I recently sent in a submission to Mills and Boon.
Today I had a letter back from them saying that they appreciate the care and attention that has gone into the preparation of my submission. That’s a nice thing to say for a start isn’t it? My characters and story are not sufficiently developed for publication in any of their programmes at the moment.
Then they go on to give me top tips, so I’m sharing them on my blog today.
- Ensure that your story and conflict are character driven.
- Focus on the internal emotional conflict of your characters.
- Use secondary characters to add richness and depth to your central romance, but don’t let them take over.
- Target your work to a particular series – this means you need to read current books in the series you are aiming for and understand what that series delivers to the reader.
All helpful stuff, I’m a bit disappointed, but they are fussy with what they want, so I’ll move on to my next plan.
Notice those neat bullet points there? I’ve got my first exam tomorrow. Looking forward to that.
Have you sent your entry in the here yet? Cremona Hotel It’s free to enter, and you win a weekend at the hotel, and £50.00 to spend.
The toucan says ‘You’d beakrazy not to have a go.’
Sue’s Website 
That sounds like a very nice letter. My problem with trying to write for them has always been that my secondary characters want to make more noise!
You are clever doing bullet points – I always get in such a pickle if I try to do anything like that with numbers appearing where I don’t want them!
Good luck with your exam tomorrow – and thank you for the link 🙂 x
Hi Teresa, yes, my secondary characters are quite colourful. I do realise it’s a standard letter, but they do point out what they want, and I like the bit about – next time you send us a submission… Thanks for the luck, and good luck to you if you have a go at the Cremona comp.xx
I think you did really well to submit to them, Susan and it was nice of them to give you some pointers for next time… make sure there is a next time and thanks for sharing.
Yes Wendy, at least they didn’t say ‘get lost you idiot’ so I have plans to send the story elsewhere, and of course I will keep writing. Goodness knows why though.
My entry’s already gone off to the Cremona. For once I’m early!
Me too Sally. Good luck.
That’s a very nice response – interesting to see their comments too. Good luck with that exam!
Thanks Rosemary.Great to hear from you.
Sorry to hear about the No Susan, but sounds a useful letter to get back from them. Will check out the competition simply because the Toucan says so!
Yes Tracy, you must. He says he’s heard you write a gritty crime story, and birds have been known to be involved. It’s free to enter, so good luck.. A free weekend with spending money would be handy wouldn’t it? More time to write. Thanks for popping by.x
Sorry to hear about your rejection, but it’s nice to have some feedback even if it just a standard letter. At least this way you know what to look out for when you try again with them. Thank you for the thumbs up with the crime story. I may give it a go… I might get a holiday some where else as much as I love going to Yorkshire 🙂
Hi Paula, I’m glad they sent some response, better that none eh? Good luck with the competition, I know you’re good at crime writing.x
Rejection is always disappointing of course, but a letter giving their reasons has to be better than just a flat ‘No’ or, even worse, no reply at all. Better luck next time!
Exactly what I was just saying to Paula in the previous comment box Linda. Thanks for popping by, and at least they gave reasons, and I love that line – ‘here’s what to remember next time you submit to us’ I’m sure I will sometime, in the meantime, I’m going to try it with a couple of agents… Ever optimistic eh?
Yay for submitting to the amazing M&B AND getting such a helpful reply back!!! Good luck with your next plan!!
Take care
x
Oh thanks Kitty. I’m going to submit the first three chapters and synopsis to the two lovely ladies who put me on the shortlist in the new talent section of the RNA last year. Wish me luck.xx
Good for you for submitting, Susan, and keep going (the Toucan has got it right!) That was actually a very nice reply, at least letting you know what they are looking for. And encouraging that they indicated there should be a ‘next time.’ When I was submitting to agents, when I did get a reply it would be on little scraps of paper with a few words, often with misspellings and grammatical errors and certainly no advice except that the whole process is subjective and to keep trying! (I actually gave up and it was a fluke that I found a publisher). Wishing you all the best! XO
Thanks for your kind words Diane, I will always keep trying. It’s the life of a writer isn’t it?xx