The winner of the Ellora’s Cave Pitch Contest is…
Surrender by Lauren Fraser
Lauren’s book has been offered a contract with Ellora’s Cave
Also Requested from Grace:
Educating Aphrodite - Kimberly Killion
Yesterday’s Indiscretion – Harris Channing
Lord and Master – Leigh Court
Santana’s Heat – Kitty DuCane
Congratulations, ladies! This is was fun. 
It’s time to pitch your sexy pitch for The Season’s Ellora’s Cave Pitch Contest.
If this is your first time hearing about ELLORA’S CAVE PITCH CONTEST, please read the rules here first.
Judging editor: Grace Bradley ~ Ellora’s Cave
Top 10 pitches must submit the first 3 pages of manuscript.
Winner receives a 25 page critique.
If your entry is not selected, please feel free to query Ellora’s Cave on your own.
Top 10 pitches will be announced no later than the week of May 10th.
Please remember to include title, word length and genre on your entries.
Contest closes today at 9:00 pm EST.
Good Luck!
As promised, I’ve brought Grace Bradley (an editor at Ellora’s Cave) back today to answer any questions you may have about the Ellora’s Cave Pitch Contest being held on the blog April 23rd. Please extend a warm welcome to Grace. She’s going to tell you a bit about herself and hopefully debunk some of the myths you may have about erotic romance. 
~*~*~
I’ve never met a sub-genre of erotic romance I didn’t like, so when I joined Ellora’s Cave as an editor last year I felt as though I’d hit the jackpot. I get to read what I love, every day, and work with talented authors who continue to impress me and their readers with imaginative, sensual stories. A short list of my authors includes Stephanie Julian, Tawny Taylor, Kim Knox, Marisa Chenery, Fran Lee and Nara Malone (who was discovered from a contest held by Passionate Ink).
One of the aspects I most enjoy about my job is discovering new talent. There is something magical about coming across that manuscript that makes you take a deep breath and say, “Wow.” It takes a while for the smile to fade from my face when this happens. I’ve recently added three new authors who I’m very excited about—Crystal Kauffman and Erica Anderson who both write historical, and Heather Howard who captured my attention with her intriguing paranormal (sexy ghost, anyone?).
From speaking with authors and the general population at large, I believe there is a lot of confusion about what an erotic romance or a women’s erotic fiction book is made of. From personal experience, I’ve been to more than one social event where someone has leaned in and said, “You do what?” And then, of course, there was the unfortunate incident when I was coming out of anesthesia after surgery and explained to the surgeon, who had snickered earlier when he asked me what I did for a living, that people who read erotic romance have a lot more sex than those that don’t and it would behoove him to buy a few for his wife. He told me at my post-op visit that he passed on the information to his wife, by the way. I’m pleased that Beverley has given me the opportunity today to answer your questions, as authors, about erotic romance and erotic fiction, and how your writing fits within the genre. Please feel free to ask me any questions that you may have. If you’re like many, I think you may find some of the answers surprising.
As far as what I’m looking to acquire, I like books with solid, interesting plots, engaging characters I can fall in love with, lots of sexual tension and, of course, really hot love scenes. I enjoy and review books in all the sub-genres we publish, but have a soft spot for contemporary, historical and paranormal (if you shift or drink blood, you’re a friend of mine). I also have experience in editing BDSM as well as gay/lesbian erotic romance.
Thank you, Beverley, for having me today.
~*~*~
Thank you, Grace for dropping by today. If you have any questions for Grace, please feel free to ask!
On April 23rd I will be holding another Pitch Contest and this time the publishing company is Ellora’s Cave and the judging editor is Grace Bradley. For those of you who have never heard of Ellora’s Cave, Grace Bradley has supplied me with this lovely blurb right off their website:
Ellora’s Cave ~ Romantica® and Exotika™
Ellora’s Cave is THE place for erotic romances. Our site receives over 60,000 hits daily and averages sales of over 70,000 e-books per month. Our readership continues to grow by the thousands. Ellora’s Cave is ALWAYS open to new submissions of erotic romances. See the submissions page on our website for more information.
Ellora’s Cave Romantica® (erotic romances) must be both erotic and romantic.
~ The sexual relationship must be integral to and an important element of the storyline and the character development. Sex scenes should contribute to furthering the plot or affecting the development of the romantic relationship or the growth of the characters.
~ The story must include abundant and explicit sex and sexual tension, starting early and continuing throughout. Sex scenes must be described in graphic detail and explicit wording, not delicate euphemisms or purple prose.
~ The story must meet the definition of a romance novel: the primary focus must be on the development of a romantic relationship, and there must be an emotionally satisfying committed ending for the main characters.
We also publish Exotika™, our line of quality erotica for women. These stories focus on a woman’s sexual journey or adventures. Although they may contain a romance, they do not have that as the primary focus, the relationship does not need to be monogamous or end with commitment.
