Submission opportunities with Carina and Entangled

Carina Press, digital arm of Harlequin, are running a submission opportunity guaranteeing feedback and a response within 6 weeks. The catch is that you need to submit a completed/full masnuscript by midnight on Thursday 11th October. You can find out more here.

Entangled Press is running a boot camp for Nanowrimo via Savvy Authors. Spaces are filling up quickly, so you'll need to be quick. Check it out here. If you're not interested in submitting to Entangled, then check out the Savvy Authors general Nano bootcamp.

And if you're asking "what is Nanowrimo?" ... check it out here.

My take on writing competitions and SYTYCW.

My name is Joss Wood and my first book for Mills and Boon Riva, ‘She’s so Over Him’ set in Cape Town, South Africa is available on Amazon and in CNA's around the country and my second, ‘Wild About the Man’ will be released in January 2013 and is set on a luxurious game reserve in South Africa. 

Some of the ROSA's have entered So you Think You Can write and I wish them so much luck. I think writing competitions are a wonderful idea and I did enter the New Voices 2011 competition and came....drum roll please....absolutely nowhere! At the time, I was working on a manuscript with an editor at Riva but I thought I’d just torture myself and get some feedback from my peers. I did get feedback…mostly good, some iffy, one downright rude! As I said, I didn’t come anywhere and I wondered if I was any good at all. (Ah, writers, you’re got to love them! So needy, so insecure!)  I didn’t imagine that two months later I’d get a two book contract and then another three book contract six months later. 

The thing about writing competitions is that it is a way to grab the attention of an editor. With only 1 in five million manuscripts (ok, an exaggeration but you get my point :-) )  being bought out of the slush pile, this is an easier option. I follow quite a few of the Mills and Boon editors on Twitter and I can tell you that they are reading the entries with interest and they are actively looking for authors so a couple of new authors will probably be signed out of this competition. I really hope Kathleen and Louise are one of them! 

By the way, if you'd like to see their entries and vote for them click on these links: 

Louise: http://www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com/manuscripts/series/harlequin-romance-mills-boon-cherish-and-mills-boon-riva/page/7/

Kathleen: http://www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com/manuscripts/series/harlequin-romance-mills-boon-cherish-and-mills-boon-riva/page/11/

Having said all that about writing competitions, I don't think it is the only way to get published. It might not be your way, your road, your experience. I don't know the magic elixir to getting books in print but I do know that if you stop learning the craft, stop writing the words, stop submitting your work...if you don't take a chance and if you don't put yourself out there, you definitely won't get published. 

Whatever your road to publication is, I hope that you enjoy every second of the journey getting there.  

Best wishes,

Joss 
xxx
Facebook: josswood9
Twitter@josswoodbooks

She's So Over Him- Blurb



He’s back. He’s insanely hot. He’s absolutely the last person she should date. Maddie Shaw is a part-time bartender with a never-get-involved attitude to dating and a flair for the perfectly served drink. Yet when ex-boyfriend Cale Grant walks into her bar, a whole ten years after their massive bust-up, she’s blown away all over again by his dark chocolate voice and deep blue eyes. So, just how over him is she?


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shes-Over-Mills-Boon-ebook

About Joss:

Joss wrote her first book at the age of eight and has never really stopped. Her passion for putting black letters on a white screen is only matched by her love of books and travelling (especially to the wild places of Southern Africa) and, possibly, by her hatred of ironing and making school lunches.

Fueled by coffee, when she’s not writing or being a hands-on Mom, Joss, with her background in business and marketing, works for a non-profit organization to promote the local economic development and collective business interests of the area where she resides.  Happily, and chaotically, surrounded by family, friends and books, she lives in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa with her husband, young children and their many pets.

Entangled Press Valentine's Submission Call

Entangled Press may be the new kids on the block in romance publishing, but they're fast becoming the kid in school everyone want to be friends with.

They've put out a submission call for their Brazen line (the steamier line) for sexy Valentine's themed stories, between 45,000 and 65,000 words in length, deadline 25th November 2012. You can read the details of all their submission calls here.

Are YOU the Next Harper Voyager Author?

From the 1st - 14th of October this year the sci-fi/fantasy imprint Harper Voyager, part of the the HarperCollins publishing house, will be accepting unagented, unsollicited submissions to their line. 

If you have complete manuscripts (yes you can send more than one) to send to them, the requirements are:

* Any adult or YA speculative fiction for digital publication, particularly: epic fantasy, sci-fi, urban fantasy, horror, dystopie and supernatural.

* 80,000 - 120,000 words

* Double-spaced, sans-serif font, MS Word or RTF format

To find out more about this call for submissions from Harper Voyager click here. 

Good luck!

The Toy Boy by April Vine

What's in a title? In my heroine's case, apparently a lot. The last thing Cait Daniels wants is a boy toy so instead she gets herself The Toy Boy.

Lusting over her neighbor’s too-young-to-touch hot nephew while he mowed the lawn in the hot sun was one thing and bad for her sparkling reputation. Finding him in the same sex shop where she is purchasing artificial gratification to ease the sexual bother he evoked in the first place is quite another and forces thirty-four-year-old stickler for rules Cait Daniels to fly red-faced through the doors of Curious Coition without her paid for merchandize in hand.

