Where did the week go?

Is it just me or do you find that if you go away it takes longer to catch up than you were actually away for?

We had a wonderful weekend with Michelle Reid and her husband - the sun shone, we walked by the sea, ate wonderful meals, talked, laughed, talked some more. Michelle gave me an advance copy of her upcoming book - Mia's Scandal. This is the launch book for a new continuity The Balfour Legacy that starts in July. I'll have more info on that in a while and Michelle and I will be running a joint contest to mark the publication of our next books.

Mine of course will be The Good Greek Wife? and that's part of the mini-series The Greek Tycoons which has the shout line - Legends are Made of Men Like These! Some of the other books in the series are already out now and they are:

The Greek Tycoon's Achilles Heel by Lucy Gordon

The Power of the Legendary Greek by Catherine George

A Good Greek Wife? will be out in July

and the fourth book in the series will be

Powerful Greek, Housekeeper Wife by Robyn Donald (coming in September)

These dates are the UK ones. The first two books are out in Presents EXTRA in June and my book and Robyn's will also be Presents EXTRA in October.

Of course if you can't wait till then and you haven't already ready it, there's my other Greek book The Konstantos Marriage Demand still available on eHarlequin or Amazon. And as a sneak preview of good news, if you're buying from eHarlequin, from May 26th - May 31st they're running a BOGOF (buy one get one free) sale - so you could get twice the number of books for your money!

If you're in America, have you noticed the changes that have happened in the Presents line-up lately? This is how it was announced over on I Heart Presents:

On another note I wanted to talk to you, our most avid fans, about a recent change that you may have noticed within the Harlequin Presents line. In the month of May there are a few less Presents stories available than you may be used to, instead of 8 titles per month we will now be publishing 6 titles each month. We decided on this change for a few different reasons as we felt very strongly that we weren’t being fair to our authors or readers; with so many titles out there we noticed it was becoming difficult for our readers to keep up and we didn’t want anyone to miss out on any of the fantastic stories that were being offered.

The other change in the line-up is that the Presents titles that were originally Modern Heat/Harlequin Sexy in the UK and Australia will now be brought out in special collections in Presents Extra in America.

There will still be 4 Harlequin Presents Extras on-sale mid-month. Two of these will be regular Presents titles and two of them will be books that have been published in Modern Heat in the UK - these will now appear in their separate 'collection' in the Presents Extra instead of being in the first strand of publication when it wasn't easy to tell which ones had this rather different editorial content.

You should be able to tell them more simply now with the titles to the collections - Modern Heats will be in the ones with titles like Sex in The City/P.S. I'm Pregnant/Conveniently Wedded . . .And Bedded

And the traditional Presents authors' books will be in collections like: The Greek Tycoons/Her Irresistible Boss/British Bachelors. So there will still be 8 great 'traditional' Presents books each month - just split over the two lines.

Will this help you find the type of books you're looking for? And American readers - are you finding it easy to get hold of copies of the Presents Extras you want? OR even to get the info on which books are out in that line-up each month?

Oh yes - and talking about changes - there are some coming up in the UK lines as well. The number of books in the Modern line will be reduced to 8 - 4 in each two-weekly line-up and there are some BIG changes coming in the way the books will look.

I can't tell you more just yet but watch this space and you'll find out . . . (but looking at Michelle's book cover up above should give you a clue)

Blogging around again

As I'm sure you've noticed, I have a new book out in America this month - The Konstantos Marriage Demand in Presents EXTRA which is published officially on March 16th.

So as a spin-off from that I've been asked to guest on lots of different blogs all around the internet. And the first of those posts goes up today.

So today I'm visiting with the fabulous Romance Bandits. And I'm talking about . . .what am I talking about? Oh yes - Family Feuds - and of course The Konstantos Marriage Demand.

Why not come and join me over there?

Aaaachoo!

Yes, definitely the girl flu - because of course it can't possibly be as bad as the Man Flu that's afflicting the Babe Magnet - can it? Well, he's totally lost his voice, so at least he can't complain quite so much!

