Happy February! What a whirlwind January turned out to be. It all started with the announcement welcoming Nina Bruhns as editorial director of the Dead Sexy line, and continued with huge press releases about our two print distributors, Midpoint (Entangled Books) and PGW (Entangled Select and Entangled Teen). We also contracted a handful of pitch contest winners, and unveiled quite a few new covers. Cari Quinn’s contemporary romance Flirt NO DRESS REQUIRED shot up to #2 on Barnes and Noble’s Bestselling Romance list (#7 for overall fiction!) where it’s holding steady, while YA books like Jennifer L. Armentrout’s OBSIDIAN continue to wow readers. It’s an exciting time to be an Entangled author, editor, and publicist, that’s for sure!
Last month also brought a ton of submissions. We’re excited by all the queries we received in response to last month’s wishlist and, as you’ll notice by the fewer requests this month, are still digging out from the deluge. This is the best kind of situation, so thank you!
As a reminder, our category-style lines, Lori Wilde’s Indulgence and Nina Bruhns’ Dead Sexy, as well as our shorter romance lines, Flirts (10k-15k words) and Ever Afters (20k-40k words), are still actively acquiring for 2012. Entangled Books is looking for a few more titles to round out the 2012 catalog, while Entangled Select and Entangled Teen are acquiring for 2013 catalog and beyond.
As always, please do not query more than one editor within a specific a line (Entangled, Indulgence, Dead Sexy, Flirts, or Ever Afters) with your project at a time. Always refer to our submission guidelines for specific instructions.
Stacy Abrams and her Associates (Entangled) want to see:
- Contemporary YA romance similar to Stephanie Perkins’s ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, Jennifer Echols FORGET YOU, or Kody Keplinger’s THE DUFF
- YA Sci-fi similar to Beth Revis’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
- Adult who-done-it mystery with main character as an accidental sleuth
- Adult romance with medical elements a la Grey’s Anatomy or Private Practice, but no cheesy doctors falling in love with their comatose patients!
- Adult contemporary romance that focuses on female friendships (but still with romantic elements) such as THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD
- New adult where the characters are in college or post-high school, a la Jennifer Echols’s LOVE STORY
Submissions for Stacy can be sent directly to stacy (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Heather Howland and her Associates (Entangled) want to see:
- Intense YA thriller that’ll keep me reading late into the night. Bonus points if I’m freaked out enough to make my husband stay up with me! Strong romantic elements required.
- Contemporary adult romance. Favorite themes include: roommates-to-lovers (bonus points if there are multiple roommates in on the plot to get the hero and heroine together), best-friends-to-lovers, forbidden office romance, and best-friend’s-older-brother (or best-friend’s-off-limits-younger-sister). Moderate to high heat levels welcome, so long as the heat isn’t what propels your story!
- Gritty and sexy military/Special Ops romance similar to Lora Leigh’s Navy SEALs series
- Contemporary YA romance reminiscent of Stephanie Perkins’ LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR and Jennifer Echol’s FORGET YOU and GOING TOO FAR
Submissions for Heather can be sent directly to heather (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Liz Pelletier (Entangled and Indulgence) wants to see:
ENTANGLED: Contemporary romance similar to Jennifer Crusie
INDULGENCE: Best friends, misunderstood heroines, ugly ducklings, revenge plots, CEOs and secretaries, really just about any common category trope except sheiks and royalty-related. Personal preference is for heroines with snarky voices, but a sweet-natured heroine who makes a cold millionaire smile can win me over.
Submissions for Liz can be sent directly to liz (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Lori Wilde (Indulgence) wants to see:
- I’d love to see more holiday themed books.
- I’m in the mood for a good friends-to-lovers story. But remember, we want those strong alpha heroes.
- I’ve been getting a lot of cruise ship and movie star submissions. While I don’t mind doing those plot lines once in awhile, I don’t need a stable of them.
- Humor! If you’ve got it, I want it. But if you’re not naturally funny, don’t force it. Emotional stories work for Indulgence too!
- I just discovered author Jessica Hart. I love her voice. If your voice is similar to hers, I want you!
- Top notch writing. Don’t send me the dusty old manuscript under your bed. It’s under there for a reason.
Submissions for Lori can be sent directly to lori (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our Indulgence submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Alethea Spiridon-Hopson (Indulgence) wants to see:
- Something fun!
- A really tight series involving sexy, charismatic men
Submissions for Alethea can be sent directly to alethea (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our Indulgence submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Nina Bruhns (Dead Sexy) wants to see:
- a novella for a fall/winter anthology
- a super sexy thriller
- a western suspense (love those cowboys!)
- an intimate strangers woman-in-jeopardy
- a tightly woven series (examples: my Passion for Danger trilogy; Suzanne Brockman) (published authors only please)
- a classic detective with romance added (examples: Tony Hillerman, Elizabeth George)
- alpha heroes of any kind!
- authors with lyrical, educated voices
- an historical suspense or mystery (example: Lauren Wittig)
Submissions for the Dead Sexy editors can be sent directly to deadsexy-submissions (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our Dead Sexy submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Anna DeStefano (Dead Sexy) wants to see:
Anna DeStefano’s having fun with the proposals she’s reading. Small towns, exotic locations, paranormal elements, urban edginess, it’s all great. But she wants to see more exciting openings. Bold predicaments for your hero and heroine, whatever “bold” means for your voice. And thrilling characters, already engaged in the intriguing plot of your novel. Pitch them into the soup, then give them a unique way of going about getting themselves out. Pacing is everything in a suspense. Show the Dead Sexy editors you know how to hook readers from the first scene. Keep us on the edge of our seats. Creatively build the world of your book around the action, instead of giving us description first. There don’t need to be guns and bullets to get our attention, but don’t let us look away for a second. Anna would love to see submissions where the hero and heroine HAVEN’T known each other for a long time–give me strangers tossed together who have to protect one other to stay alive, only they don’t know the first thing about each other. Give them great ways to learn who and what they are together, and to sustain that ever-important sexual tension, despite (or because of) the strangeness of how perfectly they fit together from the first page.
Submissions for the Dead Sexy editors can be sent directly to deadsexy-submissions (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our Dead Sexy submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Susan Meier (Dead Sexy) wants to see:
- I’ve seen so many spies this past month, that I’m longing to see something a little closer to home. A small town with a really great cop.
Submissions for the Dead Sexy editors can be sent directly to deadsexy-submissions (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our Dead Sexy submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Kerri-Leigh Grady (Flirts & Ever Afters) wants to see:
- a Burn Notice-style novella
- romantic comedy (dark or light)
- small town settings
- sexy Flirts
Submission for Kerri-Leigh can be sent directly to kerri-leigh (at) entangledpublishing (dot) com. Check out our Flirt and Ever After submission guidelines for specific instructions!
Things we aren’t likely to request for Entangled’s main imprint:
- urban fantasy (no HEA in each book, usually follows the same heroine/hero through series)
- women’s fiction (unless it leans heavily toward contemporary romance, like THE WHAT IF GUY)
- chick lit (again, unless it leans heavily toward contemporary romance, like BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD)
About Author
Hi Stacy,
Congratulations on your new venture! This wish list is very helpful.
Yours,
Wendy