RE: Harlequin Publishing rep

[Phyrebrat]

Hello,

This is my first foray away from the Aspiring Writers section and into the publishing world....

I've done an advanced search with tags for Harlequin Publishing to see what kind of rep they have but nothing is being thrown out apart from a couple of threads which say 'cannot be found' when I click on them. So, I hope this hasn't been asked before, and that this belongs here, and not GWD.

So, does anyone have any experience of them? They are seeking submissions of over 10k in horror genres and most of my acutally-finished stuff is too long to be a short story, and too short to be a novella.

Here is the link in case anyone else writes horror;

Harlequin.com | Harlequin Horror

does this;

Please state that your manuscript is aimed at Harlequin Horror in your submission (cover letter, 1st page of mss)

mean they only want the first page??? It seems like hardly anything but I guess if that's what they want...

Thanks for any help

pH

 

[Kissmequick]

I'm published under another name with a Harlequin imprint

They're a huge company, lots of sales (though that's mainly in their mainstream romance lines), good support, contracts can be very lean on royalty % (They rely on their authors selling a lot/writing a lot) and negotiation is not much on the cards. The imprint I'm with has fantastic editors, and often do author webinars (how to promo/make a website that appeals to readers, use twitter etc etc)

Horror? I don't know. It's not their usual stuff, and sales might be tough, especially at a new imprint, but then sales are tough all over in horror atm. They will probably want (they do in the line I'm in which doesn't specify romance as essential) it to at least appeal to their bulk of readers -- that is, romance readers. Interestingly their website doesn't list horror as a fiction category (because this is new perhaps?)

As for your sub -- give them what they ask for, and yes, the first page looks like it

Have you checked out Samhain? I think they added a horror line a while ago (pretty sure the horror ed from Dorchester went across) Oh, yup, here: Samhain Horror | The New House for Horror Samhain give better royalties per book, I know that much.

Ofc some of the bigger pubs do horror too, but you'd probably need an agent. I'm not up on the rest of the horror pubs though

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I would interpret that as meaning that you should state in your cover letter and on the first page of your manuscript that your manuscript is aimed at Harlequin Horror.

Not that you should only send the first page of your mss.

But I've been known to be wrong!

 

[Kissmequick]

Hmm

I was looking at it like, 'ensure to say it's horror in your submission (which will be a cover letter and first page)'

Then again, I could be wrong too

But plenty of places take just the first page or two. If you look at subs all day long, you can eliminate 90% or more in that first page and it costs nothing to ask for a full afterwards, if it's one of the >10%

ETA: Aha! on the general subs page (here; http://www.harlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=1770&chapter=0) , it says to send the full.

For the various Harlequin Series Digital First lines, please submit the full manuscript and synopsis only - no partial manuscripts.

I'm assuming it IS one of those lines! It's not listed. Hmm, put HORROR instead of the initials?

Well, that could have been clearer...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Hiya, Phyre. I think this is for the Harlequin Shivers imprint. I subbed to their sci fi imprint a few weeks ago and this looks very similar in terms of subbing. Submission form including query, I think, and then the whole mss was attached with the imprint named on the cover letter and first page. A lot submitting, according to AW, and quick response times to date, but watch the terms!

Good luck.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Hey guys,

Just a quick post to say thank you so much for your help, and the information; I really appreciate it. I've completely neglected any kind of research into submissions and getting published as I've just been trying to perfect the crafting of a good story.

So, once again I feel like I'm in at the deep end with a baptism of fire (mixing metaphors, I think the water and fire will cancel each other out, nicely )

Thanks again.

pH