All round the world - with Kate Walker

Hello!  I’m sorry I’m  a bit late with this post . I am suffering with a bit of jet lag!

On 31^st May my DH and I travelled to USA  - to Montana to be exact  - to stay with my very dear friend, Anne McAllister and her family/  We also travelled  further- though Yellowstone park and into Cody Wyoming where  DH had a wonderful time learning all about the Wild West  and studying all the information in the Buffalo Bill Museum Centre.

We only got back on Tuesday and after the l-o-n-g journey home , flying through the night, we were hours  in order to recover., It was that long journey (both ways ) that had me thinking about  how wonderful it is that  through Harlequin, my books reach so many people and readers on both sides of that huge ocean we laughingly call ‘The Pond.’

totally worn out and slept for

For one thing, we wouldn’t have bee heading for Montana if I hadn’t met Anne through my writing – when she was writing for Harlequin Presents too.  And then there are the Harlequin Presents books  on sale in America too.  Finally, when I came home there were  a couple of boxes of foreign editions waiting for me that had been delivered while I was away.

In this picture, there are the Swedish and German  editions of  A Proposal to Secure His Vengeancen    German reprint of The Antonakos Marriage, (I recently got a fabulous Manga edition of this book too. There's a Polish translation of  The Devil and MissJones,  a French edition of  The Married Mistress(as Love and Treason) and an Italian reprint (second time around ) of Kept For Her baby.

I’m always so thrilled to see these foreign editions and reprints of my books. Often they are books that were originally publish five or even more years ago so it’s great to see them having a ‘second life’ in these new editions. But most of all it’s because they remind me of one of the most wonderful benefits of this writing career I’ve had creating romance stories and sharing them with so many readers and friends all over the world.

That long journey to and from Montana reminded me of just how huge this world is and I’ve only visited a small number of places in it. But my books have gone all round the world and they share my stories with so many readers in different countries, different  languages, different time zones.

It’s a thrilling feeling  - and I’m  so grateful to all those readers who have shared in my book over the year. It means so much to me – and I  couldn’t have done it without you. 

Thank you all!

Kate

Book Overload - Kate Walker

One of the greatest delights  for a writer is the arrival of the publication dare of a brand new book. 

 Like Anne McAllister (waving hello to Anne and wishing her a happy anniversary) I may be celebrating 30 years of publication – and the friends I’ve met along the way. (If you missed that post it was last month’s blog!) but even after 30 years and  63 titles, it’s still exciting to see the newest title.

  The design of the cover, the images of the hero and heroine are so important. Sometimes they’re a disappointment. Sometimes (OK – occasionally ) the design team have got the characters just rights. But it’s always intriguing to see  what the book actually looks like.

And to hold it in your hand. To know it’s a real book – those words on a page on a computer screen or in a manuscript just don’t look the same as when they’re printed and bound into a proper book. Sometimes I’ve looked at a newly-published book  and not really recognised the words! I almost wonder who’s written them! Specially if it’s a book that I wrote some years ago, like the ones that get reprinted in the Mils & Boon 3 in 1 By Request collections.  That’s happened recently with two books – Kept for Her Baby and The Konstantos Marriage Demand which were both published in 2009, and have just been reprinted  in this format this year.  That’s like getting  new books all over again.

The only problem with the arrival of these books  is that boxes of books are heavy. So I have to feel sorry for the postman as he trudges up the path with yet another box of books. I’m thrilled to see them – he’s thrilled to get rid of them!

This last month has been even worse (if you’re the postie) or even better (for me) with even more book box deliveries  that are not just the copies of my novels.    I’ve just reworked and revised the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance- with a brand new cover and a slightly lower price. The ebook came out on Kindle last year (with special thanks to Lee who helped me organise that), and this time I decided I should publish a new paperback edition for all those people who asked for a print copy so that they could highlight parts of it,  make notes on the pages, and flick through easily to find them. I completely understand that – books I’m studying have to actual pages for me to underline, highlight, scribble in the margins. So there’s a new edition of the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance  – and  a box of that new edition arriving at the house  to burden down the postman yet again!

Finally, as some of you know, my DH is a writer too, and this month, by a lovely coincidence two of our books shared the same publication date.  There was my   Olivero’s Outrageous Proposal and his brand new book Uncle Albert – a collection of humorous short stories with ‘a Yorkshire voice’ (DH was born and grew up in  Leeds West Yorkshire)   Hello again, Mr Postman!

I think that the rush of new titles, new books has eased now. I’m sure the postman hopes so!  I don’t have the heart to tell him that the next thing that happens is that sets of foreign editions will start to arrive.    But at least he’ll have a chance to have a rest before that happens!

