Throughout 2010, Romance University is teaming up with RWA chapters and other groups for online writing class giveaways. During each giveaway month, join in the discussion during RU’s lectures, and for every comment, you’ll be entered into the giveaway drawing. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win a class!

For July, Savvy Authors has generously agreed to donate a class. Thank you to Savvy Authors for their generosity, and to our readers for your continued support of Romance University!

Upcoming online class giveaways are: Kiss of Death (August) and Yosemite Romance Writers (September). If your group is interested in collaborating with Romance University for a class giveaway, please contact Kelsey at Kelsey@KelseyBrowning.com.

Throughout 2010, Romance University is teaming up with RWA chapters and other groups for online writing class giveaways. During each giveaway month, join in the discussion during RU’s lectures, and for every comment, you’ll be entered into the giveaway drawing. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win a class!

For June, From the Heart Romance Writers has generously agreed to donate a class. Some of their upcoming workshops include: Beyond Reasearch: Strong Point of View and Use of Detail, Writing for Teens, Supermom: The Art of Juggling Motherhood and a Writing Career (by Eliza Knight, an RU visiting prof), Romancing Nonfiction: How to Pay the Bills While Your Fiction Career is Taking Off, and The Write Environment.

Thank you to FTHRW for your generosity, and to our readers for your continued support of Romance University!

Upcoming online class giveaways are: Savvy Authors (July), and Kiss of Death (August), Yosemite Romance Writers (September). If your group is interested in collaborating with Romance University for a class giveaway, please contact Kelsey at Kelsey@KelseyBrowning.com.

Great news to report from Romance University.  We are thrilled to announce that our own Tracey Devlyn has been offered representation by Donald Maass AND has signed a three book deal with Sourcebooks.  Way to multi-task, Tracey! Congratulations!  We love you and are so proud of you.

Throughout 2010, Romance University is teaming up with RWA chapters and other groups for online writing class giveaways. During each giveaway month, join in the discussion during RU’s lectures, and for every comment, you’ll be entered into the giveaway drawing. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win a class!

For April, Yellow Rose RWA has generously agreed to donate a class. Some of their upcoming workshops include: Get Your Foot in the Door: Query Letter & Synopsis Workshop, Body Language, How to Design and Teach an Online Workshop, The “W” Plot…Or The Other White Meat For Plotters©, Character Torture 101, Texas: A Whole ‘Nother Country (taught by our own Kelsey Browning!), Muse Therapy (a don’t miss workshop by D.D. Scott, an RU visiting professor), and Story Sense/Story Logic.

Thank you to Yellow Rose for your generosity, and to our readers for your continued support of Romance University!

Upcoming online class giveaways are: Yosemite Romance Writers (May), From the Heart Romance Writers (June), Savvy Authors (July), and Kiss of Death (August).

An interesting press release from Dorchester Publishing!

Dorchester Announces Its New Pledge

Publisher Promises Fulfilling Reader Experience & Guarantees Satisfaction

New York, NY—Dorchester Publishing is proud to introduce its Publisher’s Pledge program, a bold, new marketing initiative created to launch the careers of the next generation of genre superstars.  A privately owned publisher of mass-market original fiction, Dorchester has a long, storied history of discovering the most exciting names in genre fiction, including Victoria Alexander, Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Katie MacAlister and Lynsay Sands. 

Next year marks the firm’s 40^th anniversary, which prompted the company to redouble its commitment to the discovery and nurturing of the needs of new authors, thus reinforcing its founding philosophy.

“Publisher’s Pledge is a reaffirmation of the business model Dorchester has always prided itself on,” stated Brooke Borneman, Director of Sales and Marketing.  “Our strength has been identifying emerging voices and trends in the industry rather than chasing bestsellers.  Our intent is to reestablish ourselves in the market as the publisher authors and agents turn to first to introduce new talent.  Dorchester has proven countless times—through our innovative marketing, tireless dedication and willingness to take chances—that we are uniquely qualified for this special and vital niche.  This program represents our commitment—our pledge, if you will—to everyone in the book publishing community.”      

