Dear Literary Loves,
I read today that Harlequin's profits are down and obviously not meeting expectations. I took a look at the Harlequin Web site and it was obvious to me that they are not producing enough books in the hottest genre today: Memoir. Well, it might help if the editors opened their "in" boxes to potentially taking on unsolicited manuscripts; however, I won't hold my breath for that to happen. There were only seven memoirs listed on the site and I do not think they were published recently. This obviously has to change. The chick lit book listings had a good variety; however, the pet section only had three books listed and they were all about dogs. Hello?!! What about those of us who are cat lovers?! And here's another good question: Why are most of the Harlequin imprints open to unsolicited queries, but not Harlequin nonfiction? I was not overly impressed with the selection of books in the family/relationships category either. Harlequin needs to broaden the nonfiction selection of books they are producing. In fact, when I think of Harlequin I think of romance. If you want me to think of Harlequin as a serious player in nonfiction publishing today, you have got to broaden the nonfiction base. My work is available: I have a memoir, a humor/gift book about cats, and a fictional account of a teacher's first year in an inner city school where the original teacher left and there are no substitute teachers willing to take on a particularly rowdy group of kids that are already a month and a half behind on the year's curriculum. Harlequin: you can contact me at www.gracesutherlin.com or via this blog. I'm looking forward to helping you get back in the black.
Grace
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