Meanwhile, I’ve been busy with the revisions for the latest novel,  which is planned for publication in December – just in time for those boxes of books to arrive along with all the Christmas parcels! Oh dear, perhaps I’d better warn the postman now!

  My latest title with Harlequin Presents  - Olivero's Outrageous Proposal is out now in the April releases.

The new paperback edition of the 12 Point Guide is   published this month too and should be around on
Amazon, Barnes and Noble  etc. Or you can order from the Book Depository where it's  at a discounted price with free delivery.    The Kindle edition is also available.

You can keep up with all my news over on my blog   or visit my web site   and my Facebook page

New Year life lessons from a cat

OK – so will someone tell me how it got to be January 12^th?  I’m sure it was only – what – a couple of days ago that I was  shopping frantically for food  for my family to enjoy over Christmas.  I must have blinked and then I find myself with all of  that food eaten (well – not quite all – I always think my son and his  fiancée will eat more than they do!)  and here it  is, 12^th January and time to write my blog.

Is the 12^th of the month, -  the 12^th day of this New Year of 2015 -   too late to write about New Year Resolutions?  My  friend  thinks it is, my DH   believes  any time is time to make  ‘resolutions’  - he’s been assessing and rethinking his approach to life for a few months now.

I’m inclined to agree with him.  I’ve never been a great believer in the fact that a small change in the date  - from 2014 to 2015  - can make such a great difference.  If that change in numbers was all it took, you could have a ‘new’ period each time the date changed – a new month, a new week . .  .  hmm,  I could go with that. I believe that any time is a time when you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off –and start all over again.  The dark, cold (I’ll say that again COLD) wet days of January  like the one we have here in Lincolnshire UK are perhaps not the best times to try that sort of  New Year New You type of programme.

So I’ve never been one to make ‘resolutions’.  Besides, 2014 was a difficult sort of year for me and some of mine.  Health problems, family problems, the loss of one of my dearest friends, all contributed to making it the sort of year to get through so that I wasn’t overly sad to see the back of it. And I have to admit that I feel like being rather gentle with myself and those I love rather than putting myself through a strenuous improvement boot camp.  Besides, I’m not the sort of person who like new for New’s sake.  Looking back at my time as a writer, for example – as I celebrate 30 years of being published as a romance writer, I think  there’s a lot to be happy about, rather than want to pull up my socks and try to push out more.  More. That’s another word I’m not too fussed about right now either.

So, if I don’t do resolutions, people wonder what I put in their place. I put one word. That’s right, just one.    One year the word was resolute – almost the same as resolution but not at all the same thing.

This year’s word?

BALANCE.

It’s a word I learned from my kitten Ruby. Well, she’s not quite a kitten any more – she just had her first birthday - but her approach to life is the same. Every morning she wakes up  in the same sort of  mood. She looks at the dawn, at the world around her and her whiskers quiver, her tail goes up.  ‘It’s a DAY!’ she seems to be saying.  And she uses her day well. She finds time for the things that matter, eating food she enjoys, running around the garden, climbing trees, grooming, pouncing on her brother Charlie the Maine Coon, snuggling on to my lap when she can, and sleeping through the night curled up next to my feet.  So that she’s ready to start tomorrow with that same attitude – It’s a DAY! She does the things that matter to her.

Sometimes when I look back at past years I see and feel that there

hasn’t been enough balance. Too much work/not enough work/not enough time with friends and family/not enough relaxation /not enough filling up the well of my imagination with reading etc.  And if there’s one thing the past year has taught me it’s that you can’t rely on things to stay the same and, sadly, people to stay around.   You need to find the balance that makes you happy to curl up and sleep at night and wake up bright-eyed and  crisp-whiskered  (well, perhaps not the whiskers) the next day.

So I made a list of things I want to keep – and  enjoy – in my life – friends, family, books, theatre, teaching the courses I enjoy  (if there are any I don‘t  then they’ll have to go. Writing – but not in the ‘must do more’ must meet this deadline – and this way  - it can sometimes become. Because then I don’t enjoy writing either. (Ruby doesn’t bother much with writing. She thinks the keyboard is a very boring thing – and the new books, when they arrive are only fun because they  come in a big cardboard box that she can hide   and jump out onto Charlie when he walks unsuspectingly by.)

So Ruby doesn’t think she needs to become New Ruby, or that she should do more. And I think she’s right.  So I’m taking my New Year life lesson from my very wise and  intelligent little cat – I’m looking at each morning and thinking ‘It’s a day!’ and trying to make sure I have the best sort of balance in the way I spend it.

