Good to know that HQN is accepting unagented submissions and that the word count is flexible.

As a new writer my first instinct was to revise with her comments and resubmit. I was thrilled it wasn’t a form letter. But without a specific request, I’m being told maybe I shouldn’t. I know there are unspoken do’s and don’ts within the industry, but how would you react if an author you’d previously rejected in that manner, resubmitted after they revised?

Ditto what the others said and more. How often can you take time to tell an author what is missing? So often the “sorry for the form letter” leaves an author wondering. We can’t always tell what we didn’t get right to fix it.

Michelle, unfortunately many authors still miss the mark in terms of what they send our way. I’d say about 5% of submissions have very little to do with romance or are completely out there. We’ve had our fair share of submissions from the male prison population. And once we received a manuscript written entirely in French! Oh yes, we’ve seen it all.

Theresa, the standard three chapters is still the preference, no particular page count required. And we currently only accept snail mail submissions (though a few still manage to sneak into my inbox )). Looking forward to seeing your work!

Maggie, great to “see” you again, too! The word count range is just a guideline, so how you get there doesn’t matter; we just want to make sure that we receive submissions of single title length.

Susan, unfortunately we generally don’t accept self-published books or e-books. But this may change in the future, so stay tuned!

Chelle, we love a great well-connected self-promoter. And if you are able to write full time, fantastic. But we realize this isn’t possible for most. So for us, it’s still really about that one-of-a-kind, knock-your-socks-off story.

Does an author’s willingness to self-promote and be aggressive in marketing play a factor in your decision to take on a new author? It’s difficult in an eight minute face-to-face pitch to discuss anything other than the stories GMC. Are you more willing to buy if you know the author is focused on making their writing a full-time career, disciplined with deadlines, writing time, marketing and flexibility in revisions?

I had the pleasure of meeting you at my chapter’s luncheon a few years back. It’s great to “see” you again

You mentioned you’re looking for dark paranormals. Would HQN have any interest in a not-so-dark, quirky paranormal about ghosts?

Also, how does HQN and Harlequin/Silhouette decipher word count? Do you go by the old 250 x # of pages or have you moved on to the computer generated word counts?

Thanks for taking the time being here with us,
~Maggie Van Well

Great blog! Thanks so much for sharing a little bit about yourself with us. It’s great to hear that you’re so passionate about your job as well.

Look foward to meeting you at conference some day!

Regards,
Mai Christy Thao

Edie blogged about serendipity a post or two ago and I didn’t have an example. Now I do.

I cast my vote with all of you. Terrific characters do it for me every time.