MARKET NEWS

More additions and subtractions in the editorial ranks at various publishers:
Daniel Mallory is a new Editorial Assistant at Ballantine. He is interested
in acquiring new authors.

Over at Bantam/Dell Wendy McCurdy has been removed from the list of
acquiring editors. Micahlyn Whitt is now listed as associate editor.


At Berkley/Jove, Jackie Cantor, executive editor, has been added to the list
of acquiring editors.

Heather Osborn, submissions coordinator, has been added to the list of
acquiring editors at Ellora's Cave.

At Harlequin/Silhouette Keyren Gerlach, editorial assistant, has been added
to the list of acquiring editors for the African-American program. Kate Ahl,
associate editor, has been removed from the list of acquiring editors for
Mills & Boon Medical Romance. Adam Wilson, editorial assistant, has
been added to the list of acquiring editors for Silhouette Books. Harlequin
Superromance's

Lara Smiltnieks is now listed as Lara Hyde. Allison Lyons of Harlequin
Intrigue is now listed as editor. Farrin Jacobs, editor, has been removed from the
list of acquiring editors for Red Dress Ink.

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Multnomah Publishers has a new address:
601 N. Larch Street
Sisters, OR 97759

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Though Ballantine usually only considers agented material, they will
now consider query letters from unagented authors. From their guidelines: "
In your query letter, you should include a brief synopsis of your plot,
setting, and character descriptions, and any personal information that you feel is
relevant. We will consider only single-title romances of approximately
100,000 words."

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This week, I'm looking at the Spotlight on Pocket Books from RWA's
National Conference in Reno. Spotlight on Pocket Books. Pocket Books is the mass
market publishing division of Simon and Schuster. The Spotlight was
presented by Editorial Director Maggie Crawford, Senior Editor Micki Nuding, Senior
Editor Amy Pierpont and Senior Editor Lauren McKenna.

Pocket publishes Pocket publishes approximately three mass market
paperback romances a month, consisting of historical and contemporary romance,
romantic suspense and paranormal romance. They also publish two Downtown Press
trade paperbacks a month, primarily chick lit. They publish erotica in trade
paper as well.

On the historical side, they like Regency historicals, Victorian
romances, Medievals and historicals set in Scotland. They also like Paranormal
historicals. When it comes to setting, they're pretty conservative.
They like time periods and locations that are traditionally strong sellers, such as
medievals, Regencies and Victorians and books set in England and Scotland.

Whatever the time period or setting, the sexier the better. Lauren
McKenna in particular loves medievals and historicals with paranormal
elements.

Pocket publishes Romantic Suspense. They'd like to see some very sexy
romantic suspense stories.

Pocket’s trade paper erotica are very, very sexy stories with a good
Romance Pocket also publishes MTV books, a YA line that’s been around a
while, but they’re currently revamping to make it more commercial. They’re
actively looking to acquire 50,000 to 75,000 word stories for late teens and
young twenty-somethings. Lauren McKenna acquires for this line and is open to
all sorts of stories. For instance, she mentioned she’d love to see a vampire teen
novel.

For contemporaries, the editors would like to see books that are really
sexy, with a great hero and heroine and a fast-paced plot. They do some
romantic comedy, but straight contemporary romance is not a very strong seller
for them. They would like to see a paranormal or suspense or some other
element in their contemporaries.

Amy Pierpont works on the Downtown Press line of trade paper chick lit.
They’re open to books aimed at a broad audience, not just twenty-somethings.
They like suspense chick lit, as well as novels that address issues
contemporary women are facing today.

Pocket is also interested in African American romance. Send these
submissions to Associate Editor Selena James.

To recap: Lauren McKenna likes sexy historicals, particularly if they
have paranormal elements. She also buys contemporary romance and she edits
chick lit for Downtown Press and erotica for trade paper erotica releases.

Micki Nuding likes chick lit, erotica, and sexy contemporary and
Historical romance.

Amy Pierpont is looking for YA for MTV books, chick lit for Downtown
Press, and contemporary and historical romance.

Selena James would like to see historical, contemporary and paranormal
romance, erotica, and African-American romance.

All books should be approximately 90,000 words. Send a query letter,
the first three chapters and an SASE. Pocket does not accept unagented
submissions.

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My newest release, My Backwards Life, should be in bookstores by the
end of this week. This is my first woman's fiction novel, told in first
person. If you haven't already done so, you can read a free excerpt on my
website.
_http://www.cindimyers.com_ (http://www.cindimyers.com)

And if you're in the Denver area, I'll be signing My Backwards Life at
the Tattered Cover in Cherry Creek on Friday evening at 7:30.

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While you're at my website, check out the contest I'm holding for
Preorders of my October book, Learning Curves. I had these very cool tape
measures made up to distribute to booksellers and media. I have 40 left, so the
first 40 people who send me a copy of their email confirmation showing they've
ordered the book from Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, or any other bookseller,
will receive one of these tape measures. Forward the confirmation (or cut
and paste into a new email) to me at _cindi@cindimyers.com_
(mailto:cindi@cindimyers.com) . You can see pictures of the prize,
find out more about the book, and
click-through to order, at _http://www.cindimyers.com_
(http://www.cindimyers.com/)

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Feel free to pass along this newsletter and to encourage others to sign
up to receive it. If you reprint or forward the newsletter, all I ask is
that I be given credit for it. Anyone can sign up by sending a blank email to
_cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com_
(mailto:cynthiasterling-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)

Cindi Myers
My Backwards Life, Next, September 2005
Learning Curves, Signature Select, October 2005
_www.CindiMyers.com_ (http://www.cindimyers.com/)