Drift on Swoon Reads

I eagerly awaited Swoon Reads to open their site to submissions and within minutes I was hit upon a problem.  To make my submission stand out I needed a book cover and I didn't have one.  

I knew competition would be fierce so I consulted my friend Neil Anthony Mason of Model Gateway for advice.  Neil invited me over to discuss ideas with himself and Natalie Collins.  It was agreed to use one of my old modelling photos.  With Neil's Photoshop expertise, we transformed the image into a suitable book cover.

It had taken us a few months to get together to do this and then I had my baby.  The delays meant my book Drift did not enter Swoon Reads until January.

Over the next 6 months I need to rack up as many votes as possible to try and win a publishing contract with Macmillan.  If you'd like to help support Drift you can read it here:  http://www.swoonreads.com/m/drift

Swoon Reads

In Spring 2013, MacMillan Children's Publishing Group will be opening their new website Swoon Reads. Swoon Reads is to be run by Feiwel and Friends, a division of MacMillian.

 

Swoon Reads will be a crowd source publishing venture. In 2014, they will publish 10 to 12 Novels (e-format and paper). Winning authors will get $10,000 advance and standard royalty terms. 

They are looking for:

• unpublished romance novels
• aimed at readers age 14 and up
• 50,000 to 70,000 word manuscript
• 140 character Twitter keynote (one or two sentences that'll capture the essence of your story and entice others to read it)
• 125 word synopsis - this will be the real challenge!

The rest of the story is up to you as they welcome almost any type of romance novel.  Whether your story is gay or straight romance, realistic or supernatural - it doesn't matter.  The story can be set in any time era and doesn't have to have a happilly ever after. 

You will need to make it unforgettable and make your readers swoon to win those votes.   Winners are chosen by the community of readers. That is what crowd sourced publishing is all about. 

 

They'd like it posted exclusively to their website, however, it will not be disqualified for being on other sites. It just must be unpublished!

 

You can enter whether you have any agent or not.

 

Make sure your novel is to the best standard it can be because once it is entered it cannot be edited.

 

Read the full details at:  http://macteenbooks.com/swoonreads/index.html

My reaction:

This is the competition that I've been waiting for.  I love writing YA fiction and I am so soppy for love.  I can't wait for Spring 2013!

 

I plan to enter Drift as I've editted that so many times that I feel it is ready for public consumption. 

 

I'm going to ask if its just one entry per writer as I have lots of other stories but I will need to edit them to be ready for this competition as they aren't as polished as Drift.

 

My only concern is that this could turn into a populartiy spamming contest.  I'm hoping that strong writing will prevail and win overall. 

 

Wish me luck and good luck to you!