Why It Doesn't Suck To Miss Out On The Top 21

What does Nora Roberts, Stephenie Meyers, Charlaine Harris, Stephen King and Amanda Hocking all have in common?

They’ve all been rejected.

MULTIPLE TIMES.

If you’re one of the 1069 who are licking their wounds today, having not made it into the Top 21 of Mills and Boon’s New Voices competition perhaps it’s because you’re following in the publication footsteps of the greats. People are going to try and kill each other to get to your new release first. That’s something to look forward to.

Of course, what’s going to happen in the future doesn’t help you right now, but this list of rejected authors might. I’ve started with #43 the Queen of romance herself, Nora Roberts, but the other links are in the sidebar. Find Nora and others here.

And remember, the editors haven't had the opportunity of reading a synopsis of your story and they can’t know how fabulous it really is. So, make sure you polish up your partial and send it off. Mills and Boon just bought a new author from last year’s competition and she didn’t make the Top 10 or the additional list of entries they requested more work from. Imagine what she would have missed out on if she hadn’t gone on and submitted anyway?

There’s also a lot less pressure on this side of the fence. You don’t have six days to churn out a perfect second chapter. The words “pivotal moment” aren’t going to make you hyperventilate. And you won’t be having dreams of giant roses eating your house.

You can be polishing while you’re wallowing so that you can get that partial into an editor’s hands ASAP.

For inspiring words from Mills and Boon authors check out:

Jessica Hart

Maisey Yates

Happy submitting and congratulations to this year's Top 21!

The Wall of Fame: Yolande Pienaar

Today, we have another addition to The New Voices Wall of Fame 2011!  Please welcome Yolande Pienaar who submitted a Contemporary Romance entry yesterday. Congrats, Yolande!


Check out her blurb:

Veterinarian Laura Westbrook landed herself the receptionist job at a luxury lodge, but writer Grant Smith seems determined to get her fired. Despite hating his methods, Laura finds herself fighting to protect her heart as well as her job.

Grant is a hero on a mission but he may have bitten off more than he can chew because Laura's more than a pretty face.  Find out who wins in this battle of the sexes at:His Vet's Choice (Contemporary Romance) by Yolande Pienaar

Happy writing!

The Wall of Fame: Caroline Hartin

I'm very excited to introduce our first Histroical New Voices entry.  A huge congratulations to Caroline Hartin (also known by fellow bloggers as Caroline Storer but shhh she's being sneaky ;-)  ).


Check out her awesome blurb:

Roman charioteer, Aulus Epidius Marsallas, had once loved Justina Philipus. But then she'd betrayed him. Now six years later the Fates have brought them together once more, and this time Marsallas wants revenge.


Find out what happens when a sexy (super sexy!), Roman charioteer has his desire for revenge sparked at:

Mistress to the Roman (Historical) by Caroline Hartin

Happy writing!

New Voices Competition Update 2

Are you obsessively checking the New Voices competition site? Perhaps you've even thrown in your attempt to cover your tracks and set it as your home page.  I tell you what, I'm tempted.  I'm really tempted.  And I haven't even entered!

The rose bombings disappoint me, not because I wasn't expecting them, but wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where people weren't compelled to do that sort of thing.  *Sigh* I'll watch a Disney video later...  Does anyone else expect the rose terrorists haven't read the fine print?  Round one is all about the judges so they should really be thinking along the lines of three new sports cars in Tessa, Mandy and Jodie's favorite colors.  Heck, bribing me would probably be more effective than their current strategy (and by all means give it a go ;-) ).

There's just nine days left in the competition and only twelve until the top twenty announcement!  (There's also eleven until my birthday but I don't think that's going to influence Amazon's new Kindle November release dates...).

Currently, there are a whopping 466 entries, that's 31 new entries per working day (we're not including weekends because they're not uploading on weekends) and 240 of those are Contemporary Romance.

I think we know what the favorite category is.

What's fascinating to me is where the Passion section is ranking.  I really thought it would be more popular.  For now, the rankings stand at:

Contemporary Romance (51.6%)

Paranormal (10.7%)

Warm and Cosy (10.5%)

Historical (10.3%)

Romantic Suspense (9.4%)

Passion (7.5%)

It will be interesting to see what the final numbers are.

If you haven't entered yet and are still hovering over the submit button, worried about all the rose terrorists and nasty commenters, just think about all the fabulous comments that you're missing.  They'll make you feel all warm and gooey inside.  It's worth it for that alone. Besides, the psychos are few and far between ;-)

If you aren't already, remember to keep an eye on the Top Tips and News sections of the NV site for information straight from romance mothership.

