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!