Story length is 10,000 to 125,000 words.
If you’re still uncertain about the definition of ‘Romantica’ and just how explicit the love scenes need to be, Grace will be stopping by March 29th to answer any questions you may have.
Now onto the rules. I’m listing them in order of importance, so please take note. 
1. Accepting pitches for novella and novel length manuscripts that are complete. And I mean complete as in polished and ready to go within a week of any possible requests.
2. The winner will receive a critique of the first 25 pages of your manuscript. Hopefully, Grace will want to contract your books (as well as others).
3. The pitches will be posted on this blog in the comment section on April 23rd. Posting will be open at 7:00 EST am.
4. The top 10 pitches will be chosen by Grace. The finalists will be asked to furnish the first 3 pages of their manuscript.
5. The pitch cannot be more than 150 words in length. Please include title and genre.
6. The winner will be asked to furnish the first 25 pages of their manuscipt or 5000 words, whichever comes first. Please end at the end of a chapter. There is some wiggle room in page and word count in order to achieve this.
7. The finalists will be notified the week of May 10th.
Now it’s time to get moving on finishing, revising or polishing that manuscript. You have a month. 
Okay, we have a WHOLE LOT of winners today, and I love delivering the news.:) That’s the big perk of doing this post.
I’m going to start off with the winners of the Pitch Contest. And when I say winners, I mean more than just two. Peter and Kevan didn’t just stop at giving out the one page 25 page critique, they requested partials and one full. YAY!!! Let’s start with Kevan.
The winner of Kevan Lyon’s (Marsal Lyon Literary Agency) 25 page critique AND a request for a partial and synopsis is…
Timeless – Brynna James
Listen To Your Heart – Miranda Liasson (partial and synopsis requested).
The winner of Peter Senftleben (Kensington Publishing) 25 page critique AND a request of the FULL manuscript is…
A Most Unusual Lady – Kathleen Bittner Roth
A Pocketful of Ashes - Kat Sheridan (request for a partial and synopsis)
Courting Scandal – Sarah Tormey (request for a partial and synopsis)
Listen to Your Heart – Miranda Liasson (request for a partial and synopsis)
I want to congratulate these talented women and thank everyone who participated in the Pitch Contest. I truly hope a contract comes out of this.
~*~*~
Now for the 10 winners who will all receive an advanced copy of my debut, SINFUL SURRENDER…
Laurel McGohon
Ezrah Marisse Lasola
Vikki Wright
Margay Roberge
Danielle Yockman
Elaine Carlini-Davis
Theresa Norris
Therese Boyd
Lily Woo
Sandra Polojac
Congrats ladies, I hope you enjoy my first book!! I’ll have the books in the mail to you next week. For those who didn’t win, I still have another contest running until January 19th. If you have pre-ordered or already bought the book–as you see from photo below, there are have been early sightings at Walmart–( it’s my first book, I’m very excited *big grin*) , you can enter to win a $25 Visa Gift Card (I’m giving away 2). Entry information is posted here.
~*~*~
The winners of Tracy Anne Warren’s TEMPTED BY HIS KISS and SEDUCED BY HIS TOUCH are…
Phyllis Campbell
Chris Mead
The winner of Lori Brighton’s WILD HEART is…
Sarah Louise Keery
~*~*~
And last but certainly, not least, the winner of the Christmas Basket (of which there were TONS of entrants) is…
Jennifer Zwagerman
Congratulations Jennifer!!! I will have this HUGE prize out to you as soon as I can. I’d like to thank everyone who entered to win.
I hope this post has started the winners’ day and this Christmas Eve off to a good start.
The Season wishes you the best of Holidays and a Blessed 2010.
Bev
Listed below are the 10 finalists of both my agent and editor for The Season’s Pitch Contest. Hopefully, this won’t be the only time I hold one. 
Kevan Lyon – Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
10 finalists
Brynna James – Timeless
Lea Nolan – Benevolence
Melissa Blue – Forget Me Not
Sarah Tormey – Courting Scandal
Phyllis Campbell – The Sweetest Temptation
Phyllis Campbell – My Heart’s Desire
Miranda Liasson – Listen to Your Heart
Phyllis Campbell-After the Loving
Jennifer – Bitter Rivalry
Bonnie Dee – The Chinese Bride
Peter Senftleben – Kensington Editor
10 finalists
Listen to Your Heart – Miranda Liasson
Scandal’s Mistress – Bronwyn
After the Loving – Phyllis Campbell
A Pocketful of Ashes – Kat Sheridan
Broken – Cate Hart
Seduced in Darkness – KB Edwards
Courting Scandal – Sarah Tormey
A Most Unusual Lady – Kathleen Bittner Roth
After the End – Bonnie Davidson
Mistress of the Stone – Maria Zannini
Congratulations ladies! Please email the first 3 pages of your manuscript (.doc or rft format) to me at historicals at historicalromancereleases.com . Please include your full name, contact information, the title, genre, and word count. Please have the entries to me by Friday, Dec 11th at the latest. I will announce the winner(s) before Christmas. Good Luck.
