Spotted at the Carina Press spotlight: Shannon Stacey, Ruth A. Casie, editors Rhonda Helms and Mallory Braus and many more!
Carina Press executive editor Angela James has a lot of announcements, but is starting with what Carina Press (CP) is about and how it came to be.
CP is a digital-first imprint of Harlequin. Our first ebooks were published 2 years ago in June.
CP was conceived because of the opportunities for romance and other genres in the digital market. Harlequin staff work on CP because they love it no advance.
CP ebooks are DRM-free.
We acquire worldwide rights and all rights because Harlequin is a global company and it does use a variety of rights (keep reading for more).
Speed to market from acquisition to release is an advantage with CP and professional covers.
CP publishes a variety of content, most adult fiction genres (just no womens fiction, inspirational, YA or nonfiction). That includes genres WITHOUT romantic elements!
With Carina Press, authors get editorial support, marketing support, assistance and feedback on marketing plans, cross promotion on Harlequin properties and newsletters, and more. Also have meetings and workshops online and by phone with authors 3-4 times a year where we can share news and authors can ask questions.
As Harlequin authors, CP writers get online author training webinars and videos as well as meet one-on-one with digital team at Harlequins Digital Day at RWA on topics like social media training, website reviews, etc. Also webinars on developing author skills like self-editing.
About 30 people work on Carina Press either freelance or as part of Harlequin. Includes 14-16 freelance editors and very low turnover rate.
CP has refined strategy since first books went on sale. For example, narrowed genres CP publishes and reduced number of titles on sale each week from 4-6 to 2-3 so able to focus more attention on each book until CP could grow. Were now ready to increase to 4 new releases a month so send in those submissions!
CP accepts all heat levels from erotic to sweet romances, plus books without any romantic elements (e.g. mystery, sci fi, fantasy). 15,000 words and up. Will also look at previously published material but particularly looking for a package of backlist titles.
CPs top genres are: 1) Contemporary Romance 2) Paranormal romance 3) Romantic Suspense 4) Erotic Romance
Top genres in print: 1) Contemporary Romance 2) Romantic Suspense 3) Mystery different because of Harlequins Direct to Consumer subscriptions, especially Mystery.
CP has 265 contracted authors, including 30% debut authors. CP is very interested in debut authors because we love their enthusiasm and we want to build their careers.
Key message from Angela: no matter who you publish with, be ready to build your career with a publisher with multiple books. Its a lot easier to build an author with more than 1 book.
Over 2/3 of authors have multiple books contracts with CP or return for more than 1 contract.
CP books have hit the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists as well as individual retailers bestseller lists (e.g. Amazon and Barnes 99 cent pricing promos this summer).
Now have CP books published in the UK, Italy, Germany, through Harlequins international offices. 70% of CP titles are sold in audio from Audible.com. Audible currently picks up about 90% of new releases each month. Other new uses for content include backlist ebook bundles (e.g. Christine dAbo Long Shots Books 1-3 bundle of first 3 novellas) and new print opportunities.
The Future of Carina Press:
More targeting of specific genres. E.g. getting great attention on fantasy and fantasy romance. Will have 2 weeks of fantasy in February 2013.
More special projects like themed collections and continuities.
Scheduling more connected editorial from individual authors strategically. CP may hold back releasing the first book in a series so can release a book every 6 months or so for a bigger marketing push and suit the authors schedule. CP currently has 20-25 series on the go.
Updated submissions guidelines coming soon!
Increasing CP marketing support, such as more digital sampling, and even more use of print and foreign rights. Print on Demand is coming (no start date yet) and Harlequin is printing a trade-format anthology of erotic romance novellas by Delphine Dryden, Christine dAbo and Jodie Griffin in November called The Theory of Attraction. It will be the first print book sold under the Carina Press imprint!
Authors can expect honesty, commitment and insight into the publishing process from CP.
Audience got to vote on the cover for 2 future releases: Lynda Aichers first book, an erotic romance called Bonds of Trust. Also voted on the cover for Susanna Fraserss An Infamous Marriage.
Question from the audience: How do you feel about self-published authors submitting to Carina Press?
Answer from Angela: CP is happy to look at submissions from previously self-pubd authors but do prefer to see new content (but will always look at it!).
Angelas personal call for submissions (more here: http://carinapress.com/blog/2011/12/...ly-do-anymore/ )shes looking for: sports-themed romance, space westerns in the vein of Firefly, novel-length (i.e. 70k words or longer) erotic romance, novel-length paranormal romance with a fresh twist. Also looking for new opportunities for serialization.
For info on what other Carina Press editors are looking for, check their bios on the CP Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/CarinaPress) or the Carina Press blog at CarinaPress.com (here: http://carinapress.com/blog/2011/10/...r-submissions/).
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