What about you? What word would you use to describe your approach to 2015?  Or are you making lots of resolutions – how are you doing with keeping them?

I don't yet know what the UK cover of my next book - Olivero's Outrageous Proposal -  will look like - but I can share the Harlequin Presents cover with you today

My latest releases are two reissues -  first there's Kept For Her Baby which is out in the 3 in 1 By Request  called Secret Love -Child.  

And coming up next, there's the reissue of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  again in a 3 in 1 collection - His Revenge Seduction.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle

You can catch up with all of Kate's news on her website  or on her blog.  You can also find her on her author page on Facebook.

A New Beginning and A Special Anniversary

My family has an usual approach to their careers, the jobs they do in life.   I have four sisters and

not one of them is in the job they first started out in – five of us if you include me in that number, as you need to do.

The thing is, we all seem to get to a certain age -  around early thirties is the common number – and  then we launch into a new career and  it’s not the one we  originally planned.  My eld est sister trained as a radiographer.  That was the job she qualified in, the one that took her from the UK to work in Canada – where after some years she changed her career path completely.  She went to university, studied archaeology and anthropology and ended up teaching in the u8niversity where she had her degree. (She later changed again when she went to live in Australia – and went back to being a radiographer so came back to where she’d started).

The next sister never really settled to anything early on so she was a stay at home mother to her  two boys  - until they grew up more, and she got to that  just after thirty age  when she trained to be a librarian -  which was the job I’d had . . . but then I changed mine!

My younger sister (I’m right in the middle) was a medical secretary but she left that job (quite early for one of our family!) and joined the army in the army.  After she married she went back to being a secretary  - another one who went full circle.  And then the youngest of us  started out, like my eldest sister, as a radiographer.   Some years later she went to work in Africa on voluntary service  - and when she came back she completely changed her career and became a social worker.

And me? Well, you should be able to guess this one – you have a few clues!  As I said, I started out as a librarian. I went to university, got a ;librarianship qualification,  got a job as  the local Children’s Librarian – and I loved it -  but then when my son  was  born,  I decided to try for the dream job I had always wanted – that of being a writer.  I didn’t actually know what sort of books I wanted to write then, but when I picked up a romance after years of not reading them, I knew I’d come home. And you know the rest . . .

As I was writing this post, I began to wonder if perhaps it might not be better to plan this one for January – new  year, new beginnings and all that  - but then the thing that got me thinking about this special new beginning of mine is that fact that this month marks a special anniversary -   December 2014 marks a special anniversary for me. It’s 30 years since my very first book – The Chalk Line – was published   way back then.

And I’ve never looked back since. I found what I really most wanted to do  - and the  copies of my first book was my  best ever Christmas present back in 1984.    I’ve never wanted to go back to being a librarian and I’m so happy to look back and see the 62 books that have been published in those 30 years.

So to share the celebrations of my special anniversary of my brand new start I’m  wondering what you’ve always dreamed of doing -  perhaps there’s some dream that you might want to consider  starting afresh to try for as that stroke of midnight sounds out at the end of this month.  If you had a mid-life change, where would you head next?   Or perhaps  you’ve already got your best dream – I’d love to know that too.
Let me know in the comments and I’ll get my cats Charlie the Maine Coon and his apprentice Ruby the black and white rescue kitten to pick a winner each – and I’ll send each winner one of my backlist  titles so you can share in my special 30^th celebrations

So now, this week, I’m celebrating the 30^th anniversary of my very first published  book – and I’m looking forward to the publication of my  62^nd  (Olivero’s Outrageous Proposal) coming in April and working on the next one with a handsome sheikh hero who first appeared as a difficult 19 year old in A Question of Honor (or Honour if you're in the UK.)

I don't yet know what the UK cover of my next book will look like - but I can share the Harlequin Presents cover with you for the first time today. 

My latest releases are two reissues -  first there's Kept For Her Baby which is out in the 3 in 1 By Request  called Secret Love -Child.  

And coming up next, there's the reissue of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  again in a 3 in 1 collection - His Revenge Seduction.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle

You can catch up with all of Kate's news on her website  or on her blog.  You can also find her on her author page on Facebook.

Looking back - Kate Walker gets nostalgic

Today I made a trip into town where – amongst other things  - I made a visit to our local library.   I don ‘t visit there very often these days, but today I had a special reason for going.
(I’ll come to that later).

It’s always rather strange walking through the main door of the library. You see, years ago, I used to work there. I was the children’s librarian, first of all for the small branches in the local villages and then after a  couple of years I was in charge of the main central library in the town. I loved that job – I got to  select and buy  lots of wonderful books and get them on the shelves,  meet   with children of all ages and help them find books they would enjoy. I used to love  running the library clubs and special book quizzes – and it was always  such a pleasure to know that I was helping children with their reading and encouraging them to read more.

