Last Chance to STAR!

This is the final weekend to put your 2008 Launching A Star entry in the mail. All entries must be postmarked by September 8th and received by September 15th to qualify. (Non-US residents ONLY may submit via email – see website for details.)

Launching a Star 2008
Sponsor: SpacecoasT Authors of Romance Chapter (STAR)
Fee: $25-$30, SASE
Eligibility: Unpublished or not published by RWA-recognized publisher in book length fiction within 5 years
Enter: Prologue (if desired) & First Chapter (up to 25 pages) of an unpublished romance. No synopsis.
First round judges: One trained; one published.

Categories/Final round judges:
Historical: editor Keyren Gerlach, HQN, and agent Elizabeth Pomada
General Paranormal: editor Heather Osborne, TOR, and agent Laurie McLean
Fantasy/Futuristic Paranormal: editor Angela James, Samhain, and agent Lucienne Diver
Single Title Contemporary: editor Erin Galloway, Dorchester, and agent Michelle Grajkowski
Series Contemporary: editor Susan Litman, HQN, and agent Becca Stumpf
Young Adult: editor Kristen Daly, Harper/Collins, and agent Elaine Spencer
Erotic Romance: editor Allison Brandau, Berkley/Jove, and agent Roberta Brown

Top Prize: A star named in your honor! FMI, entry form, rules, and a list of Frequently Asked Questions, go to www.authorsofromance.com or contact Lee Duncan, contest coordinator at contest@authorsofromance.com

STAR Contest Announcement...enter soon

***Permission to Forward Given and Encouraged***



Donna Dove glided onto a vacant spot on the wire where birds gathered for their nightly entertainment. Dusk was falling. Soon, the owners of the house across the street would flip on the lights and the movie would start. She could hardly wait to see that guy run into the sliding glass door. It always cackled her up.

“Hey, Mable.” Donna nudged her friend with a wingtip. “Birds of a feather stick together. You’re looking the wrong way.”

Mable didn’t so much as flutter. “Don’t bother me,” she tweeted. “I’m picking out my star.”

“Your star?” This she had to see. Donna swooped up, spun, and resettled herself beside Mable. As the sky darkened, a million lights popped onto the black backdrop. Donna bobbed her head – left, then right – watching. “Which one?” she chirped.

Mable lifted her beak and pointed. “That one. The bright white one next to the little yellow one. Star Mable,” she cooed. “Has a nice caw to it.”

“Ooooh, I like it,” Donna twittered. “I want one, too. The greenish one can be Donna Star.”

Mable snapped at a passing mosquito. “First, you have to win the Launching A Star contest,” she trilled after downing the tasty treat.

“Contest? Is that anything like fighting for grub worms?” Donna puffed and fluffed her chest feathers. She was a world class grub worm fighter.

“This is much easier.” Knowing it made her look as wise as an owl, Mable folded her wings. “Scratch out 25 pages of a romance and send it in with $30 by September 8th. The author of the best of the best gets a star named in their honor. Rules are on: www.authorsofromance.com ”

Donna whistled. She had the perfect love story about an albatross and a penguin.

“Thanks for telling me about Launching A Star,” Donna cawed when the movie ended and all the other birds fell off their perches laughing at the silly human.

“Tell all your friends,” Mable warbled as the two girls headed home to roost and type.

September was on its way and they both wanted to beat the deadline.



Be sure to enter the 2008 Launching A Star where acquiring editors and agents requested an amazing 15 manuscripts from the finalists of last year’s contest. As a direct result, two of our finalists signed with their dream agents. And one SOLD in a 3-book deal to a major NY publisher.

To enter, submit the first chapter (25 page max) of your unpublished romance in any of our seven categories. All first round judges (2 per entry, one trained, one published in romance) will provide constructive comments on every entry. Two industry professionals (one agent and one editor) will judge each category in the final round. Complete details and entry forms are available on the STAR Chapter website: www.authorsofromance.com

But hurry! You must send your entry in no later than September 8th.



Launching a Star 2008

Sponsor: SpacecoasT Authors of Romance Chapter (STAR)

Fee: $25-$30, SASE

Deadline: Post-marked by September 8th, Received by September 15th

E-deadline (for non-US residents only): Emailed by September 8th, received by September 10th.



Eligibility: Unpublished or not published by RWA-recognized publisher in book length fiction within 5 years

Enter: Prologue (if desired) & First Chapter (up to 25 pages) of an unpublished romance. No synopsis.

First round judges: One trained; one published.



