Imagine a gorgeous highlander wrapped in a beautiful multi-colored kilt, a roguishly handsome Englishman in tight riding britches outlining his sculpted thighs...hmm...man, oh, man the stuff fantasies are made of right?
Scottish Lairds, English Earls, Ladies, Princes and Princesses of long ago. Throw together one or more of these types of characters with a setting of around say 1800 or even earlier, along with an interesting backdrop full of conflict and you could very well have an exciting historical romance.
In this limelight, we're taking a look at one of the leading publishers in historical romantic fiction, Pocket Books.
A Little About the Publisher
According to Pocket's website, the publishing giant released the first paperback in America in 1939. Until then, hardbacks were the only book formats available. Since that time, they've grown to be one of the leading innovators for the publishing industry. While they publish in many genres and sub-genres, we'll be focusing on their historical romances.
Insight from Pocket's Historical Authors
Sabrina Jeffries, Author of To Pleasure A Prince (03/05)
To start our exploration into writing an historical for Pocket Books, we asked Sabrina Jeffries to give us her insight. Right off the bat, we learned that "there is no line or imprint at Pocket called Pocket Historicals. In fact, the one thing that distinguishes Pocket from some other publishers is that there's no "romance line" mentality at all. They try to treat each romance author--and each book--on its own merits. That frees them up to promote different books with different strategies (publishers with lines tend to promote the lines uniformly)."
Sabrina went on to say that her "editor tends to like sexy, humorous books" and that "Pocket does seem to publish a wide variety—historical gothics, Scottish romances, Regency romances" as well as others she might not be aware of.
On a more personal note, Sabrina stated that she enjoys "writing for Pocket. They're a wonderful, very supportive publisher." And in fact, she just signed her second 3-book contract with them.
For more on Sabrina's enjoyably classic historicals, The Royal Brotherhood, be sure to check out her site. And watch for One Night With A Prince coming in June 2005!
Jen Holling, Author of My Wicked Highlander (06/05)
When we asked Jen Holling to share her thoughts about Pocket, this is what she had to say:
"This was particularly hard for me—not because I don't enjoy writing for Pocket (I do!) but because I don't write for a "line" with special characteristics, like the other Limelights on your site. It's just single title historical—there's a vast variety of books that fit under that subheading. And I suppose that is what I like so much about it. I have a lot of freedom at Pocket to write what engrosses me. I was orphaned (lost my editor) when Harper and Avon merged and it was two years before I sold to Pocket. The first trilogy that I sold to them (Brides of the Bloodstone trilogy) I created to be marketable, but the second trilogy—my summer 2005 books—were based on an event I was passionately interested in—the witchhunts in 16th century Scotland. I held nothing back when writing those books, delving into all kinds of paranormal aspects (my witches are what we'd refer to as "psychic": psychometry, a medium, and auras/"faith" healing) and the chilling historical background of the witchhunts. I often expected my editor to tell me some element was just too fantastic, too "out there", but it never happened. That leads me to the other thing I love about writing for Pocket—my editor, Lauren McKenna. She is enthusiastic and candid and a lot of fun to write for. She is also a great editor and very hands on. Her suggestions are always wonderful and strengthen my books."
If you're interested in more on Jen's interesting and original historicals, be sure to check out her website. And watch for My Wicked Highlander in June 2005, My Devilish Scotsman in July 2005, and My Shadow Warrior in August 2005!
Kresley Cole, Author of If You Dare (05/05)
Kresley Cole's historicals are smart and sexy and that's just one of the reasons we asked her to share her thoughts on writing for Pocket. This is what she told us:
"Writing for Pocket Books was a dream of mine and Pocket hasn't disappointed! Publishing with them has been a fantastic experience, and I was thrilled when they bought six more of my proposals this year."
If you enjoy the intriguingly sensual historical reads, watch for these upcoming historical releases by Kresley: If You Dare in May 2005, If You Desire in June 2006, and If You Deceive in March 2007!
A Look at Pocket's Historical Writing Guidelines
While there are no official guidelines to be found on Pocket's website, thanks to Kresley Cole, Pocket editor has shared some of her insight about what the line is looking for:
Currently, Pocket is looking for “[s]exy and original character-driven stories written with a fresh voice. Romances that push the envelope with sensuality are welcome.” She also shared that Pocket is looking for historicals with 90,000 words, not 100,000 words.
Also, check out Simon Says Love, Pocket's site dedicated to their romances. It never hurts to be familiar with a publisher's current releases!