Also, Mills and Boon have also put together a book for writers who are targeting their lines and entering the competition. I really enjoyed the section of the heroine's BFF.  If you haven't already, you can download it for FREE (woot!) here.

Plus, find out what Desire's Senior Editor, Stacy Boyd, gets done in a day (wow!) and her advice for aspiring authors at Wynter Daniels' blog.

I hope everyone involved in the September 30K challenge is recovering well. If you didn't quite reach your goal or haven't finished your WIP, Maya Blake, is doing 20K in 20 days for October.  Join in here. 

Happy writing!

The Wall of Fame: Marcy Bassett-Kennedy

I'm very excited to introduce our first Warm and Cosy New Voices entry today.  Marcy Bassett-Kennedy's entry went live on September 26.  Congrats, Marcy!


Check out her blurb:

Tara Reilly is determined to be made a partner in her father's real estate development firm. Ecologist Carter Donovan is leading the protest against the most important project of Tara's career. Can she get him on her side without losing her heart?



Find out what happens when Marcy's spunky heroine finds herself face-to-face with a bat at:

Finding Love at Erie's Edge (Warm & Cosy) by Marcy Bassett-Kennedy

Happy writing!

The Wall of Fame: Sri Pammi

We have another New Voices Wall of Fame addition, today!  Fellow Minx, Sri Pammi, hit the submit button yesterday.  She's our second entry in the Passion category and her chapter has a killer first line.

Check out her blurb:

Only one man can help Zara Kennedy escape the marriage orchestrated by her father- Damian Delgado, the man she had once loved and betrayed. But for Damien to help her, Zara knows she has to make an offer he can't resist.

You'll love Sri's sassy heroine and her bargain for her freedom.  Find out what it will cost her at:

The Price of Freedom (Passion) by Sri Pammi

Happy writing!

The Wall of Fame: Susie Medwell

Today's New Voices Wall of Fame addition is Susie Medwell who submitted on the very first day!  She's not only a brave soul, she's also our first member in the Passion category.

Check out her blurb:

Property tycoon Michel Guinot is out for revenge, but when he discovers that feisty Zara Stone stands in his way, will passion win or will he destroy everything she's fought for?

If you love sizzling chemistry, then you'll love:

Her Dangerous Defiance (Passion) by Susie Medwell

 
 
Loads of luck Susie and happy writing! 
 

New Voices Blog Badges Are Here!

There’s only few days left until the launch of the 2011 Mills & Boon New Voices Competition and I’m thrilled to have my internet connection back just in time. 

Today, I’m unveiling the New Voices blog badges for 2011.  These badges can link your blog directly to your entry to help people find your chapter.   You can find them at the bottom of this post along with instructions on how save and insert them into your blog and what to do if they won't centre or fit in your sidebar.  If you have any trouble, please let me know in the comments because I'm happy to help.

From September 13^th the New Voices Wall of Fame will be back and YOU can be on it.  The Wall is a great way celebrate hitting that submit button and you shouldn't underestimate that achievement.  Public forums are a scary business and it takes a lot of guts to enter, so i hope you've got a mini bottle of champagne on standby.

The Wall will help people find your entry and last year we formed a mini support group and there were a lot of helpful and encouraging comments left by members of The Wall at other members entries.  So, if you'd like to be on The Wall just leave a comment with your name and the name of your New Voices entry (so I can find it and link it).  Plus, this year you’ll also get a shout out on Twitter.

Speaking of Twitter, today is also the official launch of my Twitter account. I’m now an active Twit and you can find me @laceydevlin or click on my crazy new friend below to follow me.  You know you want to ;-)

I’m looking forward to reading your entries and I hope you enjoy the blog badges!

INSTRUCTIONS & TROUBLESHOOTING:

To save a blog badge:

1.Right click on the badge

2.Click‘Save Image As...’

3.Select the file where you want to save the image.

4.Click‘Save’.

To add a badge to blogspot (ORIGINAL interface):

1.Go to your New Voices entry and copy its address. You can paste this into a Word document for safe keeping if you wish.

2.Sign into your Blogspot account.

3.In Dashboard click the ‘Design’ link (toward top of page)

4.Select‘Add Gadget’

5.Select‘Picture’

6.The‘From Your Computer’ option should automatically be selected, if not, select it.

7.Click‘Browse’ and find the saved blog badge image.

8.Then click ‘Open’

9.Paste the address of your New Voices entry into the Link box.

10. Click ‘Save’ and you’re done!

To add a badge to blogspot (NEW interface):

1.Go to your New Voices entry and copy its address. You can paste this into a Word document for safe keeping if you wish.