Thank you all for your get well wishes, I really appreciate them - or I will when I can think straight.

So, while I'm not up to blogging much - here's something not to be sneezed at (sorry - I couldn't help it!)

Want to win five - that's right 5 - of my backlist books?

Well that's the prize in the contest I'm running with My Tote Bag to celebrate the publication of Kept For Her Baby in America in October. (Special thanks to Summer for her lovely comment about it yesterday. That really brightened a non too bright day. I'm getting some wonderful letters about this one - it seems to be touching a lot of hearts.)

So head over to My Tote Bag's Contest page and answer the easy question you'll find there. You'll find the answer on my web site.

And don't forget that this book is out in the Extra Presents line up - The Presents EXTRA Collection that is out on October 13th.

Aaaachhhooo!

PS Flora and Dylan kindly cleared up the pigeon on the lawn for me - I won't go into details but they were both burping late into the evening and all that was left was a lot a feathers blowing in the breeze!

Presents and Presents Extra

When I asked abut the new covers and scheduling, Jill made what I think is a very good and interesting point in her comment. She said:

I also think that Harlequin could do a lot more to distinguish Presents and
Presents Extra in North America. They have very different "feels" and that is
not reflected in the covers or the titles.

Well, basically, Jill, my response is ‘Me too’ - but it’s the main Presents schedule that I wish Marketing would get to grips with and make a lot clearer. I understand that some sort of changes are in the pipeline. And not before time in my opinion – there are a lot of readers out there who have been confused and puzzled by the way some books have been published in Presents over the past year or so. It’s a situation that has had meant that some people have bought books they weren’t truly happy with. Books that didn’t give them what they wanted. And has left others not really know which books to buy to get the sort of read they’re looking for.


It’s also sometimes meant that some people have found new authors they’ve fallen in love with, authors they want to read more of – which is the good side of this and I suspect that might have been the original plan behind the new way of publishing Presents Extra. But it’s a bit more complicated than the thought that the main Presents run at the beginning of the month have stayed exactly the same, while the Presents Extra are the ‘different’ ones. And as I have a book coming out in Presents Extra in October I’ll take this opportunity to explain things as they stand now. And thank you Jill for asking the question to lead me to doing this.



OK, so all the Presents/Presents Extra books are originally bought by the London UK editorial offices – that is, they are read, edited and acquired by Harlequin Mills & Boon UK. They are published in the UK first and then, either the same month, or later in the year, they are published in America. The books that are published in the Presents line-up in USA used to be acquired solely from one line in the UK - the Modern Romance line. (The books with the blue covers that you see in my sidebar etc.) But these days, the books that are put out with a Presents cover are acquired from two different lines. (With some exceptions but I’ll come to that in a minute.) So now the Presents/Extra books are acquired from the Modern Romance Line and the Modern Heat line.

And the first complication starts to come in because the Modern Heat used to be called the Modern Extra and the name of the line was changed in 2008.

So in the UK and in Australia, these books are brought out under a separate line title – in Australia they are sold as Sexy Sensation, with a distinctly different cover design. In the UK you have to look a little harder for that ‘Heat’ addition to the cover but it’s there. Personally, I think this is a very good – and necessary distinction. Because the editorial content of these books is very different in tone and in execution from the classic Modern/Presents style editorial. You’ve only got to look at the writing guidelines for each line – specially the checklists for the type of alpha hero they are looking for - to see this:


Mills & Boon Modern Romance®

Commanding: he’s always in control and calling the shots – except when the heroine finally tames him…
Demanding: he’s come a long way since his emotionally or financially impoverished childhood; he wants it done, and he wants it done now!
Arrogant: he believes in himself and the reach of his influence, totally – until the battle with his feelings for the heroine begins…
Passionate: sensual and sexy, he uses his charm and power to get what he wants, though his need for the heroine may ultimately prove stronger
Status: impossibly wealthy, probably self-made; often has celebrity status in the media. The ruler of all he surveys, be it a company or a country

