Romantic Novelists' Association Writers' Scheme
How the RNA Helps Aspiring Authors to Get That Book Deal
Mar 31, 2009
Authors whose hearts are set on writing romance – and well-loved romance authors can sell 10,000 hardbacks in the first week of publication – must consider the New Writers’ Scheme run by the Romantic Novelists’ Association in the UK.
It costs £93 (£100.50 for non-EU members) to join the RNA, which only takes on 250 New Writers a year (application forms for 2010 can be downloaded in December). But unpublished authors can take part in all RNA activities – awards luncheon, social events, subscription to the quarterly magazine Romance Matters – and can submit a full-length manuscript for appraisal.
Advice on Plotting, Characterisation and Structure
The scheme runs from January until the end of August. Your manuscript is given to a reader who has extensive experience in publishing and will comment on aspects such as plotting, characterisation and structure.
Around five percent of scripts are considered to be ready, or almost ready, for publication and are forwarded to a second reader, who may then refer it to an appropriate agent or publisher.
Donna Hay and Linda Taylor
Debut novels that are published are eligible for the New Writers’ Scheme Award, and past winners include Donna Hay and Linda Taylor.
Heidi Rice, age 45, is a London-based journalist who adored reading romance. She decided to try writing it and joined the RNA.
RNA Is a 'Win-Win Proposition'
She told this writer, 'The really phenomenal thing about the RNA's New Writer's Scheme is that it's effectively a win-win proposition.
'When I entered my first completed manuscript, I was a little disheartened to get it straight back a month later with a covering letter telling me it hadn't been selected to get a second read. But then I read the reader's report. It was ten whole single-spaced pages of frankly invaluable feedback on my novel from a published author in the line I was targeting. Constructive, concise criticism on everything from the plotting and characterisation to writer's craft and pesky things like POV [point of view] shifts as well as lots of morale-boosting praise on the things I had got right.
Nominated for Top Award
'By the following year, when I entered my second manuscript in the scheme, I'd Iearned so much from that first reader's report that the scheme organiser sent my new story straight on to the managing editor of the line I now write for at Mills & Boon. Some frantic revisions later and I was offered a two-book contract. I've also since realised that the scheme provides invaluable practice for when you do become published. It gives you a deadline – once you've paid your money, you have to have that manuscript finished by 31st August – and then your reader's report will also take you through the revisions process, which is a necessary evil of almost all writers' lives (especially mine, unfortunately!). I can honestly say it was the best £93 I ever spent.'
Heidi has since been nominated for a RITA, the Oscar of the romance novelists' world, and has had five books published. She has just signed a new three-book deal.
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