Since he is staying with his aunt for a few days, twenty-four-year-old Declan Meyer wants to do the neighborly thing and return the orphaned sex toy to its rightful owner. Only in this case the rightful owner is the same woman he wants in his bed, his heart, and his life. He is not above holding the pleasure tool over her head and threatening her good standing in an attempt to show her the real thing with him, never mind his age.

Excerpt:

"Declan loves them. That boy eats like a horse, I tell you. God knows where he puts it all though. Ah, but it’s so good to have him visiting his old aunt."

Cait forced her mind to blank out the mention of his name. Already a deep flush set into her skin, and it wouldn’t be long before she crumbled in complete embarrassment in front of Mrs. Meyer. She had to get rid of her quickly. The instant her attention turned onto the street at an oncoming car, Cait started to say good-bye and had the door almost halfway closed already.

"Oh, look, it’s Declan."

She didn’t mean to look, really. But who couldn’t when he drove one of those horrendously old-fashioned jeep things that looked as if it would leave a trail of parts in its wake?

"Thanks for the cookies, Mrs. Meyer. I really must go."

"Oh, hold on a minute. You haven’t said a proper hello to him yet. I’m so proud of that boy. He’s grown into such a lovely man and takes such good care of his mother." Mrs. Meyer’s eyes misted over as she glanced at her nephew descending from his excuse for a car.

Yeah? Did she know he frequented sex shops on a Saturday morning? Not only that, he was some kind of VIP, too; or else what would he have been doing behind the counter if he weren’t an honest regular customer, like her? "Declan," Mrs. Meyer called to him. No, she had to get out of this.

"Maybe another time, but I really have to go…"

He reached his arm through the open window and retrieved a package that dried her mouth and constricted her heart. With a few long strides, he was at her door. Her gaze glued to the bag he nonchalantly held in his hand.

The Toy Boy is available at:

Liquid Silver Books

Amazon. 

All Romance Ebooks 

And you can find me:

At my website

Facebook 

Twitter 

 

Wedding Gown Girl to be Released Shortly

I can’t believe I’m actually doing this – announcing to everyone that my first published book is coming out on the 20th September. I’ve dreamed about this moment for years and finally it’s coming true. There have been times when I've wondered if it would ever happen. So, those of you who are waiting for that contract, don’t give up and keep writing. Every word is a step closer. I think I’ve finally found the spot where my writing flies – sweet contemporary. My sweet, contemporary novella, Wedding Gown Girl, is about a young lady, Kienna, who works at a bridal boutique. When a handsome man comes in to help his future bride choose her dress, Kienna is momentarily distracted from her determined singleness. The bride confides in her that she’s not marrying for love. Kienna has to tell the groom that he’s making a terrible mistake. At first Blake thinks she’s flirting with him, until he’s jilted at the altar. Their lives meet again soon after, and Blake becomes more aware of the spark between them. But will Kienna trust love enough to respond to Blake’s advances?

I have to boast about Astraea Press who are publishing my e-book for me. It’s been great working with them, and even though we’re across the world from each other, they’ve been professional and communicative in their e-mails. I loved their editing process – I felt so safe knowing that my book was edited by more than one person and re-checked several times. I must confess that I self-published my first novel with a Vanity Press (unknown to me at the time), and the difference is like night and day. So here is the cover for my book. Hope it gives you a feel for my characters because I absolutely adore Kienna – she’s so likeable. Tsk, tsk.

50 Shades of Green

Envious much?

I have a confession to make. I’m green with envy over the success that woman – can’t bring myself to say her name - who wrote 50 Shades of Grey. I’m irritated and baffled by this envy. Baffled because I can’t see what she’s done that’s new in the romance/erotica genre. Irritated because I’m thinking ‘Damn, why didn’t I think of it first?’

And I know I’m not alone in wrestling with that acid-green monster. I had coffee with a writer friend last weekend. ‘I always get a bit envious when I see other writers succeed,’ he said. ‘Of course you can tell yourself that their success is an example of what other writers can achieve; or that there’s room for all of us as writers, but it still gets me in my gut.’

With a guilty grin, I told him I felt the same way sometimes. OK, a lot of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m genuinely thrilled when someone close to me succeeds in writing. There may be a couple of shades of envy, but it’s usually erased by the genuine pride and excitement I feel that a friend or fellow writer has made it. I get over it pretty quickly, but when a stranger in sweat pants writes the next publishing phenomenon, I don’t feel I have to restrain myself.  Emotions are seldom rational – they may not be pretty, but we have to acknowledge them, don’t we? Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves writers!

Of course, it helps to remind myself that the difference between envy and pure jealousy is one between possession and loss. Envy, after all,  is an emotion related to wanting what someone else has. Jealousy is fearing that something you have will be snatched away. We all have our own unique talents, our inimitable voices and styles, our own personal ambitions. And no one can really take that away from us, can they?