Since I left, the library has changed a lot. The children’s library has been moved  several times, once  going from the ground floor  to the second floor, and  becoming smaller  after cutbacks. But now it’s back where it was when I ran it, on the ground floor, with lots of shelves filled with wonderful books – even a couple of comfortable easy chairs and settees – those weren’t there when I ran the place (unfortunately!)

So I had a nostalgic moment thinking about the job I used to have and how the library was the place I came to every day of the week. Then I remembered why I was in the library at all, and that reminded me of just how my life has changed and how very different my job is now.

I was in the library to donate some of my books – the library takes many of my international editions, so I was there with a box full of Japanese, French,  Italian, Brazilian,  Dutch and Czech editions, together with some large print editions that the library can really use.  This reminded me of how, 30 years ago this month, I was waiting for another parcel of books – the very first parcel of many – the very first set of my author’s copies of my first book. That book, The Chalk Line, was first published in the UK, in hardback only, in December 1984.

30 years ago! It doesn’t seem possible – and yet there are all those foreign editions to prove how different things are now from then. The Chalk Line  didn’t appear in foreign editions for some time. The German edition  was the very first translation I ever saw. And now I have 63 titles published, and I’m hard at work on my 64^th.  So many of the children I helped to find the books to enjoy have gro

wn up in that time, they have their own children – I sometimes see them with their kids in the Children’s library now,.

So next month I’ll be celebrating the 30^th anniversary of my very first book being published. It’s been a complete change in the way I thought my life would go, I have a totally different  job to work at, shelves of published editions of my books – and so many friends all over the world,. Both writers and readers, to show as a result.   It’s all been so much more exciting and rewarding than I could ever imagined.

So what about you? Where were you and what were you doing  30 years ago ? Were you even

alive then – eek! That’s a question that scares me!

Has your life changed as much in the past 30 years? Did you expect to be where you are today, back then?

I know I didn’t.

You can look for Kate's 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance which is now selling busily on Kindle.

In fiction, she has the reprint of Kept for Her Baby out in the current By Request 3 in 1. Coming soon is a reprint of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  in His Revenge Seduction another 3 in 1.

You can find all her news on her website, and  all the must up to date events on her blog.

Connected Characters - with Kate Walker

I wrote the first pages of my newest book this month. It’s just over a month since the revisions for

the previous story were accepted and the book scheduled, under the title of Oliver’s Outrageous Proposal, for next April 2015.  I was so busy through the month of September, travelling to Wales where my husband was speaking at a book festival about his latest book, then visiting London for the Association of Mills & Boon Authors annual lunch and a get together with all the editors from the Richmond office.  Back home, I had just time to unpack and do the laundry before I set out again for Weetwood Hall  in Leeds  where I was  running a Writing Retreat on Romantic Fiction for the weekend.

It was just the pause I needed, the chance to take the time to draw breath after a hectic summer and take the time to think and plan ahead. While everyone else was working on the writing tasks I’d set them, I was able to follow my own advice on planning and starting a book and make lots of notes and write several pages of the new story.

Another thing that helped was that I’d ‘met’ this hero before. When I wrote A Question of Honor which came out in the summer this year, my editor loved the book, but she was also intrigued by one character in it – Nabil, the bridegroom Clemmie should have married if her arranged marriage had gone ahead. What happened to him after A Question of Honor ended, she wanted to know – what was his life like after that? And how did he end up with his happy ever after?

The answer, then, was that I really didn’t know. The only thing I was sure of was that he had a lot of growing up to do. He was only young, little more than a boy really – just 19  - so he needed to mature if he was to become the hero of his own book. And a lot of things had to change.  I didn’t know what had happened in the time after one book had ended and a new one (Nabil’s story) began – so I waited, wrote Olivero’s  Outrageous Proposal, and waited to see what would develop.

It turned out that lots did! Nabil waited  until  Dario Olivero’s story was finished – just – before he began to start dropping hints about his own romance.  Then, all the way through that journey to Wales, and in the lovely quiet, sunny days when we were staying in a beautiful Welsh manor house, and again in London,  he started putting ideas into my head so that I knew I just had to go ahead and write his story.  So this book, one that is loosely connected to A Question of Honor had been burning inside my head and is  pushing to be written – now!