Categories/Final round judges:

Historical: editor Keyren Gerlach, HQN, and agent Elizabeth Pomada

General Paranormal: editor Heather Osborne, TOR, and agent Laurie McLean

Fantasy/Futuristic Paranormal: editor Angela James, Samhain, and agent Lucienne Diver

Single Title Contemporary: editor Erin Galloway, Dorchester, and agent Michelle Grajkowski

Series Contemporary: editor Susan Litman, HQN, and agent Becca Stumpf

Young Adult: editor Kristen Daly, Harper/Collins, and agent Elaine Spencer

Erotic Romance: editor Allison Brandau, Berkley/Jove, and agent Roberta Brown



Top Prize: A star named in your honor! FMI, entry form, rules, and a list of Frequently Asked Questions, go to www.authorsofromance.com or contact Lee Duncan, contest coordinator at contest@authorsofromance.com

Want a Mercenary?

Or better yet...want a chance to win a pdf e-copy of my latest release The Mercenary's Wife? :)

Here's what you do...send an e-mail to:
Lara@LaraSantiago.com
and in the subject line put: I want a mercenary

I'll put your name in my Blue BearBasket and draw a random e-mail address from the entries at high noon on Valentine's Day.
Good luck. :)
L

No lurkers on my blog...

Guess I'll try my contest later and advertize in a different place.
L

The Lurker's Contest :)

Here is a contest for all you lurkers out there. :)

To win a (pdf) e-copy of The Mercenary's Wife...

Send an e-mail to me at:
Lara@LaraSantiago.com

In the subject line put The Lurker's Contest

And answer the following three questions from the excerpt posted at The Mercenary's Wife page at Siren Publishing or click on the link here : The Mercenary's Wife at Siren

1.) How much did Tyler Blackthorn bid for Valentina Moorehouse at her auction?

2.)What was Veronica's silent message to the mercenary she'd hired?

3.)How many rules did Tyler Blackthorn have and how many did of them did Veronica Moorehouse break?

This contest will run from now until Sunday, January 27th at midnight E.S.T.
All the correct responses I get will go into my blue bear basket and I'll select one and post the winner Monday morning on this blog.

Good luck. :)
L

The Siren Authors have new contest winners!

We have winners!

First, thanks to all the many people who entered our “Falling Into Romance – The Sequel” Contest. We’re absolutely thrilled with all the entries. Thanks, too, for all the great comments about our site and our novels.

Winner of the $10 Siren Gift Certificate: Sherry, aka fcammer2

Winners of $15 Siren Gift Certificates: Chelsea London and Maria Vazquez

Ladies, you should each be receiving an e-mail from Emma Wildes with information about your prizes.

Congratulations, winners!

The Siren Authors are having another contest!

We had so much fun with the last one, we’re doing it again. ‘Fall Into Romance – The Sequel’ is even better than the first contest, with bigger prizes!!

The Prizes: Three Gift Certificates, one for ten dollars, and two for fifteen dollars each, good for the purchase of books from SIREN PUBLISHING.

What you have to do: Just visit the Siren website http://www.sirenpublishing.com

and look for the answers to the questions below. All answers can be found in the ‘excerpts’ posted.

These are all new questions – so if you entered last time, you need to enter again!

How to enter: Send your answers to morganashbury@aol.com.

Contest closes Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 11:59 p.m. eastern time.

Winners will be announced Monday October 8th right here!

THE QUESTIONS

1. In Rearing Heat by Skylar Sinclair, what did Dex call Shayla that alerted her that he knew she was and equestrian shifter?
2. In the excerpt from Amanda Hilton’s Vision of Light, what is the name of the place where Lucien and Aislan are hiding out?
3. On the coming soon page (http://www.sirenpublishing.com/catalog/comingsoon.htm), in the blurb for Renee Knowles' erotic chick lit Going Topless, where do the two sisters vacation?
4. In Samantha Lucas’ Tower of Secrets, what interrupts Marina and Sebastian’s moment of passion?
5. In Just A Kiss by Lara Santiago, what flavor does Gabrielle taste when she kisses Keller and what happens to her when she tastes it?
6. In the excerpt for Caught Off Guard by Tonya Ramagos, what is Dean wearing?
7. In Emma Wildes’ The Manuscript, who is Margot and why does she hire Claire Fallon?
8. In the adult excerpt from Made For Each Other by Morgan Ashbury, what did Lesley and Charlie make love on?

Good luck, everyone!!!

And the winners are...

Winners of the Siren Authors “Fall Into Romance” Contest!

Wow, what terrific response we had to our contest! But the results are in! All correct answers were saved in a file; then Emma Wildes blindly drew the winners.

They are: Dawn Murphy, romantic_saamus, and Laura Kubitz.

Winners, Emma will be contacting you shortly so that you may receive your prize. You each receive a ten dollar gift certificate for the purchase of books from Siren Publishing.

Congratulations, winners.

And for the rest of you? Please stay tuned. We had so many entries, we may have news for you soon.