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Dear CRW Members,
Please join us in offering a big welcome to new CRW Members in December2021/January 2022: Joelle Davis, Rachel Dye, Katina Drennan, Alessandra Alma, Robin Hillyer Miles, Julie Cameron, Aleta Goin, and Wayne Price.
Q1 Board Meeting: We had our Quarter 1 Board Meeting on January 16, 2022. You can find the meeting minutes here.
VOTE: We shared a survey in the CRW Facebook Group to get CRW Member input on what type of Member Forum you want to communicate with other CRW Members on (Facebook Group, Slack, Discord, the Forum on this website, or something else). If you haven’t already, please vote on that here, or reply and let us know your vote.
STILETTO CONTEST: Can you spare 1-2 hours a week during the month of April and/or May to help our Stiletto Contest volunteers send out emails? If so, please email Michelle and let her know.
VIRTUAL CONFERENCE: Want to help out with our AWESOME summer virtual conference? We have a great start, but we need more help to make it AMAZING. Volunteer opportunities include:
—speaker liaison – less than an hour a week and then several hours the week before and then during the conference to ensure the speakers have the info they need, gather handouts, etc.
—door prizes – a few hours a month to solicit and organize door prizes for the event
—sponsors/vendors – less than an hour a week and then a few hours the week before and then during the conference to ensure the vendors provide content, have the info they need, gather handouts, etc.
—moderator liaison – less than an hour a week and then several hours the week before and then during the conference to train and assign the moderators
WANT TO LEAD A CONFERENCE SESSION? If you have a topic you can lead a 1-hour session on for the Contemporary Romance Virtual Writing Conference in July, please fill out the submission form here.
DIVERSITY: Nicole is looking for a group or individual to assist her as the Diversity Chair/Committee for CRW. This person or group will work with the board and volunteers to provide input on programs and events so that CRW can be a safe and inclusive organization for all members. If Diversity is an important issue for you and you would be willing/able to give a bit of your time to help CRW in this way, please email Nicole.
Industry News
Provided by Pamela Ferguson
Disclaimer: CRW does not endorse any of the websites, businesses, or news sources mentioned. Articles are provided for information purposes only, and none are behind paywalls. Complete urls are included so you know what you’re clicking on.
News Highlights
“How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book in 2022?” blog.reedsy.com, December 31, 2021, https://blog.reedsy.com/cost-to-self-publish-a-book/
“Romantic fiction writers creating a more diverse happily ever after,” The Guardian, December 30, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/dec/30/romantic-fiction-writers-diverse-happily-ever-after-book-social-media-barriers-bestsellers
“The 17 BEST Self-Publishing Companies of 2022,” blog.reedsy.com, December 31, 2022, https://blog.reedsy.com/best-self-publishing-companies/
“US District Court Grants Win to Authors Guild Members, Amazon Publishing, and Penguin Random House in Kiss Library Piracy Suite,” businesswire.com, December 30, 2021, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211230005050/en/U.S.-District-Court-Grants-Win-to-Authors-Guild-Members-Amazon-Publishing-and-Penguin-Random-House-in-Kiss-Library-Piracy-Suit
2021 Best Romance Compilation Lists. Did you see any of the 2021 end-of-the-year romance fiction compilation lists? I’ve included a few below. Contemporary romance makes a strong showing in each—great news for CRW authors!
BuzzFeed https://www.buzzfeed.com/shylawatson/best-romance-novels-2021
Cosmopolitan https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/books/g37992269/best-romance-novels-2021/
Entertainment Weekly https://ew.com/books/best-romance-novels-of-2021/
Goodreads Choice Awards https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-romance-books-2021
National Public Radio https://www.npr.org/2021/12/18/1062077791/best-romance-books-2021
2022 Pitch Opportunities
Ready to put your manuscript in front of agents and editors? Here are some January-March 2022 pitch opportunities. Some are free. Some require registering for an online conference. New pitch events are announced all the time, so check publisher, agent, and conference social media sites for more information.