I don’t often write books that are connected. Some authors set out to plan and write series in which characters who had appeared  in the first story have their own romance told in a later book, but I have only deliberately planned to do that one – in The Alcolar Family series  where the stories of two  brothers and a younger sister followed on from the story of Alexander Alcolar in the novella Wife For Real.  A couple of other times, the hero of one book has had a brother and I’ve told both their stories (Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride and A Sicilian Husband are an example) but these  second stories usually grow out of the story and I don’t know it’s going to happen until I realise that I just have to write them.

But there’s a special pleasure in writing these connected stories. It means I get to develop the personality and story of someone who only briefly appeared in the original book, and then I get a chance to go back and revisit the hero and heroine whose story was in the earlier novel. It’s fun to see them again and to get to know what’s been happening to them as well as the hero and heroine of the new story.  This new book starts on a very special day for Karim and Clemmie from A Question of Honor and it was lovely to be able to celebrate with them, and see what’s been happening to them too in the time that has passed since their happy ending. I’m enjoying writing this connected book, and building on the original story I wrote before.

What about you? Do you like connected stories? Do you like it when a character who has a ‘bit part’ in one story then becomes the hero and heroine of their own romance? And do you like catching up with past characters, so that you can see what’s been happening with them and how they’re getting on?

 

My next title out  is - as I said Olivero's Outrageous Proposal which is published in  Harlequin Presents and Mills and Boon  Modern in April 2015. But before then there are 2 reprints coming out - Kept for Her Baby will be in a 3 in 1 collection  His Secret Baby and The Konstantos Marriage Demand will be in His Revenge Seduction in  November 2014.

Meanwhile, the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is available on Kindle
Details of these books and all the latest news are available on my web site and on my blog.

 

Do You Remember Your First by Kate Walker

Do you remember your first?

I’ve been thinking about some of my very favourite authors, and trying to remember how I first discovered them – and even, if I can, trying to recall the very first time I read one of their novels – the ones that got me hooked on reading everything they ever wrote.

Mary Stewart was one of the earliest ones. I remember I saw the (not very good) film version of her book The Moonspinners when I was in my teens. So when I spotted a book with the same title I just had to read it to find out if it was any better than that. It was - so so much better and I was hooked. I hunted down every Mary Stewart book I could find and devoured them all. I still love them.

I can’t recall the books that got me hooked on Georgette Heyer, but I know I found the second book in Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond series (Queen’s Play) in the library and , although I really enjoyed it, there were a lot of references I didn’t understand – that ws because I hadn’t read the first book, Game of Kings. So I hunted that down, and again I just had to read every word she had ever written. They are still on my favourite ever books list.



I found another favourite author because of my sister. I was staying with her in Tasmania and I had free range to raid her –extensive bookshelves. There was one author, Jodi Picoult, who I’d never heard of. My sister recommended her enthusiastically. ‘ Amazing – she writes like a dream,’ she said. ‘Try one.’ So I tried My Sister’s Keeper (well before the film came out) and I just couldn’t put ti down.



I’ve been thinking about this for a very special reason. December 2009 marks 25 years – 25! – since the very first time I ever saw one of my own books in print. December 1984 was the month that my first ever title, The Chalk Line was published by Mills & Boon in the UK. It didn’t come out in America until 1992 – my first USA title was Game of Hazard. But The Chalk Line was the book that started it all off – a career writing and publishing romance that has lasted 25 years!


So this month and throughout the coming year, I’m celebrating the fact that I’ve now reached my ‘silver’ anniversary – 25 years as a published author. And people who know me well know that when I’m celebrating I like other people – my readers – to join in too. And this time is no different. I’m running a special contest on my web site with 25 – that’s right, 25 prizes to give away. And those prizes go to readers who let me know their first – and/or their favourite ever – Kate Walker title.


Can you remember the first Kate Walker novel you ever read? Were you right there at the beginning with The Chalk Line? Or have you discovered my books much more recently?

Tell me about your first time – the first Kate Walker you read. What book was it and what was happening in your life when you found it? Did you pick it up in a shop, find it in the library – or perhaps a friend or member of your family suggested you try it?


Let me know about the first book you read and I will publish the most interesting ones on my blog. I will also give a prize to anyone whose story I publish. You can win a signed copy of one of the backlist books I have a available, together with another small gift to celebrate Christmas and this special anniversary.


Send your First Book stories to me – see the email below – with FIRST BOOK in the subject line. Closing date for all FIRST BOOK stories is December 31st 2009. But I’ll be posting some of the titles and stories before then.

Or maybe you’d like to vote for your favourites of my books – your Top % Kate Walker title? If so, check out my Contest Page for details how to do that.

And to get this celebration started, why not let me know your first ever Kate Walker right here? I have an extra prize of a signed copy of my latest book Kept For Her Baby (Harlequin Presents EXTRA) to give away to some one who posts that information in the comments section.


