We all have our favorite reality TV shows – Donna Kauffman blogs about American Idol; next year Kensington will be publishing a paranormal send up of The Real Housewives series; and now Brava has its own Writing with the Stars contest. In conjunction with RT Book Reviews, Brava is sending out a call to unpublished writers of paranormal, historical and contemporary romance , as well as romantic suspense: We’re looking for a hot debut novel to be published in 2012 under the Brava imprint at Kensington.
If you’ve written a sensual full-length romance novel, this is a great opportunity to submit to the editors at Brava, who will be reading the entries and selecting the top ten finalists. Starting in September, each of our top ten will be paired with one of Brava’s star authors for the next stage of the competition – creating one-of-a kind opening hooks, to-die-for heroes, sizzling love scenes and more.
Each of the ten finalists will have her own temporary page here on BravaAuthors.com as well as the opportunity to guest blog on the site. And each month the results of the challenges will appear in RT Book Reviews along with commentary from the Brava mentors and a panel of romance celebrity judges. Readers and fans themselves will vote for the winner, who will be announced at the awards ceremony of the 2011 Romantic Times convention.
So put the finishing touches on that manuscript you’ve been polishing, check the June issue of RT for the contest details, and get ready for the journey of a lifetime. By this time next year, you could be a star!
For rules and entry information:
www.bravaauthors.com/contest/brava-contest
I’m so excited about this and really, really pleased to be a mentor!
This sounds like a fantastic opportunity! Question for you…does “unpublished” mean truly unpublished, or not published with Kensington?
Wow! Sounds like a fantastic contest!
What a great opportunity! So nice of Brava, Ms. Condon, and the established authors to contribute their time and energy!
Deadline for entry? Entry consists of…? Could you define “unpublished?” And what if you have a book based upon a previous Brava Novella Contest finaling entry?? 
Sadly, no access to the June issue of RT to view the rules…
Thank you!
I will pass this great opportunity on to my writer friends! WOW!!!
[...] is sponsoring a great new contest for aspiring writers. Check it out. The Brava Authors blog is being redesigned too, and eventually [...]
The last Brava contest like this (sort of) was my first contest ever. Once I find out what “unpublished” means, I hope for a chance to enter this one too!
This is a wonderful opportunity. I would love to know the answers to these questions too. I will check out the main website for Brava to see what else I can find. Thank you!
Peace and love,
Paula R.
Wow! Thank you all for providing such a wonderful opportunity for unpublished writers — this exciting news is already filtering through our writing loops here in New Zealand and Australia *VBG*
Many of us here “downunder” don’t get the RT Bookclub magazine until a few weeks after each monthly edition is released in the US. Alicia, would you please be able to put us all out of our misery and let us know whether this contest is open worldwide, or limited only to US residents?
Thank you,
Maree
Is this contest open to M/M romances? I’ll try to find the June RT at my bookstore for the full rules, but they don’t always carry it, unfortunately. Any chance of clarification on what’s considered published? Mostly wondering if being epublished counts me out.
Thanks for any info you can give!
This is so exciting!!! this contest has come at the right time for me. Something really big to kick me in the back end and get me focused again. This is the track I need to run on.
Thank you Ms. Condon. And thank you to all of the authors who are so willing to give their time to mentor those of us that are working hard to our work published.
I hope there will be more info posted on the website.
Thank you!
Polishing off my manuscript. Thanks for the opportunity.
[...] For more info here is the direct link to Mrs. Condon’s post : http://www.bravaauthors.com/blog/2010/03/26/writing-with-the-stars/#more-2479 [...]
Any word on what unpublished means? I am curious if e-published counts or not.
Also how many words, roughly, is a full length novel. Not 100% sure if mine works since it is considered full length for some lines but possibly not all.
We will accept e-published books for the Writing With the Stars contest, and we’re looking for manuscripts between 80,000 and 90,000 words.
We’ll be posting the official rules on the Brava Authors website in May.
Is this contest open to M/M romances? I’ll try to find the June RT at my bookstore for the full rules, but they don’t always carry it, unfortunately. Any chance of clarification on what’s considered published? Mostly wondering if being epublished counts me out.
Thanks for any info you can give!
Is there a site where the official rules will be posted? I went to a few book stores and they didn’t have RT.
Was also wondering where the rules might be posted online? – May is almost done and the RT issues are on July distro, so … curious.
Has the contest been canceled?
Just curious – since this was posted in the August Newsletter, does this mean you are still taking submissions?? The rules state that the closing was July 15.
Also, is 90,000 words the ABSOLUTE most you will take?
Thank you!!
Sorry, Gayle. The contest is closed now. We’ll be choosing the top ten finalists in the next few days, though they won’t be announced for a while.