NEW VOICES UPDATE

ROMANCE AUTHORS AND NEW VOICES

The fabulous Mills and Boon New Voices competition begins on September 13 and for those of you are interested in taking part, here are few posts on getting started by Romance authors –

First, a very special link to last year’s winner, Leah Ashton, talking about her New Voices journey.

There's advice from Donna Alward, Barbara Wallace has posted on the subject of "Voice" on Seven Sassy Sisters and Liz Fielding has written a post on the ingredients of a great romance here

For those of you in the UK, there’s a roundup of the writer and editor workshops being held all round the country here. And for everyone here's a link to the New Voices Facebook page where you'll find loads of support from writers working on their first chapters, and authors who are answering questions on anything you can think about.

If you haven’t started yet, don’t panic! You have until October 10 to post the first chapter of your book.  
Twenty entrants, chosen by the editorial team, will go through to round two - with an author mentor to hold their hand - and Chapter Two. Four finalists will make it to the last round, when they'll post a "pivotal moment" in their book.  It's a fabulous opportunity to get yourself noticed and it's open to writers in the US, Canada (except Montreal), New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. (The exceptions are not dictated by Mills and Boon, but by international competition rules - sorry! It doesn't stop you sending in your ms in the normal way, however.)

More deets about the comp at Mills and Boon New Voices and Romance Is Not Dead

There’ll be blogs from Mills and Boon editor, Flo Nichols and a bunch of authors throughout the competition, so hit the "favourite" button and come back often!

And if you want to read how last year's winner, Leah Ashton's book turned out, here's your chance to read it, hot off the press!