Mills & Boon Modern Heat®

Young: he’s aged between 25 and 35 and has yet to settle down
Confident: he knows what he wants and has a good idea of how he’ll get it; he knows he’s attractive and relishes challenges – he might have a extreme hobby
Easy-going: he plays as hard as he works, knowing how and when to have a good time. He doesn’t sweat the small stuff…
Accessible: he’s very approachable, but his physical presence and his confidence and charm make him stand out from the crowd
Status: he hails from all walks of life and can have any level of success and wealth


For me the difference between the two is more than this - it’s a difference of mood and intensity – and very definitely of conflict. To me the hallmark of the classic Presents is that high-octane, white heat of emotional intensity that some people love and others hate and its one of the reasons why Modern/Presents has been so successful and why the line often sparks off so many debates about the books and the heroes. If you want to know more about what I think are the differences between these two lines, I wrote about it here:


So, to my way of thinking, it’s important to indicate which type of read a book is. This has been done in the UK and in Australia. In America, the Modern Heat editorial was originally published in the Presents Extra line-up, which marked them out as slightly different and so readers knew what they were getting – but all that has been changed. Just when everyone thought they knew that Extras were different, they aren’t any more! The Modern Heat books have been put in with the main run of the Presents titles at the beginning of the month, and the Presents Extras are precisely that –extra Presents out in the middle of the month. Presents/Modern-style stories written by Presents authors and put together in themed collections. (My Kept For Her Baby is out under the heading ‘Dark Nights with the Billionaire’ which, I’ll be honest, I don’t quite understand – but that’s marketing for you!)

The exception to this is when the Presents Extra line up is used to bring out some Medical titles and then the name of the series – Posh Docs, Mediterranean Doctors etc - will usually reveal that this is what has happened.

So it’s all a bit confusing to readers at the moment. I understand that in the near future there are plans to indicate on the covers what sort of story each book is but I don’t know quite what or when that’s going to happen. Speaking personally, it can’t come soon enough because if I was buying a Presents title I’d want to know that I was going to get the reading experience I was looking for. And if I wanted a Modern Heat style story I’d want to know where to look for that too. So I hope all this will soon be sorted out to make it clearer.

Until then, what can you do to check which sort of story a book is? Well, the obvious thing is to go by the author – authors you know have written classic Presents style books before will be the ones who will give you the same sort of read, no matter whether they come out in Presents or Presents Extra – Kept For Her Baby is a classic example. And the other titles in Extra that month are by Carole Mortimer, Lee Wilkinson and Janette Kenny – classic Presents authors.

In the main Presents line up at the beginning of the month, authors like Heidi Rice, Kate Hardy, Trish Wylie, Nicola Marsh . . .have all be published in Modern Heat first. You can check out the Modern Heat books on the Mills & Boon web site if you want to. They’re in with the Modern titles but they have that read ‘Heat’ on the front cover to indicate their style. Or putting Modern Heat into the search box on Amazon.co.uk will show you the authors who write for this line. Then you can make your choice.

So does this help – or confuse you even more? I think it just goes to show that, as Jill says, it’s time there was some way of showing that a book started out as a Modern Romance or a Modern Heat because they do have that different ‘feel’ and some readers prefer one and not the other .

Of course, now that I’ve explained all this, things will probably change all over again and nothing will be clear.
But the one thing I can promise you is that Kept For Her Baby is a classic Presents story – but you need to look for it in the Presents Extra line up that’s out on October 13th.

Just look for that fabulous cover and you’ll find it.

More good news for USA writers - and readers

Thank you to everyone who commented on the new covers/new scheduling in the UK.

I tend to agree with you - Julie, Jan, Jill and Ellen - that I'm not keen on the 2 in 1 format for the Romance books - and some others. I often buy romance titles but only by very specific authors and I'm afraid that the inclusion of an author I'm not keen on in the bok - at a higher price than a single title - would make me think more than twice about buying that book. However much I wanted it. I will be considering buying the USA editions as long as they continue to offer me just the author I want to read.