2. Sign into your Blogspot account.

3. Select your blog and then the 'Layout' link on the sidebar

4. Select ‘Add Gadget’

5. Select ‘Picture’

6. The ‘From Your Computer’ option should automatically be selected, if not, select it.

7. Click ‘Browse’ and find the saved blog badge image.

8. Then click ‘Open’

9. Paste the address of your New Voices entry into the Link box.

10. Click ‘Save’ and you’re done!

Why won’t it centre in my sidebar? *wails*:

1.   The image has a width of 200 pixels to fit the average sidebar.  Yours may be larger or smaller.  If this is the case you need to adjust the size of the image in a graphics program.  This can be a program as basic as paint (which can be found on any Windows computer in the Accessories folder on the Start bar so no downloads are necessary to do this).

2.   First you need to know the width of your sidebar.  If you do go to step .

3.   To find the width of your sidebar sign into your blogspot.

4.   Click on ‘Template’.

5.   Click on the ‘Edit HTML’ beneath your current blog template.

6.   You will then get some scary message about only advance users being allowed to play with html but since you won’t be making any changes you don’t need to worry.  Click ‘Proceed’.

7.   You need to scroll down until you find the coding that reads (look for the red because the rest varies per template):

#sidebar-wrapper {

  width: 200px;

  padding-right: 10px;

  float: $startSide;

  word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */

  overflow: hidden;     /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */

  background-color:none;

8.   Make a note of the width.  In  the example it’s 200px.

9.   Now open Paint

10. Open your saved blog badge.

11. Click ‘Resize’ on the toolbar.

12. Where it says ‘by’ select “Pixels”

13. Where it says ‘Width’ type in the width of your sidebar.

14.   Save the image and you’re done!

15.   If you’re still having trouble and curse all electronics the world over, feel free to leave me the address of your blog and a way of contacting you in a comment (or email me directly) and I’ll send the modified image along.

Wendy S. Marcus: The End

I'm thrilled to have a guest author today.  Please welcome, the talented, Wendy S. Marcus!

Hi Lacey! Thank you for hosting me on the 31st and final stop on my blog tour to promote my debut Harlequin Mills and Boon Medical Romance, When One Night Isn’t Enough.

Today I’ve chosen to write about ‘The End’ or more specifically, getting to ‘The End.’

The anticipation of starting to write a new book, a new series of books, or even a thirty-one stop blog tour is an exciting time chock-full of possibilities. You have an unending supply of wonderful ideas! Boundless energy! It’s going to be great!

Then comes the tough part. Execution. Meeting the commitments you’ve made and achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself without letting exhaustion and self-doubt take over. Actually writing a book from start to finish. Then writing the second and third books in the series. Planning a blog tour to promote your first book while you’re writing your second, and creating thirty-one unique blog posts and visiting each blog on your hectic schedule while you’re writing your third.

If last year at this time someone would have told me, “In one year you’ll sell your first book to Mills and Boon (and get a contract for four more), complete and have accepted for publication a three-book series, and complete a thirty-one stop blog tour to promote yourself and the Medical Romance line, (among dozens of other writerly things) I wouldn’t have believed them.

Yet here I am, one year later, in this fourth week of August, writing ‘The End’ on my third book, my first series, and my first blog tour.

And I’m here to tell you, next year or the year after, this can be you! If…

1) You are committed to writing and write for a set amount of time. Every. Single. Day.

2) You work hard and ignore anyone who tells you you can’t do it – including that niggling voice in your head.

3) You read articles and attend workshops to learn and improve your craft.

4) You set goals for yourself and don’t stop working until you achieve them.

5) You push through plot problems and uncooperative characters that try to stall your progress.

6) You plow forward on your manuscript despite every obstacle life throws at you.

7) You find critique partners who will give their honest opinion of your work.

8) You take every opportunity available to get your manuscript in front of agents and editors.

9) You make your own luck by putting yourself in the right place at the right time.

10) You are flexible in which publishers you target.

11) You are willing to revise your manuscript…and possibly transform it into something you hadn’t originally considered.

12) You are determined to do whatever you have to do to get published.

My suggestions:

1) Set small, reasonable and achievable short-term goals to start.

a. Daily: Write a certain number of words or blog posts per day. After you meet that goal, spend a pre-determined amount of time visiting a certain number of agent/editor/publisher blogs and websites to learn from their suggestions and find out about any upcoming submission opportunities. And last, after you’ve done everything else, spend some time on social networking to interact with your peers and future fans.

b. Weekly: Send a certain number of pages to your critique partner each week. Visit and actively participate in writers’ groups/loops for ongoing support and encouragement. Share your goals with others or post them somewhere people can see them so you’re more likely to hold yourself accountable.

c. Monthly: Enter a certain number of writing contests per month. Send out a certain number of submissions per month – each individualized and unique.

