ Has longed for an opportunity to write contemporary romances set amidst the excitement, warmth and passion of today’s medical world?

♥ Is a fan of the Medical Romance series and would love to be published in this unique, globally distributed series?

If your answer to any of the above is YES, then here is a great opportunity to get your fabulous work in front of a Medical Romance editor – fast!

Harlequin®/Mills & Boon® Medical Romance™ is looking for new authors – and if you send us a first chapter, three chapters, or even a full manuscript of a romance in a medical setting, then we will give it a fast-track read…and get you a fast-tracked response this summer!

Click here to read more…

Here's what to do to get fast-tracked with your MEDICAL romance:

• Send us a cover letter with a synopsis of your story and characters (no more than two pages) along with anything from the first chapter of the story to the complete manuscript.
• In order to be eligible for fast-tracking, submissions must be received between 1st and 24th August (12.00 Midnight BST, British Summer Time) 2010.
• You must email your submission (as a Word document attachment) to mailto:medicalfasttrack%40hmb.co.uk and make sure you include your current email address in you covering letter as you will receive your response by email.

Good Luck!

Mid-Summer Madness: Fast-Tracking Har. Medical Submissions
Harlequin/Mill & Boon Medical Romance Guidelines

Harlequin Historicals Editor Pitch!

(Snipped from the eHarlequin Write Stuff forum board)

"We're at it again! And this time, we've got another of your favorite lines for you to send your roguish rakes, rugged cowboys, impetuous heiresses and spirited frontierswomen too! Harlequin Historical is looking for YOUR manuscript and Assistant Editor, Sally Williamson will be on hand to take your pitch!

To enter, send a two-paragraph blurb of your manuscript to Hosty Rae by June 3rd  

Five entries will be chosen by Sally Williamson and those will be announced no later than June 7th. 

Pitches will happen June 15th, at 11 am edt. But read the rules below to ensure your entry can be accepted.

•NO currently published works to include self-publishing. Original, non-published works ONLY please!

• You MUST be able to enter and post inside the eHarlequin.com chat room. If you are unable to use the chat room and your submission is chosen, we will be unable to offer you another venue option and it will be unfair to an entrant who is able.

• You MUST have a completed manuscript that is targeted to Harlequin Historical. Editors have the option to request partials or fulls.

• You MUST be available at the given chat time. As stated above, we will be unable to offer another venue or time option.

• Please include your member name, your full name along with your submission."

Harlequin Historical Guidelines
Editor Pitch FAQs

  For more information, visit: http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/write-stuff/editor-pitch-harlequin-historical

FREE Downloads At Harlequin Celebrates DOT com

To celebrate 60 years of pure reading pleasure from Harlequin, you can download, read and share 16 full books! To download your FREE books, go to HarlequinCelebrates.com Here's a fun little thing I discovered at the site. Put yourself in the story. Just fill in the questions and create your own, personal Harlequin Romance. Here's mine: My Harlequin Romance #1 Glamorous Socialite Carol heads across Paris, the City of Lights's most dangerous territory to break her unwanted society engagement. Only, her biggest problem isn't outlaws and killers. It's a rugged, relentless cowboy.... With a killer to catch, Moe has better things to do than escort his commander's fiery daughter. But his feisty charge is as irresistible as she is off-limits, and to protect her he'll risk his reputation, his life—and his heart. and another one... My Harlequin Romance #2 He was a poor, simple boy. She was a wealthy, feisty young lady. Though they were worlds apart, their innocent friendship bloomed into a mutual admiration. Then suddenly Moe was wrenched from Carol 's life. Now, years later, he has returned to the Grand Canyon society as an influential cowboy, determined to seek revenge on Carol 's father—and Carol herself. But she is no longer the spoiled schoolgirl Moe remembers. She is a adventurous young glamorous socialite of conviction and faith, raising a son on her own. Now Moe must look deep into his heart. For only in abandoning his thirst for revenge can he finally become the man most worthy of her love. LOL. I think I like the first one best, don't you? To get your own Harlequin Romance (blurb) and download your FREE ebooks, visit HarlequinCelebrates.com . HarlequinCelebrates.com http://www.harlequincelebrates.com/