If your pitch wasn’t chosen, please feel free to query both Peter and Kevan on your own.
It’s time to pitch. I’m taking the first 200 pitches and then that’s it. If we don’t reach 200 by 5:00 pm EST and you have another completed manuscript you’d like to pitch, go for it.
If this is your first time hearing about THE SEASON’S PITCH CONTEST, please read the rules here first.
Judging editor: Peter Senftleben ~ Kensington
Judging agent: Kevan Lyon ~ Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
Top 10 pitches must submit the first 3 pages of manuscript and the completed manuscript to show proof of completion.
Winner(s) receive a 25 page critique.
If your entry is not selected, please feel free to query both Peter and Kevan on your own.
Top 10 pitches will be announced Tuesday, December 8th.
Please remember to include title, word length and genre on your entries. This is a must.
Contest closes at 9:00 pm EST.
Good Luck!
P.S. And after you’re finished posting your brilliant pitch, why don’t you stop by the site and vote for the Best Historical Cover of 2009.
As promised, I’m posting the rules for THE SEASON PITCH CONTEST. But before I do, I have to tell you how hard my editor at Kensington, Peter Senftleben, and my agent, Kevan Lyon (the Lyon in the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency), work. Theirs is far from a 8 hour a day job. They work most weekends and too many nights. So the fact that they have offered their precious time to judge this contest for me tells you how absolutely FABULOUS they are. Thank you Peter and Kevan. You are the best!
Now onto the rules. I’m listing them in order of importance, so please take note.
1. Accepting only pitches for novel length manuscripts that are complete. And I mean complete as in polished and ready to go within a week of any possible requests.
2. The winner or winners will receive a critique of the first 25 pages of your manuscript. If Kevan and Peter pick the same manuscript as the winner, then the winner will receive a critique from both.
3. The pitches will be posted on this blog in the comment section on November 30th. Posting will be open at 7:00 EST am (for active forum members, it will open 6:00 am). The max number of pitches being accepted is 200 or 6:00 EST pm, which ever comes first.
4. The top 10 pitches will be chosen by both Kevan and Peter. The finalists will be asked to furnish the first 3 pages of their manuscript and proof that the manuscript is complete. There is no wiggle room here. The manuscript MUST BE COMPLETE. If you cannot furnish proof of a complete novel length manuscript, you will be disqualified.
5. The pitch cannot be more than 150 words in length. Again, there will be no wiggle room on this word count. Your pitch will be disqualified if it goes over. Also, please include title and genre. (added 11/3)
6. Only one pitch per person. If it’s discovered that you entered two using different names, you will be automatically disqualified. The only exception is that if we are shy of 100 entries by 6:00 pm, you will be eligible to post another pitch until 100 pitches are met.
7. The winner will be asked to furnish the first 25 pages of their manuscipt or 5000 words, whichever comes first. Please end at the end of a chapter. There is some wiggle room in page and word count in order to achieve this.
8. I’ve linked Peter and Kevan’s name to their respective websites where they list the genres they are accepting. Please check to make sure they are acquiring your genre or sub-genre.
9. This contest is for unpublished authors and by unpublished I mean has never been published by a traditional print publisher. If you have been published by an e-publisher and your book has a print edition, you are still eligible to enter.
10. The finalists will be notified the week of November 30th. The winner will be announced December 7th.
If you have any additional questions regarding this contest, you can either leave a comment or email me at historicals at historicalromancereleases.com. Now it’s time to get moving on finishing, revising or polishing that manuscript. You have a month.
Bev
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5 - Perfect! - Goes on keeper shelf forever.
4.5 - Excellent - Sooo close to perfection, it hurts.
4 - Very Good - Highly recommend
3.5 - Good - Solid read. Would recommend.
3 - Satisfactory - Okay. Would recommend with caveats.
2.5 - Fair – Wouldn’t recommend.
2 – Fatally Flawed
1 Poor (1 being one of the worst books I've ever read) - Didn't find much in it to like.
DNF - Did Not Finish (Yes, it was that bad)
Heat Level
6 - Erotic – Extremely explicit language and lovemaking scenes. This includes BDSM, ménage a trios.
5 – Scorching – Explicit lovemaking scenes and language.
4 – Hot – Very hot lovemaking scenes. This includes oral sex but no more.
3 – Sensual – Lovemaking scenes are hot but not as detailed or long as Heat Level 4
2 – Mild – Lovemaking scenes are short. Very little detail.
1 – Inspy – Lovemaking scenes are practically non-existent. Kissing but definite closed door policy.
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