2) Cut yourself some slack. If you don’t meet a goal, don’t give up. Double up the next day/week. (Anyone who follows my posts knows I am easily distracted and a notorious procrastinator. If I can meet my goals, you can, too!)

3) Take one day, one goal, one project, one task at a time. Try making lists. Crossing items off a list gives me a wonderful sense of accomplishment!

4) Do. Not. Ever. Give. Up. Keep working, keep improving and keep doing all of the above until you have achieved your ultimate goal – getting published.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to check out the end result of all my hard work by reading an excerpt from my debut Harlequin Medical Romance, When One Night Isn’t Enough, at: http://wendysmarcus.com/books/. Or by visiting my website to learn more about me and the other books I have coming soon. If you’d like to purchase a copy of When One Night Isn’t Enough, they are available in stores in the UK and Aus/NZ. Links for online purchase are available on my website Books page.

If you’re a writer, I hope you’ll set a goal to finish and polish up a first chapter of one of your stories for entry in Mills and Boon’s New Voices competition, coming in September. You can find more information here.

Now that I’ve achieved my goal of publication, my new goals are:
1) To purchase a book I wrote in a store in the U.S.
2) To make a bestseller list somewhere.

So come September it is back to work for me!

But before you go, please share some of the goals you’ve set for yourself for today, this week, this month, and for 2011 as a whole. One lucky commenter will win a copy of the UK 2in1 edition of my book, which includes a complete novel by author Janice Lynn.

And, when you comment, please be sure to congratulate Ju Dimello, the winner of the $50.00 (U.S. currency) Amazon gift card for visiting me at the most stops on my blog tour. Ju visited me at 25 stops! Thank you for your dedication to my blog tour, Ju! It has been great getting to know you, and everyone else who has visited me so many times. I hope you all will continue to visit me at my personal blog: http://wendysmarcus.com/blog/

And/Or:
Visit me on Facebook

Visit me on Twitter
Visit me on Goodreads


Wendy S. Marcus lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley region of New York with her husband, two of their three children, and a much loved Bichon Frise named Buddy. A nurse by trade, Wendy has her master’s degree in health care administration. After years of working in the medical profession, Wendy has taken a radical turn to writing hot contemporary romance with strong heroes, feisty heroines, and lots of laughs. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and blogging/e-mailing/tweeting with her online friends. To learn more about Wendy visit her website, http://www.WendySMarcus.com.

Thanks so much for joining me today, Wendy!

Happy writing!

Mills and Boon New Voices Competition 2011

In a little over a month Mills & Boon will be launching the New Voices Competition for 2011.  The winner receives an editor for one year, an opportunity to enter into a publishing contract, an iPad and a Mills & Boon book hamper.

It really doesn't suck, does it?

We were lucky enough to have the winner from last year, lovely Leah Ashton, right here with us pre-published folk on The Wall of Fame.  I'd love it if another one of us could take the title out again this year.

The Wall of Fame will be back for 2011 and this year it will be bigger and better because as we speak I'm setting up the Lacey Devlin Twitter account and when you submit  you'll not just be posted on the blog wall but on Twitter too.  This is a public domain X-Factor competition and it can scare the pants off you but it really is a lot of fun and a little exposure never hurt anyone.  So make sure you let me know if you're entering, and when you do send me a link to your entry so I can post it .  A little moral support can go a long way.

The New Voices blog badges will also be back for 2011, so you'll be able to link your entry to your blog in style.

So what else do I know about the competition that you might have missed?

Mills & Boon authors are mighty generous with their time and the lovely Liz Fielding and Jessica Hart have already written posts to help us out.

Check out Liz Fielding's NV post here.

Find Jessica Hart's NV post here.

Keep up-to-date with information right from the source at the NV facebook page (you can ask questions too) here.

M&B and Leah Ashton strongly recommend that you start writing before the competition launches because the rounds are close together.  If you are shortlisted you will only have a few days to write the second chapter.  Trying to do that could result in nervous breakdown.

Last but not least, Lynn Raye Harris has a blog post about the good, the bad, and the ugly of reviews and comments on your work that I highly recommend for first time NV's.  I particularly like one comment by Darcy who suggests replacing each verb ("or heck as many words as possible") with smurf.  Suddenly that one nasty comment is great entertainment.

I think this might also work when listening to your boss...

You can find more information on the competition at the official website.  Entry details can be found in the terms and conditions here.

Happy writing!