I think I mentioned last week that I’ve been working on updating submissions. It was a rather large project, but we’re now caught up with submissions. With the exception of 5 pending submissions, everything submitted prior to June 1st has gotten a response. I’m hopeful that, in the next few weeks, we’ll also have a good portion of June responded to. I said there’s no superstition here because I forgot what the date was (Friday the 13th) and I sent out another batch of rejections today. I’m sure, proved someone’s feelings about this date correct. Sorry!
Normally after a round of submissions, I tell you exactly what our stats look like. Unfortunately, we’re in the midst of switching from the spreadsheet tracking we were doing (long story) to utilizing the Harlequin back-end system for tracking queries and submissions. What this means for me is that I have no way of having any consolidated numbers for total submissions/rejections. I can guess though, as long as no one gets to upset with that. Hopefully, in a few months we’ll have everything transferred over and I can give you some better numbers.
Approximate total submissions to date: 1600 (I think this is a low estimate, but I’d rather go low)
Approximate rejections to date (I sent 300 in the past week):1210
Acquisitions to date: 160
(those numbers don’t add up because there have been quite a few revise/resubmits sent out and pending plus there are submissions being read or that haven’t been read yet)
Acquisition from slush: approximately 5%. About half of our acquisitions have been direct submissions from authors we know, agented submissions, returning authors or authors we’ve worked with in the past at other Harlequin imprints or other publishers.
A few things of interest:
* We’ve been seeing an increase in steampunk submissions and acquisitions in the past few months. LOVE this.
* We would like to see more contemporary romance.
* Of the 300 rejections I sent out, approximately 40 people got detailed feedback. Another 40 got a few lines of feedback and the rest got the form rejection. Giving feedback to those 80 people increased by time spent on sending rejections by an extra 8 hour day. I hope they found it useful!
* We get a lot of romantic suspense submissions (and we’re okay with that).
* In the past week, we had a rash of science fiction romance submissions, which made me extremely happy.
* Historical romance submissions have slowed down.
* We’d like to see more m/m and erotic romance submissions.
* Deborah in particular is really hoping to acquire something in the thriller genre.
* We’re currently scheduling for Spring 2011 (March and April) for books acquired now.
I feel like we have a good handle on submissions. Right now, we’re citing response time at 14-16 weeks. Some people are hearing much more quickly than that (both acquisitions and rejections), but it shouldn’t be much longer than that going forward. It’s always my goal to keep the wait time as short as possible, because I know waiting is agony! And, of course, we’re going to be bringing on a few more freelance editors, which will hopefully speed up some response times even more.
Any other info about submissions you might be interested in?
Tags: Behind the Scenes, submissions
Thanks for sharing this!
What are some genres/subgenres that Carina wants to see in their slush piles? M/M, thrillers, erotica. Anything else? And, is there something that you’re seeing way too much of?
Great to hear you’re acquiring some steampunk — look forward to seeing it.
Deborah wants thriller? MUST. EDIT. FASTER.
Your ‘blog’ posts on the statement of current submissions – pending, rejected or accepted is one of the nicest and most professional aspects I’ve seen a publisher/editor present to their authors yet. Though I haven’t yet submitted a manuscript to Carina Press, I do plan to shortly. With fingers crossed, all ‘i’ dotted and ‘t’s crossed, of course.
Thank you
Sheila
I agree with Sheila. The posts are professional but they are also written on a conversational level, and I appreciate that. I will say, however, that seeing the number of rejections makes me nervous. I almost want to throw in the towel, but I’m not going to. Ha! I’m going to keep plugging away and hopefully get something submitted sometime soon.
Krista,
Angie also mentioned that we’re looking for more contemporary romance overall.
Speaking for myself, I’d also love to see more mystery, historicals, and women’s fiction, too. And I’m always looking for all kinds of romance, in all heat levels.
One of the other CP editors is hoping for more medical romances, another one loves cyberpunk and splatterpunk. All of us love steampunk. There’s at least one CP editor who loves just about any subgenre you can think of.
Deborah
Thank you for the update they always let me feel a part of the community
The high number of rejections is a bit daunting, but I too want to submit so I’m busy busy editing and polishing. Thank you for keeping all of us up to date on submissions and what you’re looking for – I have no idea what splatterpunk is or cyberpunk are – but I’ve loved everything I’ve bought from Carina so far and look forward to being educated on those two subgenres.
Thank you so much for the update, Angela. The number of rejections seems to be typical based on what I’ve learned about other epubs. I’m working on novellas in three genres – historical (WWII period), contemporary foreign (Russia) and sci-fi. This post gives me some idea which of these stories might be a better fit for Carina.
Deborah, thanks for your own personal list in there, too!
And thanks for the time to answer my question.
*thanks for *TAKING* the time to answer my question
(never type before morning coffee)
The rejection number is perfectly on par with the numbers I’m getting from other publishers, but my view is always if you can tell a story at all and adhere to the basics, you are already with the top 10% of submissions. (It’s just amazing what people will send out).
I’m always looking for more steampunk, foodie romance and broken heroes. And lately, I’ve been wanting m/m historical or m/m fantasy romance to add to my list.