Desire Editor Pitch Challenge

I snipped this from Harlequin.com. For those of you who are targeting Harliquin/Desire, this is a wonderful opportunity to get your foot in the door. Good Luck! We're at it again! And this time, we've got another of your favorite lines for you to send your sassy, steamy entries to! Desire is looking for YOUR manuscript and Editor Diana Ventimiglia will be on hand to take your pitch! To enter, send a 1 to 2 line logline of your manuscript to Hosty Rae by June 30th. Five entries will be chosen by Diana and those will be announced July 3rd. Pitches will happen July 15th, at 10 am EST. But read the rules below to ensure your entry can be accepted. • You MUST be able to enter and post inside the eHarlequin.com chat room. If you are unable to use the chat room and your submission is chosen, we will be unable to offer you another venue option and it will be unfair to an entrant who is able. • You MUST have a completed manuscript that is targeted to Desire. Editors have the option to request partials or fulls but aren't accepting across the board. • You MUST be available at the given chat time. As stated above, we will be unable to offer another venue or time option. • Please include your member name, your full name along with your submission. Logline Specifications Challenge Specifics: This challenge is 1 or 2 lines (as written by the author, please gramatically ensure the sentences do not run-on in order to fit more in.). This should not look like a large paragraph. Challenge Description: A logline is a 1 or 2 line description of your ENTIRE ms, primarily what marketing hooks each ms might have (ie: Beauty & The Boss, Cowboy Lover, Pregnant Bride) but it's more than that. You will need to lay out the hooks, the conflicts, the characters and the plot premise concisely. In a query, it would go at the top of the letter, for a pitch, it might be all you use, and you have a better chance of getting editorial attention if you know this skill well because they now have a speedy way of discerning what you're trying to do in the story. Also loglines help keep the query pages short and you can be more expanisive in the synop. (I've also found that if you put it all into those two lines, you now have a small thesis statement from which to build the synop itself.) EX When pregnant Lindsay Lawson is left at the altar, no one is more suprised than Hank Handler, the man she works for, that he steps in as the role of the groom. But is the handsome, quiet rancher there to help her save face...or does it have something to do with the long-standing rivalry between their families?

New Contest For Aspiring Harlequin Presents (M&B) Writers

If you're an aspiring writer who plans to target the Harlequin Presents line, this is a great opportunity for you. I write single title, so this contest won't help me, but the writing tutorials on the site will! For those of you who write category - you don't want to miss this! This comes from Executive Editor Tessa Shapcott and it's all about the special contest that Presents (M&B Modern) is running for not yet published writers. Here's what Tessa has to say: INSTANT SEDUCTION A brand new writing competition from the world’s best-selling romance series is about to hit the blogosphere! It’s an exciting time for Harlequin Presents: from January 2008, there will be 12 of our intensely passionate romances available every month. And with this increase of titles comes a great opportunity for aspiring authors – we will be looking to buy more books for publication! The old saying goes that first impressions are lasting impressions – and when it comes to reading a Harlequin Presents, that certainly holds true. If the first chapter doesn’t immediately grip the reader with its pace, passion and intensity, then she won’t continue to turn the pages. So Presents is inviting unpublished writers to show us how they can grab the attention of our readership with first chapters that really sizzle. The INSTANT SEDUCTION competition offers prizes that are chances of a lifetime for the lucky winner and runners-up:

• *First prize – win yourself an editor for a year!
• *Two runners-up will be given editorial critiques of their first chapter entries and also a personal telephone consultation about their writing!

Visit the Iheartpresents.com blogsite for full details of the competition – and the chance to prepare for publication with an exclusive series of writing tutorials prepared by the editorial team at Harlequin Presents, including advice on First Chapters, How to Write a Synopsis, Loving the Alpha Male and Generating Emotional Conflict. Entries for the competition will be accepted as on-line submissions only from 1st January until 14th February 2008. Entries should comprise of the first chapter and a synopsis of a previously unpublished/unsubmitted novel aimed at Harlequin Presents. Address for entries: instantseduction@hmb.co.uk Any further details, and lots of helpful hints on how to write for Harlequin Presents, M&B Modern can be found over on the I heart Presents blog. I wish the best of luck to those of you who enter!