Launching in April 2010, the Publisher’s Pledge program will be supported by online and national print advertising; bookstore mailings; press release and ARC campaigns to media, reviewers, bloggers, retailers, libraries and consumers; lead features in bookseller, library and consumer e-newsletters; consumer contests and buzz campaigns through social networking sites; and a money-back guarantee for readers.

The first Publisher’s Pledge title will be Barbara Monajem’s Sunrise in a Garden of Love & Evil (April 2010), an erotically charged urban fantasy in the same vein as Charlaine Harris.  Additional titles include Elisabeth Naughton’s Marked (May 2010), a darkly sensual paranormal romance inspired by Greek mythology that will appeal to fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon; Christie Craig’s Shut Up and Kiss Me (June 2010), a delightfully quirky romantic mystery that will appeal to fans of Janet Evanovich; and Erin Kellison’s back-to-back debuts Shadow Bound (July 2010) and Shadow Fall (August 2010), the first two releases in a riveting post-apocalyptic series that fuses dark fantasy, science fiction, horror and romantic suspense. 

Additional information about the books selected for Dorchester’s Publisher’s Pledge program will be available on www.dorchesterpub.com in March 2010.

About Dorchester Publishing:

Dorchester Publishing has published mass-market books since 1971, making it the oldest independent mass market publisher in America.   Dorchester has nurtured the careers of  RITA Award winners Jennifer Ashley, Susan Grant and Lori Handeland;  MWA Grand Masters Lawrence Block, Marcia Muller and Donald Westlake; HWA Lifetime Achievement Award winners J.N. Williamson and Hugh B. Cave; and Spur Award winners Johnny D. Boggs, Jane Candia Coleman and John D. Nesbitt.

Savvy Authors, a new writer’s resource is launching this month! Below is information from Savvy Authors about their site:

Workshop registration and Early Bird Membership sign ups open February 1st.  You can sign up for Savvy Authors from the Savvy Authors homepage (SavvyAuthors.com) beginning Feb 1st.  Once you join Savvy Authors, you pay the member price for workshops.  With all the free workshops for members, membership pays for itself!

You can find more information about the workshops and other events as well as register for workshops here:  http://www.savvyauthors.com/workshops.cfm.

They’re kicking off a 2010 Writer’s Boot Camp in February as well. The Boot Camp will run February 14 – April 3 and will be free to all members of Savvy Authors. Early bird registration begins February 1 in the designated Boot Camp area of the website. 

If you have any questions about membership write to liz@savvyauthors.com. 

Questions about workshops write to workshops@savvyauthors.com.

Exciting news, RU crew!

Throughout 2010, Romance University is teaming up with RWA chapters and other groups for online writing class giveaways. During each giveaway month, join in the discussion during RU’s lectures, and for every comment, you’ll be entered into the giveaway drawing. The more you comment, the more chances you have to win a class!

For February, Celtic Hearts Romance Writers has generously agreed to donate a class. Some of their upcoming workshops include: The Power of GMC: Crafting Compelling Characters and Kick-Butt Stories, To Be or Not to Be and Other Editing Quandaries, and Building Your Online Platform.

Thank you to Celtic Hearts (and our other upcoming partners who will be announced soon!) for your generosity, and to our readers for your continued support of Romance University!

Taylor Taylor
Kim Cresswell
Cathy Pritchard
and Kelsey Browning!!

Hank Phillippi Ryan selected you to win an ARC of PRIME TIME. Congratulations!!

In addition, Hank’s selected Patricia W, Edie and Carrie to receive a preview chapter book of her February 2010 release DRIVE TIME! Please send me your address as well.

Congrats everyone! And thank you, Hank!

Please send your address to tracey@romanceuniversity.org

Are you a Visiting Professor?

Our talented blog designer, Jeannie Ruesch, created a special logo for our amazing Visiting Professors. Isn’t it beautiful?

Help us get the word our about RU’s lectures by grabbing this image and adding it to your blog or website. If you have problems, please go to our Visiting Professors tab and copy it from there. A code is embedded in the VP logo to link back to RU’s website. Nifty, huh?

Or copy this code:

<a href=”http://www.romanceuniversity.org” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://romanceuniversity.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/RU_visitingprofessor.jpg” border=”0″></a>

YARWA, The Young Adult Chapter of Romance Writers of America, is now official. You can learn more about YARWA at www.YARWA.com (work in progress).