Mills and Boon used the RNA conference to announce a new competition, to be launched on September 1st.
They’re looking for new voices, and new writers, but this competition involves the public, too.
It will take the part of an X-factor style search for new talent. There’s a judging panel, which will consist of Samantha Delaney, Karin Stoeker, Mandy Ferguson and Penny Jordan.
It’s for brand new, never-before-published authors.
The first prize is publication, a Mills and Boon editor for a year, and an iPad. There will be three runners-up who will receive an editor for a year and an iPad.
Entrants will have to upload the first chapter of their HMB book on to the website (see below) and the public will be invited to give their views on it. They will be monitoring carefully for wholly negative comments, which will be removed.
HMB will then choose a top ten. The top ten will be assigned a mentor team, who will work with them on their second chapter which will be uploaded for the public vote and to the judging panel.
The ones voted the top four will write a pivotal moment for their story, and the public will vote on that.
The winner will be announced on the first of November.
And here’s the website, which will be open soon: www.romanceisnotdead.com
What do I think? I think this will lead to a shedload of writers sending in their first chapters. I think the nasty comments will be out there, just not on the HMB blog, and they are savvy enough to know that. I think HMB will end up with a group of new writers. Hungry, cheap new writers.
It’s fun. If you’re seriously aspiring to write for HMB, it’s another opportunity, but don’t stop sending the regular submissions in. I get the feeling that they hope that the contest will divert a few of the people who write in to them, and will mean that other people will get to deliver the bad news, not the editors. So it’s good for them, should add to the good publicity they get.
New writers are, more often than not, cheap writers and HMB are all about the lines and the brand, not the writers. However so many big, prolific writers had their start with HMB that it’s worth considering. It will generate lots of chat on blogs, Twitter and the rest, that it should be very good for HMB. Now the American Title contest has ended, it’s something new. But it is for category romance only, HMB’s standard lines.
When is the closing date? And where do you send it too. Is it only certain areas or is it worldwide? Can you send in more than one entry? Please could you direct me to the official website.
All the details will be on the website. Yes, I’m told it’s international, so you can send it in from wherever you are. Mills and Boon Modern Romance is reprinted as Harlequin Presents, for instance. Any category line. I’m not sure about the closing date, but keep checking the websitre at
http://www.romanceisnotdead.com
It plans to open, with details, in a few weeks’ time, so keep checking. You upload your first chapter on to that website, when they open for entries. From there, you’ll be guided as to what to do next.
And as Corporal Jones used to say, “Don’t Panic!”
Thanks so much.
It would be interesting to read or write a cool about the world cup. All those handsome players, managers, coaches, tourists and people from humble beginings that stopped and made the world take notice.
Thaks so much for the details. The website says the info will be there from June 1st but still there is nothing. Do they give a definition of unpublished? After the last contest furore, I’m guessing that for this contest any publication at all means, you can’t enter. Not just unpublished by M&B?
We did ask about the unpublished, and they said totally unpublished, including self-published. However when they were asked what about non fiction, poetry or articles, they said they’d see, so I’d say ask them about it before you enter, if you have any doubts.
Hi All, Thanks so much for all the interest in the New Voices competition. The opening date for submitting entries will be 6th September 2010 and the closing date the 22nd September 2010. Lucy Gilmour, Editor, Mills & Boon/Harlequin
I am up early this morning working on my New Voice entry. I have had several problems getting this underway since my computer totally crashed at once point. Now I seem to be back on track to enter. I have entered contests before, but this one is especially important I think because it can involve public feedback on the writing of a new author. I just think the opportunity to publish with Mills & Boon and also if I place high enough, the opportunity to see what the public would think of my book, well that is a winning combination to me.
I’m entering too but read the terms and conditions very, very carefully! Not every country in the world can enter so make sure you check that bit too. It’s sure to be some great fun and is an awesome opportunity to be noticed. I’m just hoping when people label it ‘an x-factor kind of contest’ that like x-factor, more than the winning four will be picked up =)
Bron.
I just checked out the t and c’s again and it looks like the unpubbed eligibility is termed if you aren’t or have never drawn a salary for book length fiction. So that’s epubs, traditional, but then I know someone who was disqualified from another contest for a short she had pubbed. Also, if you’ve submitted your story before and it was rejected, you can’t enter it in the comp. This is just what I get from reading the terms and conditions but I’m happy to be corrected =)
I think the answer is to ask them. Some details may not have been completely sorted out, but if you have doubts, write to them and get the answer so that you can produce it if anyone questions it in the future.
Personally I’d have thought it would be a good idea to have a forum, to create a community where people can discuss what they’re doing for the contest and ask questions about the rules.
The very best of luck to everyone who enters. It was the people who gave a talk to us at the Conference who described it as an “X Factor Style” competition, but don’t forget that in the X Factor, the winners don’t always get the best of it. JLS never won, but they’re doing a lot better than, say, Steve Brookstein or Leon Jackson. It’s a great showcase, a chance to get your work in front of the people who buy it and making them look.
They have been discussing it on the Mills and Boon facebook site so if anyone has a question and you’re on FB, go there and ask. Also eHarlequin’s Write Stuff has some info too.