Rouge Romance Launched!

Ebury Publishing, a division of the Random House Group, launched their straight-to-digital romance list today! 

They have opened up with eight titles and after that will be publishing four titles a month. Their web site is at www.rougeromance.co.uk so bookmark the site and have a look!

They will be offering book extracts, competitions and more for readers. And, you guessed it, they will be looking for new authors too!

Editorial Director (Fiction) Gillian Green said 'Given the growth in eBooks and new developments in technology, we felt that the time was right to launch a dedicated romance list. We know that romance readers have been among the first to embrace ebooks and we want to bring them the best romantic fiction out there.  Our list is diverse and there's something for every romance reader on it. What all the titles have in common is they are all utterly escapist sexy romances with a guaranteed happy ending from some of the brightest names in romantic fiction. Whilst we're initially looking at eBooks, we have print rights in all the titles on the Rouge list and are looking forward to launching print editions of our most popular titles too.'

There will be a selection of six sub-genres—Regency, Historical, Suspense, Contemporary, Paranormal and Occasions—with every title to be available for under £5.

You can find their submission guidelines here.

Let us know about your experiences if you have dealt with Ebury.

Second-Guessing Fate

I'm super excited about my latest release, and first contemporary, from Carina Press.

I live in the UK now, but the first draft of Second-Guessing Fate was written while I was still living in Cape Town. Actually, it would be more accurate to say it was written somewhere over the skies between Cape Town and Johannesburg. With twin toddlers at home and my company handing me a huge project with not only impossible deadlines, but contracted to a company in Johannesburg, I suddenly found a new haven for my writing time - that regular two-hour flight to and fro between Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Many years later, and many rewrites later, I'm pleased to say this story found a home at Carina Press and releases today!

Can She Outwit Fate?

Gemma is on a collision course with heartbreak. At least, according to the fortune-teller her best friend drags her to see. Gemma doesn't believe a word of it, but when other predictions start to come true, she begins to suspect that gorgeous, gray-eyed Nick is the man foretold to break her heart before she can find her soul mate. Too bad she's never met a man she's wanted more, because now she has to get him to dump her before she falls too hard.

Nick has plans of his own. He's ready to settle down with Ms. Right, and everything points to the beautiful Gemma. He's determined to prove to her that he's the perfect boyfriend—even if she does seem to be trying her best to scare him off…

If you'd like to read more, I have the first two chapters up on my website

Second-Guessing Fate is available from most places ebooks are sold, including
Carina Press
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

New Voices contest: South African Entrants

This is where we'll keep the list of all South Africans (both home and abroad) entered into the 2011 New Voices contest, as well as any entries set in South Africa.

Please support these authors by reading, voting and commenting on their chapters.

Biba Fielding: Colour Me Right
Rokaya Alli: Memories of the Past
Romy Sommer: Once Upon A Time
Sally Jacobs: Picture Perfect 
Ana Mese: Taking Chances
Kamy Chetty: The Doctor's Own Miracle Family
Kathleen Bosman: It Has To Be Perfect
Sharon Gabrielle: Love Complicates
Zan-Mari Vosges: What happens in London
Gloudi de Beer: Love on the horizon
Ella Stevens: Booty Calls and Lies
Yolande Pienaar: His Vet's Choice
Melinda Bechus: A Stranger in Time
Leonie Anderson: The Call Girl Conundrum
Bronwyn Desjardins: No Mistake in Marriage
Aimee Gray: Amber's African Adventure
Amanda Holly: Twins and Pearls
Alexandra Fox: Dreams Do Come True
Flora van Kleef: Her Crazy Love
Sherita Singh: Witch Apprentice
Chantelle Grundling: The Unbreakable Vow
Judy Seymour-Wood: Roxie Returns

Congratulations to everyone who has entered. You deserve awards both for bravery and for following your dreams. Pop on over to Lacey Devlin's blog to add your name to the NV Wall of Fame, and claim a blog badge.

New Voices is live!

The New Voices contest website went live this morning. Check out the FAQs, the judges, this year's mentors, top tips from editors and published writers, and start reading.

As we did last year, we'll keep a list on this blog of all South African entrants with links to their entries so you can support local. Please read these entries and give feedback. That's what this contest should be all about: making new friends, learning and encouraging. I am incredibly grateful for the friends I made through last year's NV contest, and I'm hoping to make more this year.

So far the brave South Africans leading the way are:
Biba Fielding, with her Cape Town set story Colour Me Right and Rokaya Alli with Memories of the Past.

As the number of entries climbs I might not be able to track all the stories set in Africa or written by South Africans (both abroad and at home) so please let me know if you enter, or if you stumble across any entries not listed here.

Whether you're a reader or a writer, register at New Voices to claim your free Heidi Rice book. I love Heidi's stories, and highly recommend them.

Good luck to everyone who is entering!

Entangled Publishing Submissions

In keeping with the general trend of introducing our romance writers to any romance publishers on the market we'd like to draw your attention to Entangled Publishing this week. 