And I’m thrilled to be able to say that my writing career will be lasting even longer that 25 years as I already have two new title coming out in 2010 with The Konstantos Marriage Demand coming in Presents EXTRA in March and A Good Greek Wife? following that some time in the summer. (It’s out in the UK in July) So look out for those.

And I’d love to know which one was your ‘first’ – or your five favourites.

Sid took some finding to pick a winner this time - we've had visitors and he was hiding away from the active 3 years old! But I found him and the winner of a copy of Kept For Her Baby is Linda Henderson. Linda please email me kate AT kate-walker.com with your postal address and I'll send on your prize.

And everyone else - if you want a second chance at winning, don't forget to enter the contest and vote for your Top 5 - details on the Contest page on my web site

Presents and Presents Extras

Over on my personal blog, I asked readers what they liked/disliked about the new covers (in the UK) and the new scheduling system - the Presents and Presents Extras in America and a different scheduling of books every two weeks in the UK. One of my readers, Jill made what I think is a very good and interesting point in her comment. She said:

I also think that Harlequin could do a lot more to distinguish Presents and Presents Extra in North America. They have very different "feels" and that is not reflected in the covers or the titles.

Well, basically, Jill, my response is ‘Me too’ - but it’s the main Presents schedule that I wish Marketing would get to grips with and make a lot clearer. I understand that some sort of changes are in the pipeline. And not before time in my opinion – there are a lot of readers out there who have been confused and puzzled by the way some books have been published in Presents over the past year or so. It’s a situation that has had meant that some people have bought books they weren’t truly happy with. Books that didn’t give them what they wanted. And has left others not really know which books to buy to get the sort of read they’re looking for.

It’s also sometimes meant that some people have found new authors they’ve fallen in love with, authors they want to read more of – which is the good side of this and I suspect that might have been the original plan behind the new way of publishing Presents Extra. But it’s a bit more complicatednow than the thought that the main Presents run at the beginning of the month have stayed exactly the same, while the Presents Extra are the ‘different’ ones. And as I have a book coming out in Presents Extra in October I’ll take this opportunity to explain things as they stand now. And thank you Jill for asking the question to lead me to doing this.

OK, so all the Presents/Presents Extra books are originally bought by the London UK editorial offices – that is, they are read, edited and acquired by Harlequin Mills & Boon UK. They are published in the UK first and then, either the same month, or later in the year, they are published in America. The books that are published in the Presents line-up in USA used to be acquired solely from one line in the UK - the Modern Romance line. (The books with the blue covers that you see on my website) But these days, the books that are put out with a Presents cover are acquired from two different lines. (With some exceptions but I’ll come to that in a minute.) So now the Presents/Extra books are acquired from the Modern Romance Line and the Modern Heat line.

And the first complication starts to come in because the Modern Heat used to be called the Modern Extra and the name of the line was changed in 2008.

So in the UK and in Australia, these books are brought out under a separate line title – in Australia they are sold as Sexy Sensation, with a distinctly different cover design. In the UK you have to look a little harder for that ‘Heat’ addition to the cover but it’s there. Personally, I think this is a very good – and necessary distinction. Because the editorial content of these books is very different in tone and in execution from the classic Modern/Presents style editorial. You’ve only got to look at the writing guidelines for each line – specially the checklists for the type of alpha hero they are looking for - to see this:

Mills & Boon Modern Romance® (ie classic Presents books)
Commanding: he’s always in control and calling the shots – except when the heroine finally tames him…

Demanding: he’s come a long way since his emotionally or financially impoverished childhood; he wants it done, and he wants it done now!

Arrogant: he believes in himself and the reach of his influence, totally – until the battle with his feelings for the heroine begins…

Passionate: sensual and sexy, he uses his charm and power to get what he wants, though his need for the heroine may ultimately prove stronger

Status: impossibly wealthy, probably self-made; often has celebrity status in the media. The ruler of all he surveys, be it a company or a country

Mills & Boon Modern Heat®
Young: he’s aged between 25 and 35 and has yet to settle down

Confident: he knows what he wants and has a good idea of how he’ll get it; he knows he’s attractive and relishes challenges – he might have a extreme hobby

Easy-going: he plays as hard as he works, knowing how and when to have a good time. He doesn’t sweat the small stuff…

Accessible: he’s very approachable, but his physical presence and his confidence and charm make him stand out from the crowd

Status: he hails from all walks of life and can have any level of success and wealth

