Write from the Heart—Harlequin Heartwarming Contest

I’m thrilled to be guest posting today because I’ve got big news! Harlequin Heartwarming is holding a writing contest! Starting June 9, we’ll be accepting contest submissions from authors who want to write clean, contemporary romance for Heartwarming.

I’ll post the contest guidelines below, and if you’d like more information, you can check out the Harlequin community discussion forum, the SOLD blog and Goodreads.

We’re hoping for a lot of submissions, so I’m trying to get the word out to as many people as possible. That said, I’d like to finish this post with a few popular search terms…

This cat is certainly grumpy:

Cute puppy has a nap:

Game of Thrones: Is this a fish or one of the warlocks of Qarth? You decide!

We’re looking forward to a great contest with many, many submissions!

All the best,

Dana

Write from the Heart

You could be the next Harlequin Heartwarming author! The Heartwarming team is on the lookout for clean, contemporary romance stories that dig deep into emotion and obstacle for a satisfying read. If you have an idea for a wholesome romance, we’d love to see what you’ve got! This summer, the Heartwarming team will read your submissions in three stages, hoping to find a brand-new Heartwarming author. Here’s how the contest works:

Stage 1 – Make our hearts skip a beat with the first page of your manuscript.

From June 9 to 15, submit the first page of your Heartwarming story to WriteFromTheHeart@harlequin.ca. We’ll let you know by June 20 whether you’ve been chosen to go on to Stage 2.

Stage 2 – Pull on our heartstrings with an expanded synopsis (5-10 pages) and your first three chapters.

Selected authors will have from June 21 to June 29 to submit their proposals. All authors who submit a proposal in Stage 2 will receive a one-page critique of their submission.

Stage 3 — If we’ve fallen head over heels with your story, you’ll have the opportunity to submit your full manuscript to Harlequin Heartwarming.

During the week of July 21, we’ll announce which authors move on to Stage 3 at the Heartwarming Open House during the RWA conference in San Antonio—we’ll also contact the shortlisted authors individually.

Once we receive your manuscript, we’ll read and respond within four weeks.

Each author who submits a full manuscript will receive a personal mentorship with a Heartwarming editor. (Mentorship may last up to six consecutive months and could end in an offer of publication.) 

We’ll be accepting submissions next week, but in the meantime you can prepare to Write from the Heart by checking out the Heartwarming guidelines, reading our blog posts and getting to know the Heartwarming team. One entry per author, please. With such tight deadlines, it’s a good idea to keep writing while you wait for a response. We can’t wait to start reading!