January
Insecure Writer’s Support Group – #IWSGPit Twitter Pitch – January 26, 2022 https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-twitter-pitch.html
February
Michigan Writing Workshop, February 4-5, 2022 (online conference) https://michiganwritingworkshop.com/agents-in-attendance/
#PassorPages query contest – Genre revealed on February 15, 2022; entry window February 28-March 4, 2022. https://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/p/passorpages.html
Savvy Authors 2022 Sweetheart Pitchfest – February 16-18, 2022 https://savvyauthors.com/community/classes/2022-sweetheart-pitchfest.1756/
GenreCon – February 18-20, 2022 (online conference) https://www.genrecon.com.au/pitch
March
Atlanta Writing Workshop, March 4-5, 2022 (online conference) https://atlantawritingworkshop.com/agents-and-editors/
Revise & Resub – #RevPit 2022 – begins March 17, 2022 https://www.reviseresub.com/annual-contest/schedule
Harlequin – #RomanceIncludesYou – Diverse voices. Diverse stories. March 30, 2022 https://www.writeforharlequin.com/romance-includes-you/
The following pitch opportunities are expected to be held in March 2022, but the specific dates were not available as of January 1, 2022:
Pitch Wars – #PitMad https://pitchwars.org/pitmad/
Faith Pitch – # FaithPitch https://www.faithpitch.com/guidelines
Other Upcoming Events
Bookstore Romance Day will be on August 20, 2022 https://bookstoreromanceday.org/bookstores/bookstore-sign-up/
Romance Publishers Open for Submissions
The following publishers are open for unagented author submissions as of January 1, 2022:
“Welcome to the Berkley Open Submission Program!” December 7, 2021- January 9, 2022 https://sites.prh.com/berkley-open-submission-program
“Harlequin Welcomes More Submissions from Black Authors” https://www.writeforharlequin.com/submission-calls/
Kensington Publishing – “From the list of editors and their areas of interest below, determine which editor would be best suited to or most interested in the type of book you are proposing. Address the submission to that editor’s attention.” https://www.kensingtonbooks.com/pages/submissions/
“Tule is currently accepting submissions for the 2023 calendar.” https://tulepublishing.com/about/#for-authors
Final Note In Industry News
If there are indie or traditional publishing industry news topics or events you’d like me to track for our CRW membership, please email Pam. See you next month!
A Message From Harlequin to CRW Members:
Harlequin has numerous events and opportunities for romance writers – both new and established – to get their story seen by a Harlequin editor. Here’s what’s coming up and writers can always find great information about Harlequin events and submission calls at WriteforHarlequin.com and @Write4Harlequin on Twitter.
FOLD Executive Director Jael Richardson will be in conversation with Margot Mallinson tomorrow! Margot acquires for MIRA Books, a Harlequin imprint. Join the conversation to learn about what Harlequin is looking for in romance and fiction books from new and established authors! Find The FOLD on Instagram: the_fold
Find out about The FOLD 2022 Pitch Perfect event.
Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense are looking for inspirational romance authors with uplifting stories to share. This submission call is open now until March 15. More information is here: https://www.writeforharlequin.com/the-great-love-inspired-author-search-is-back/
This Valentine’s Day, Harlequin’s romance editors will be on the lookout for love stories that warm the heart. We’ll be monitoring social media all day for romance story pitches that could be published in one of Harlequin’s romance lines or Carina Press. We’re looking for completed, unpublished romance novels across subgenres and we welcome male/female and inclusive LGBTQ+ romance stories. More information is here: https://www.writeforharlequin.com/harlequinpitch/
Upcoming CRW Events
January 22, 2022 at 1pm ET | 12pm CT | 11am MT | 10am PT
Creating Characters of Color (Webinar) with Alex Sanchez
January 29, 2022 at 4pm ET | 3pm CT | 2pm MT | 1pm PT
Tapping Into the Power of Myths (Webinar) with Mary Buckham
Every Monday: 8:30pm ET | 7:30pm CT | 6:30pm MT | 5:30pm PT
Weekly Fireside Chats on various topics on Clubhouse (Come chat with us! These discussions are fun and informative.)
Writing Sprints – Come Write With Us! (Or Edit, Create Graphics, Ads, or Just Hang Out!)
Every Tuesday: 12pm ET | 11am CT | 10am MT | 9am PT
Sprints with Tanya on Zoom
Every Thursday: 10:30pm ET | 9:30pm CT | 8:30pm MT | 7:30pm PT
Sprints with Nicky on Clubhouse
Every Saturday: 12pm ET | 11am CT | 10am MT | 9am PT
Sprints with Michelle on Zoom (Jan 22 on Teams)
Want to run sprints at a different day/time? Let us know!
Upcoming Workshops
This Month’s CRW Member New Releases
Member New Releases 2021 | 2022
Congratulations to the following members for publishing new books this month. If you want your new release added in a future CRW newsletter, share it with us here.
Kathy Strobos
January 11, 2022
Nikki Kiley
January 27, 2022
Member Links
CRW Merch Store | Member Facebook Group | Webinar Replays | Organizational Documents