She launched her career following a Golden Heart win with The Path of the Wind, later retitled My Lord Protector. Now she’s the award-winning author of historical romance and other-world fantasy. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages with over a million copies sold. That’s a lot of books! She’s even racking up sales in Japan, where her fantasy novel for Luna books has been turned into a best-selling graphic novel.

Deborah’s latest project is her Gentlemen of Fortune trilogy, which will debut in the UK this summer, coming to North America in 2011.

How did she do it? I caught up with Deb–actually we both belong to Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada and were enjoying cake (celebrating a chapter mate’s first sale)—and she promised to drop by and share her story.

You got the call from RWA and then what, Deb?

Thanks, Bev!

Yes, I got the call from RWA, which was a huge surprise.  I’d entered the same manuscript in the Golden Heart for three years in a row, moving up from the bottom 50 percentile to the 50 -75.  My path to publication had been a rollercoaster with many ups and downs and by the spring of 1997, I was in a deep trough.  A number of publishers had rejected my manuscript.  Agents weren’t interested. The last thing I expected while preparing dinner one evening was a call to say my manuscript had made the finals in the Long Historical category.

Once I stopped crying and scraped the burnt dinner out of the frying pan, I knew I had to make the most of this amazing opportunity.  Having read a lot about the Golden Heart and the authors who had parlayed theirs into great publishing success, I’d pinned my hopes on it as a way of bringing my story to the attention of the right editor.  Since I had zero expectation of winning, I knew I had to move fast during the next few months to capitalize on the fact that I was a potential winner.  I was too excited to sleep that night, so I spent those quiet hours laying my plans.  Starting the next morning, here’s what I did:

1. I queried an agent.  Until then I hadn’t had much luck securing representation.  But armed with my GH Finalist status, I sent off a query to the agent of a friend.  She requested the manuscript.

2. While I worked on landing an agent, I sent out queries to publishers in groups of three.  I knew the rule about no multiple submissions, but multiple queries were okay.  At that time even the big publishers would accept unagented queries, though you needed something special to make your query stand out.  Finaling in the Golden Heart was my calling card!  I didn’t want to send out too many in case I got multiple requests, but I did want to maximize my chances of getting a request.  Two of the publishers turned me down, but an editor at Bantam asked to see a partial.

3. In between mailings, I stepped up the pace working on another story, in case none of my efforts with this one panned out.

By the time National rolled around, I’d accepted an offer of representation from the agent and gotten a request from Bantam for the full.  I wasn’t able to attend the conference because money was really tight and I had four young children, two of whom had recently been diagnosed with autism.  Fortunately my agent was able to attend the GH reception and talk me up to editors.  On the night of the Award Ceremony, my husband and I huddled in front of our computer waiting for the winners to be posted on RWA’s website.  Long Historical was the last category announced.  When my picture scrolled up, I let out a scream that must have carried all the way to Orlando.

Then it was time for a reality check. Bantam turned down my Golden Heart winning manuscript!  The editor said the heroine wasn’t strong enough, the hero wasn’t sexy enough and it wasn’t a strong enough story for their list. My agent immediately sent the MS to two other publishers who agreed to accept multiple submissions. Both rejected it. I kept working on my next story, hoping it might succeed where this one was failing.

That manuscript wasn’t ready to send to the Golden Heart so I sent no entry that year, which felt very strange.  Then a few days before Valentine’s Day, I got the call saying Harlequin Historical wanted to buy my book.  It was released the following year as My Lord Protector.  Twelve years later, I’m working on my seventeenth novel for HH.  I’ve also written two fantasy novels for Luna Books, plus two novellas, and four shorter stories for eHarlequin and Harlequin Historical Undone.

The Golden Heart competition opened that door for me – not just finalling and winning, but through all the great contacts I made and all the lessons I learned about meeting deadlines and tailoring my MS for success.  Much has changed in the industry and with the Golden Heart since then, but I still believe it is a great boost to authors working toward publication.  I wish you all the very best with your journey from Golden Heart to First Sale…and beyond!