I want to write a foodie romance, but as I already have a few projects going, I’m not sure if I should go ahead now. But I love Top Chef, Food Network Star, Gordon Ramsey and all those shows. And m/m historical is very intriguing!
I’m the editor looking for medical romances (thanks, Deb!). Whether the pairing is doctor/nurse, fireman/paramedic, or everyday person/superman surgeon, I’d love to see them.
I’m also very interested in GLBT stories in all subgenres, but would especially like to see some that aren’t erotic romance. I love ER too, don’t get me wrong, but there’s just something about a sweet romance with lots of romantic tension.
Finally, contemporaries and romantic comedies are always welcome, and if you have a romantic comedy set in the 80s a la the Wedding Singer or Romy and Michelle’s High School reunion, please send it my way.
Lori Beth, it looks like we have the same taste in TV! I edit and love all subgenres and heat levels of romance, so if you’d like to submit, go right ahead.
Like Deb, I’m open to romance of all heat levels.I’m always looking for more historicals and have recently been in the mood for Roman, Celtic, harem, medieval and WWI/II settings. I’d also love a good Gothic. In the contemporary realm, I’m a fan of romantic comedies (in third or first person)and would like to see some sports-themed stories. Women’s fiction that are family dramas or feature sisters are a big plus for me. Steampunk, yes please. Also, it’d be great to see some dystopian fiction–romance or not.
I think I’m one of the editors Deb mentioned who likes just about every subgenre out there–contemporary, sci fi, western, steampunk, paranormal, historical, women’s fiction…etc.
I have soft spots here and there for certain themes, but I am enjoying finding themes I never knew I liked.
I want you to pull me into a world you’ve created and leave me with images stuck in my head (sounds, smells, sensations and tastes too).
I like to laugh a bit even when the story is not a comedy, and I am grateful when I ‘accidentally’ learn a few things about pretty much any subject.
I’m a Carina editor too–here’s an update of what I’d LOVE to see:
–asian fiction. I’m a sucker for these–contemp, historical, fantasy…whatever you have! I’d kill to find a great samurai or ninja romance–seriously!
–sci-fi/futuristic/post-apocalyptic/steampunk, with or without romantic elements. I looooove these kinds of stories. I want manuscripts where the worldbuilding is solid and paints a vivid picture but doesn’t overwhelm with too many details.
–steamy stories, with or without romantic elements. Need I say more? *wink*
–contemp romances, with or without paranormal elements. I have a soft spot for contemps with a deep emotional connection between the hero and heroine.
–thrillers. I haven’t gotten any of these yet, but I would dig a good nail-biting story!
–cross-genre romances. I love stories that mash together multiple genres. Maybe a steampunk thriller? A time-travel with werewolves? LOL who knows? If it’s written well with a unique concept, I want to read it.
Overall, I’m open for pretty much anything. I enjoy love stories, and those without romance in them as well, so feel free to send your stuff my way!
Thanks for the updates on statistics and novels you are currently seeking. It’s nice to hear directly from the editors and I have a couple written that would fit the bill…one even involves a baker.
Love, love that Carina is open to mixing up genres and subgenres.! My book, No One Lives Twice, out today from Carina Press, Aug. 16, is an action/adventure comedy, mystery!! How’s that for mixing it up!?!?!
. LOL!
Still pinching myself about being one of those authors plucked out of the slush …
160 aquisitions, you say, but how many of those are “straight” fiction, meaning not romance or erotica? Also, how many of the 160 acquisitions are novellas? Or short novels, meaning in the 40k-60k word range which, I’ve been told, is an almost unsellable length when it comes to print fantasy or science fiction? For that matter, how many of the “straights” belong to one of the speculative fiction subgenres?
For those about to lose courage, because Carina Press only acquires 5% of slush submissions, listen to Aleksander V.! I’m sure he is correct in that most of the 95% rejected stories had serious problems at a very basic level.
As for myself, I’m working on a historical fantasy (Keltic and pagan. And alternate history) that kinda looks like a mystery but in many ways isn’t. I think it’ll end up novella length, hence my question above. Also there’s no real romance in it, hence my other question.
I’ve been haunting the bookstore in hopes of some interactive fiction. Are you still planning to publish this genre? Do you need submissions in that area?
@Peter, I’ll have to do some numbers surrounding genres and lengths, etc., because any I give you now will be guessing. I’ll try to post those on Friday!
@Nara, we’ve had a few submissions in this but none have worked out. It’s difficult to write good interactive fiction! We would certainly publish any that we loved. And yes, we are still looking for submissions in that area.
Angele, if you don’t have the numbers already, don’t bother getting exact figures, if it is any trouble at all. I’ll be happy with a rough estimate.
Peter–I acquired a futuristic military novel. No romance at all in it. I’m SUPER excited about it!
Do we submit directly to the requesting editor, in my case, Kym, or to the general submission box? Thank you.
Storm, if you address your query to Kym and send it to the general submission e-mail, she’ll get it.
Hi Angela. Thanks for being so informative on the the numbers and submission process. I might have missed it, but I haven’t seen any information on how Carina feels about short story collections. Most small presses don’t do collections or digital chapbooks, saying they aren’t cost effective enough. Do you think the digital medium will bring a return to shorter, quick reads and dollar download types again? I seem to waver between short stories or 100k epics- never the nice easy area inbetween!