Guidelines For The New "Nocturne Bites"!

I have a few questions -

"For published authors, this line is a great way to build their
miniseries at Harlequin and Silhouette. Unpublished authors are welcome
as well.

Only complete manuscripts submitted electronically will be
considered from unpublished authors; no partials or queries, please.
Submissions should be sent as a Word-compatible attachment."

It says for published authors this line is a great way to build their minseries at Harlequin and Silhouette. So are they only going to consider authors published by Harlequin and Silhouette. 

It says unpublished authors - does that mean unpublished period or
just unpublished with Harelquin/Silhouette. If you are epubbed does
that count as published?

And says only fulls/completed from unpublished authors but then says no partials or queries. Does that only apply to unpublished authors? Or unpublished by Harlequin and Silhouette? And if so how would published authors submit if not on partial/proposal? 

It may just be that it's still early but that sentence is a bit confusing.

But really, you have to just look at the lines that apply to you. If you're already pubbed by Harlequin/Sil, you go through your editor first, as is generally always the case, so they're not going to get terribly specific for the pubs. And it's also the reason for the line of distinction. If you're not pubbed with H/S, then you have to go in directly instead of through your established editor. 

And since they do say they're considering un-pubbed, they are definitely considering more than published authors. There's no limitation on who can submit.

So, pubbed elsewhere? Send in your submission as listed above. Which is Fulls. They don't have reason to trust anyone they've never worked with before. And I believe 15k is well within standard submission size, even for pubs. When they sell off proposal, unless they're extremely well connected with their editor, they still have to send in partials with their proposals.  

Okay, I think that covers everything. Let me know if I missed one!

Dee

Candy, I think what Dee is saying is, that, basically anyone can send in a finished piece.  Whether you've been published or not ( as long as the piece you're sending in hasn't bee pubbed)....since it's a short piece there's no need for queries and such...just send in your finished piece with all your valid info....hope this helps

Jules

and Jodie...nice to see you here girlfriend....we must tell Nini about this one!

I understand that. But the confusing part is

"
For published authors, this line is a great way to build their miniseries at Harlequin and Silhouette." 

To me that implies published = published by Harlequin and Silhouette. That's the part that I wanted clarification on. I already have a piece between those lengths finished and ready to submit. The published question always confuses me because some pubs, editors and agents don't recognize being epublished as being published.

So this was really just me trying to understand the phrasing cause of that one sentence. And wondering where in the pile I'd go among the published or unpublished.

Thanks for trying to explain further. I'm really not trying to be difficult. 

I knew I'd see you here, LOL!!! And yes, Nini will need to know about this one -- this is right up her alley!

I'm sitting here trying to decide if my idea is "dark" enough for a Nocturne Bite or if it's more on the light side and better for another Brief.  I could play with it, I guess. I'm still going to try and see where I go...

My guess (hope???)  is if you can get them in early enough, the wait might NOT be 6 months!!!

Hey Jodie

I'm thinking the same thing...I hate waiting.....but yeah, I've got a few ideas I'll work on and try to get something done....I"m just trying to finish the paranormal I'm working on and in the last month I've worked on two contest entries and a spice brief....I need to focus and get the bloody, ( and I do mean bloody!) thing done!

Jules

Hey everyone!

I was so happy when I heard about this earlier today. One of my goals is to be pubbed with HQN, specifically in the Intrigue and Nocturne lines.

I'm glad Harlequin has opened up this new opportunity for shorter works!

I did have a few questions. Will this be an ongoing permanent addition to HQN? (I hope so).

And also, I notice the guidelines say for published authors it's a great addition to their mini-series but I was wondering is it okay if the "Bites" story is a start to a mini-series by an unpublished writer? I hope that makes sense!

Thanks again!

Rae

So true! lol

Great to hear. Thanks, Dee!

Hmmm.  I'm almost done with my Bite, so I'll let you know if I get one when I submit. 

Anyone know how long the wait to hear is at this point?

Honestly, sometimes those auto-responders just don't get through spam-filters or what not, so be sure to check your junk mail. Or something unknownn keeps it from triggering. So your entry might get in anyway.

Also, hard to say on the wait. It's still a submission, so I'd go with the 3-6 month standard wait. :)

Dee

I'm almost done with my Bite.  What needs to be in the body of the email?  Should I put a brief synopsis there or in a page of the actual document.  I'm a bit nervous about the submission format itself with email.  The guidelines are a bit vague.

Mandy 

I believe this will be a new feature here at Harl...just like the spice briefs.....as far as a synopsis....I think Michele Hauf reccomends a blurb in the body of the email, similar to what you'd find on the back of a book....if you scroll back several messages she gives a wonderful example!

good luck on your subs...I'm half done mine and hope to finish by tomrrow

Jules

For an e submissions I usally paste a query, with a short blurb in the second paragraph, into the body of the email, and then attach the document, unless guidelines specify otherwise. E subs aren't quite as strict as regular ones as to format, but if you're unsure, then I would say go with everything :)

Jules - I did see Michelle's example and it got me to thinking about the specifics...I guess I should have just asked her.

Lauren - you've had some successful experience with e subs so I'm gonna go with you....in the body of the email it is

 Thanks all

Get one of those puppies sent out Linda....I should have mine ready by tonight or early tomorrow for sub......let us know if you get an auto response or not......Lauren didn't when she subbed hers last week, and we just want to know if it's not yet in place....for peace of mind!

Way to go Kate.....how did you screw your sub letter up?  LOL....just don't go back and look at your sub...you'll drive yourself crazy!  Glad to see you got it in though......and the auto response is an email that usually is sent within a few mins to a few hours of a sub.....When you sub to spice briefs you'll get one and it just informs you that they've gotten your sub.....it's good for piece of mind, but alas if you didnt' get one either then they obviously don't have it set up......which I guess will put Laurens mind at ease....I'll be freakin when I sub mine, I've had problems with documents not going through.....

Jules

Hey Kate...so you didn't recieve an email from nocturne confirming the receipt of your sub????  Just to be clear????

J

Hi guys,

Still no auto response, bu I sent a short and sweet query about it and received a personal confirmation of receipt tonight.

So they're going through! Yippee!!!!!

Do you know why it does that? If you're not logged in, you don't see the newest stuff? I thought that was just me, LOL!! How come, if you're just viewing while logged out, it's a few hours old? (If you know, that is!!!)

Thanks!

Hi,

I have a question about the senusual/sexual part of nocturne.  Do you have to be explicit or can you just have heightened sensuality?   Thanks in advance if anyone knows. 

while the bite is MUCH shorter than a full length novel, I think readers are going to want at least one great intimate scene.

I agree Dee. I think some of the mildest paranormals I have ever read are a few of Amanda Ashley's contemporary vampire romances. (She is not a HQN author.) I recall one where they waited until they got married and even then nothing was detailed.  But I have found it seems much more commonplace for a para to be pretty sensual and even graphic in nature.

Man Vivi, you are EVERYWHERE! (I was goint o say you get around, but that didn't sound so good...) ;)

Thanks Vivi for clarifying that.  I definitely didn't mean erotic when I wrote graphic. At least not for Nocturnes. But  I have read some, even in Blaze and Nocturne, where the words used are more of graphic in nature. you, know - like the male "c" word. (This is a PG 13 board, how else do I say that? LOL!) Do you suggest that using that kind of more grahic language is pretty much not what Nocturne is looking for?

 !!!