For me the difference between the two is more than this difference in the heroes - it’s a difference of mood and intensity – and very definitely of conflict. To me the hallmark of the classic Presents is that high-octane, white heat of emotional intensity that some people love and others hate and its one of the reasons why Modern/Presents has been so successful and why the line often sparks off so many debates about the books and the heroes. If you want to know more about what I think are the differences between these two lines, I wrote about it here:

So, to my way of thinking, it’s important to indicate which type of read a book is. This has been done in the UK and in Australia. In America, the Modern Heat editorial was originally published in the Presents Extra line-up, which marked them out as slightly different and so readers knew what they were getting – but all that has been changed. Just when everyone thought they knew that Extras were different, they aren’t any more! The Modern Heat books have been put in with the main run of the Presents titles at the beginning of the month, and the Presents Extras are precisely that –extra classic Presents out in the middle of the month. Presents/Modern-style stories written by Presents authors and put together in themed collections. (My Kept For Her Baby is out under the heading ‘Dark Nights with the Billionaire’ which, I’ll be honest, I don’t quite understand – but that’s marketing for you!)

The exception to this is when the Presents Extra line up is occasionally used to bring out some Medical titles and then the name of the series – Posh Docs, Mediterranean Doctors etc - will usually reveal that this is what has happened.

So it’s all a bit confusing to readers at the moment. I understand that in the near future there are plans to indicate on the covers what sort of story each book is but I don’t know quite what or when that’s going to happen. Speaking personally, it can’t come soon enough because if I was buying a classic Presents title I’d want to know that I was going to get the reading experience I was looking for. And if I wanted a Modern Heat style story I’d want to know where to look for that too. So I hope all this will soon be sorted out to make it clearer.

Until then, what can you do to check which sort of story a book is? Well, the obvious thing is to go by the author – authors you know have written classic Presents style books before will be the ones who will give you the same sort of read, no matter whether they come out in Presents or Presents Extra – Kept For Her Baby is a classic example. And the other titles in Extra this month are by Carole Mortimer, Lee Wilkinson and Janette Kenny – classic Presents authors.

In the main Presents line up at the beginning of the month, authors like Heidi Rice, Kate Hardy, Trish Wylie, Nicola Marsh . . .have all be published in Modern Heat first. You can check out the Modern Heat books on the Mills & Boon web site if you want to. They’re in with the Modern titles but they have that read ‘Heat’ on the front cover to indicate their style. Or putting Modern Heat into the search box on Amazon.co.uk will show you the authors who write for this line. Then you can make your choice.

So does this help – or confuse you even more? I think it just goes to show that, as Jill says, it’s time there was some way of showing that a book started out as a Modern Romance or a Modern Heat because they do have that different ‘feel’ and some readers prefer one and not the other . Of course, now that I’ve explained all this, things will probably change all over again and nothing will be clear.

But the one thing I can promise you is that Kept For Her Baby is a classic Presents story – but you need to look for it in the Presents Extra line up that’s out on October 13th. Just look for that fabulous cover and you’ll find it.

So what about you? Have you noticed a difference in the type of read in certain Presents titles? Did you realise there were the two types of editorial in the line up now?

I'd love to hear which Presents (or Presents Extra ) books you've been reading recently that you've loved. And I'll get Sid the cat to choose someone from those who've made comments and there will be a signed copy of Kept For Her Baby for the winner

You can find out more about Kept For Her Baby and all my other books on my website here. Or read my latest news on my blog

I 've been to find Sid the Cat and get him to pick a winner from the comments - and the winner he picked is MARY.

So Mary please email me here and I'll organise sending your signed copy of Kept For Her Baby to you.Thank you to everyone who commented there are some really great book suggestions you made!

Happy New (School) Year! from Kate Walker

At this time of year I get a sort of ‘New Year’ feeling, with a sense of being ready to sort things out, reorganise and plan the next stage of the year. I suppose it comes from all those years of being at school, then university – and then having my son and my husband (as a teacher) starting new academic years at the beginning of September. I love the idea of new terms with all the new notebooks, pens and pencils that go along with them.

Of course these days I’m far more likely to be using a new file on the computer but I still love those new notebooks and pens to scribble down my ideas and an ‘academic year’ diary works wonderfully to help me plan out all the plans and commitments I have for the next twelve months coming up.

So it seems appropriate that I’m working on a brand new book at this time of year. A new story with a fabulous Greek hero – a man who’s scarred in more ways than one. This is a book that I was specially asked to write by my editor with plans for it fitting in to a special mini series that’s coming out next year. I’ll be able to tell you more about that when it is finalised and ready to come out but for now I’m really enjoying working on this and meeting the challenge of the special series it’s in.