And I'm not a big fan of that washed-out cover look, either Jan. To me it looks way too much the way that people used to think - and some still do - of an M&B Romance- washed out, 'pink and fluffy' and totally unrealistic. Didn't any of the designers read Liz Fielding or Marion Lennox before they planned a design? (No - don't answer that. I have a nasty feeling that the answer is they didn't read very much at all. These covers are just too insipid for me. The new design doesn't work so badly on the Intrigue books though - because the cover images aren't as insipid. I don't actually mind the new layout of the covers - just those pallid images.

Interestingly, the Modern Romance line doesn't have new covers - and as far as I know there are no plans for the new designs for this line or the Historical line either. This creates a rather strange effect on the bokshop shelves where the books now tend to look as if they are from different publishers - is that a good or a bad thing? I don't know.

Jill, you mentioned Harlequin Presents and Harlequin Presents Extra - and you've raised an interesting and rather complicated pint - so I'll talk about that in more detail in my next post tomorrow.

For a while now I've been singing the praises of The Book Depository as a place to get hold of books that are not easily available elsewhere or where postage costs are prohibitive for delivery.

Well, I just learned this morning that The Book Depository is now opening up in America, still with free delivery - and some very good prices for books that are more expensive elsewhere. I checked out the USA edition of the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance in their stock and found it here at $16.26 - and that's with free shipping. It's a great deal.

Tote Bag of Books Presents Special - Trish Morey

And so here's the final Presents author to round off this list of fabulous contributors to the Tote Bag Presents Special.

Today;s author is Australian Trish Morey. In her blog, Tirsh talks about the day we first met, when she had just had her very first book accepted - back in 2003. That's one of my favourite memories of Trish - and of RWA. And the Presents authors dinner a day or so later, when Trish and I sat together and shared a few glasses of wine - and talked and talked - is another one.

So I'm delighted to welcome Trish to the blog today.

Celebrating Harlequin Presents

Many thanks, Kate, for welcoming me here on your blog! Not that being welcomed by Kate is any surprise. I'm sure I've mentioned it before (if not here) that when I turned up at the RWA Nationals literacy signing event in New York in 2003, one short month after selling to Harlequin Presents, that it was Kate Walker who wrapped me, a total stranger, in her arms and welcomed me into the Harlequin Presents author fold with a heartfelt, "welcome, to the best club in the world."

And truly it is! It's so special, being able to write for Presents. For where else do you get to meet writers warm and wonderful and of the calibre of Kate Walker? And where else do you get to create the fantasy characters that we, as Presents readers love to read? Where else do you get to explore conflict in all its many forms and in all its angsty detail, with a resolution at the end that is all the more satisfying for all that has gone before? And all with the perfect alpha male, impossibly sexy, arrogant and who thinks he knows exactly what he wants from the world. Until he meets his perfect heroine of course and his perfect world goes pear shaped:-))

Of course, Harlequin Presents stories are set in some of the most glamorous locations in the world, Paris, New York, London, Monaco, etc, but I think the fun sometimes starts when you are able to make up your own fantasy realm. This is Harlequin Presents after all, the line that offers the very best in contemporary fantasy romance.

Which is where the fictional Principality of Montvelatte came from. A ruggedly beautiful Mediterranean island with air scented of salt and thyme and a thousand wildflowers, an island rich in history and legend. Here one Prince has already found his match.

And it is here, on Montvelatte, that a Princess meets her match, in my latest release, The Ruthless Greek's Virgin Princess. I hope you enjoy revisiting the island of Montvelatte and reading Princess Marietta's story as much as I enjoyed writing it!


Your question, what book preceding The Ruthless Greek's Virgin Princess, introduced us to the Principality of Montvelatte?

You'll find the answer on my website

Trish's Book - The Ruthless Greek's Virgin Princess is out on August 11th in the Presents Extra line up.