They are a boutique romance publisher who are on the look out for authors of full length novels as well as novellas in the following categories:

• Contemporary
• Upper “YA” (17-22 yo protags) that will appeal to crossover audiences
• Romantic Thrillers
• Historicals
• Science Fiction
• Paranormal and Urban Fantasy
• Fantasy

So if you have a great story and a fresh new voice - click here to find out more regarding their submission requirements.

As always ... happy writing and good luck with those submissions!

Breathless Press Submission Call

Themed Call for Submission 

Send your submissions to acquisitions@breathlesspress.com with the name of the anthology in the subject line. Breathless Press currently has the following themed submission calls:

Ad-Dick-tion Anthology: Our Ad-Dick-Tion anthology is an ongoing submission call. Stories must be under 10k, have a heat rating of at least 3, be m/m (gay) orientated (m/m/f is fine as long as the two males have sex or a relationship together and not just with the female) and be original stories. There is no other theme besides being m/m. The anthology will consist of 10 stories each with a royalty of 4% of net sales. No single author shall have more than 2 stories in this anthology. We reserve the rights for digital for 1 year with the option of renewing after that. Some anthologies will go to print, if this is the case for this volume, royalties are 1.5% of net sales and we reserve the rights for 2 years with the option of renewal for another 2 years. Deadline: May 5th, 2011 - October 31st, 2011. Published: May 4, 2012.

Hot Shots Anthology: Our Hot Shots anthology is an ongoing submission call. Stories must be under 10k, have a heat rating of at least 3, and be original stories. There is no other theme besides being erotic. All stories must be m/f. The anthology will consist of 10 stories each with a royalty of 4% of net sales. No single author shall have more than 2 stories in this anthology. We reserve the rights for digital for 1 year with the option of renewing after that. Some anthologies will go to print, if this is the case for this volume, royalties are 1.5% of net sales and we reserve the rights for 2 years with the option of renewal for another 2 years. Deadline: Nov 26th, 2011 - April 30th, 2012. Published: Nov 30th, 2012.  

Ravaged Anthology: Our Ravaged anthology is an ongoing submission call. Stories must be under 10k, have a heat rating of at least 3, and be original stories. There is no other theme besides having something to do with shifters. This can be wolf, lion, panther, etc. The anthology will consist of 10 stories each with a royalty of 4% of net sales. No single author shall have more than 2 stories in this anthology. We reserve the rights for digital for 1 year with the option of renewing after that. Some anthologies will go to print, if this is the case for this volume, royalties are 1.5% of net sales and we reserve the rights for 2 years with the option of renewal for another 2 years. Deadline: Aug 4th, 2011 - Jan 31th, 2012. Published: Aug 3rd, 2012.  

Crimson Anthology: Our Crimson anthology is an ongoing submission call. Stories must be under 10k, have a heat rating of at least 3, and be original stories. There is no other theme besides having something to do with vampires. The anthology will consist of 10 stories each with a royalty of 4% of net sales. No single author shall have more than 2 stories in this anthology. We reserve the rights for digital for 1 year with the option of renewing after that. Some anthologies will go to print, if this is the case for this volume, royalties are 1.5% of net sales and we reserve the rights for 2 years with the option of renewal for another 2 years. Deadline: Feb 4th, 2012 - Jul 31th, 2012. Published: Feb 1st, 2013.  

Serviced Anthology: Our Serviced anthology is an ongoing submission call. Stories must be under 10k, have a heat rating of at least 3, and be original stories. There is no other theme besides having something to do with the army, military, navy, or air force as well as being romantic/erotic in nature. We will be doing two a year, one with a focus on m/m stories, the other on m/f stories. The anthology will consist of 10 stories each with a royalty of 4% of net sales. No single author shall have more than 2 stories in this anthology. We reserve the rights for digital for 1 year with the option of renewing after that. Some anthologies will go to print, if this is the case for this volume, royalties are 1.5% of net sales and we reserve the rights for 2 years with the option of renewal for another 2 years. M/M Deadline: Sept 8th, 2011 - Feb 29th, 2012. M/M Published: Sept 7th, 2012. M/F Deadline: Mar 10th, 2011 - Aug 31st, 2012. M/F Published: Mar 8th, 2013.  

Home for the Holidays: Our Home for the Holidays is published for December. We will be releasing 8 stories in December all revolving around the holiday season. Stories must be more than 10k with a heat rating of 2 or more. Deadline: Jan 1st, 2012 - June 30th, 2012. Published: December 2012.  

Hot Shifters: Our Hot Shifters are published for October. We will be releasing 8 stories in October all revolving around the shifters. This can be wolf, lion, panther, etc. Stories must be more than 10k with a heat rating of 2 or more. Deadline: Nov 1st, 2011 - April 30th, 2012. Published: October 2012.

Send your sexy stories to acquisitions@breathlesspress.com with the name of the anthology in the subject line. And please check out our submission guidelines here: http://www.breathlesspress.org/Page/submissions http://www.breathlesspress.org