And I've been reorganising and updating my web site ready for the upcoming months. I've slightly scared myself when I realised just how many workshops/talks/courses and other events I have ahead of me - and this week I just had two more enquiries. So I'm obviously going to be very busy. (If you're in the UK and able to come to any of these, they're listed on my Events page.)

And in the 'new' spirit, I also have a couple of new books coming up. Well, one of them isn't exactly 'new' - more a new edition. But I wanted to let my American readers know that there is some great news about my How To Write book, the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. This has just come out in a USA edition to make it easier for you to get hold of it. And at first the published wanted to bring it out at the price that Amazon had been charging for it - $27.50. But that was the cost of the import edition and it didn't seem right to have to pay that much for an American edition that is much more easily available. So I discussed it with them and managed to arrange for the price to be brought down to $19.99. If you're interested in this new edition, the details are on my web site too.

And then I have a brand-new novel coming out. Kept For Her Baby is out in Presents EXTRA in October. It's already out in the UK in Mills & Boon Modern and on sale on eHarlequin (in the ebook edition and in print). And it's always a thrill to have a brand-new copy in my hands for the first time. I love walking into a bookshop and seeing my title on the shelves - specially when this book has such a fabulous cover.

And now I'm trying to get the next book finished and off to my editor, while preparing for the next workshop, the next talk. I've even (I'd better whisper this!) started planning and even buying a couple of things for Christmas! My excuse is that I have friends and family in many corners of the world and I have to be ready to post thinngs off to them well in advance - and it is only three months away!

You see, that's what this 'New Term, New Year' feeling does - it makes you start looking ahead and planning.

So what about you? Do you wait till New Year to start making resolutions and plans? Or like me do you decide you can do this at any time of the year - and the start of the new school year just seems to fit?

And what are your very best 'getting organised' tips to help me?

I have a signed copy of my brand new book Kept For Her Baby to give away to someone who comes up with the best and most inspiring idea.

I finally got organised enough to find Sid the Cat and get him to pick a winner from the comments - and the winner he picked is MARY.

So Mary please email me here and I'll organise sending your signed copy of Kept For Her Baby to you.

Thank you to everyone who commented there are some really great ideas there!

Sitting still by Kate Walker

There's a song going round and round in my head at the moment. It's that famous one sung by Frank Sinatra all about the fun of going trav'ling - you know the one . . .

Its very nice to go travling

To paris london and rome

Its oh so nice to go travling

But its so much nicer, yes its so much nicer, to come home

This song is in my brain because at last, after a long July of being here there and everywhere. I'm finally home - and I'm staying for long enough to unpack properly and not just in order to wash my knickers and turn round and repack for a different destination.

I started last month with a couple of library events in different parts of the country. Then there was a fantastic trip to Washington and the RWA national conference. That was a lot of fun! I got to meet up with so many of my writer friends, make new ones with people I met. I talked with readrs - always such an important part of my trip to , had lunch and dinner with editors and other Presents authors, and I explored Washington by trolley car and on foot. I had a wonderful time.

I finally flew back to the UK with just five days in which to unpack, turn round, repack and head for Wales where I was teaching the Writing Romantic Fiction course at Caerleon Writers' Holidays in Newport. Again that was a fantastic week - in spite of the rain that poured down in such torrents that I seriously started to wonder if I should think about building an ark! This was the 25th Writers' Holiday so there were some celebrations to mark this very special event - one of which was my own secret gift to the organisers Anne and Gerry Hobbs. I had dedicated my next book - Kept for Her Baby - to them and luckily my author editions had arrived in time for me to take a copy with me to give to them.

So now I'm home again. The cases are unpacked for at least - oh - six weeks! - I'm sleeping in my own bed, wandering round my own garden and it feels great. The cats have even started to think about forgiving me for abandoning them - though there was some heavy duty sulking before they made up their minds.

And at last I can get back to work! All the time I was travelling I had these two new ideas buzzing around in my head and not enough time to really write them down or develop them into a full proposal for a couple of new books. But now all that is going to change. I have a special project to start with - a for a brand new mini series sugested by my editor. That story has a fabulous sexy Greek hero at the centre of it. And then after that I have a handsome Sicilian waiting impatiently for me to start his story.

And I can't wait to get to meet them.

So although I'm sad that my wonderful travelling month is over, I'm looking forward to staying in one place for a month or two. And I'm anticipating some long, enjoyable days with these new heroes and their stories that I'm just itching to write.

What about you? Are you travelling anywhere interesting this month or have you had yur holidays and like me are finding it's 'oh so nice to come back'?

It's very nice to go travling

But it's oh so nice to come home

Kate's next title for Harlequin Presents is Kept For her Baby which will be published in Harlequin Extra in October.

You can find out more about her and her books on her website and her blog.