(One lucky commenter will receive a copy of “The Bride Ship”,  “Mistletoe Kisses” or “Gentleman of Fortune”.)

 It’s also creeping closer to RITA and Golden Heart announcement day—another event which can cause sleepless nights. Many favorite authors are discovered through RITA nominations. Kristan Higgins and Julianne MacLean now head my list and any RITA-nominated book, in any category, usually goes on my to-be-read pile.

 What about you? Do you have a favorite book (copyright date of 2009) that you hope will be nominated for a RITA?

 I love question day and even saved up one of my own. So jump in, be it with a question, an answer, or anything in between. We’d love to hear from you, and the Ruby Sisters are here in force, each with their own area of expertise.

This nicely segues (I’ve wanted to use that word for a few days now) into my own question. When you’re reading and hit something that is factually wrong, does it throw you out of the book? Or do you read on and hope the story compensates? Maybe wait two mistakes? Three? How much tolerance do you have?

And anything goes. For example, the first contest I entered, a (very kind) judge suggested I find a competent CP. I had no idea what a CP was but Googled it. Never could understand how Campus Police could actually improve my writing. So throw them at us. Are there any questions you have or similar red-faced moments you can share?

Carol joined RWA after serving for nine years as vice-president of operations and standards of the Better Business Bureau of Houston and South Texas. In addition to administering the Golden Heart and RITA contests, some of her other responsibilities include reviewing boilerplate contracts to see if publishers meet RWA’s standards as non-subsidy, non-vanity presses and handling member complaints against publishers and agents. Carol is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and is an avid reader. She and her husband and three daughters share their home with four dogs, two cats, a turtle, and a goldfish.

• Finalling in the Golden Heart is a huge honor and garners instant prestige. How has RWA managed to create such a mystique for this contest?

The writers probably have a lot to do with establishing its reputation. Even before I came to RWA, I remember reading books and the bios of well-known authors would mention finaling in the Golden Heart. If it’s important enough to be included in a bio, it becomes significant, adding to contest recognition.

• The amount of work coordinating the Golden Heart is staggering. It seems finalists just finish celebrating and RWA staff (eight fulltime members) are already planning next year’s contest. How many staff members are involved in its administration and what is the busiest time?

True! As soon as we have final round scores, staff prepares a contest report for the Board meeting in July and often there are changes to the rules. Once the contest opens for entries, Donna (the receptionist) and I can handle the initial packets; however, during the last few weeks it gets hectic and all staff pitch in and help. We receive approximately eighty percent of the entries in the last week and every disc need to be checked for readability and word count.

• How do you physically make room for all the manuscripts?

Before we moved into our new building, space was cramped. There was no extra room, and staff literally tripped over manuscripts and RITA books. Now, it’s great. Because of the Board of Directors and Allison Kelley’s strict financial management, RWA was able to purchase a building and there are now separate rooms for both the Golden Heart and RITA entries. There are movable shelves and multiple aisles, and everything can be kept organized until entries are ready to ship for judging.

• Entries are currently capped at 1200 manuscripts. In 2009, there were 901 entries for 10 categories ranging from a high of 152 entries in the Elements category to a low of 29 entries in the Contemporary Series Suspense/Adventure. What is the average number of submissions received and has the maximum number ever been reached?

The cap was raised from 1000 to 1200 when the RITA was raised, and GH numbers are generally consistent.

• First-round judges are General RWA members and receive their entries by mail. The top 10 percent of each category advance to the final round.  Do you mail entries to overseas judges or do you prefer they live in North America? Has there ever been a situation where a judge failed to send in their scores?

Because our membership is worldwide, we use worldwide judges although package delivery is expensive. We box and send the manuscripts out after Christmas so it’s less hectic for the delivery service. It takes about three days to prepare the contest packets for delivery.  We send multiple reminder emails to judges asking for their scores and, if necessary, will send a packet to an alternate judge.

• For the final round, there are three judges. Are the manuscripts scored in the same manner as the preliminary round (1-9) and are the scores averaged or is there another system? Has there ever been a tie and how was it broken?

The final round is scored in ordinals. There wasn’t a tie last year, but if necessary, a tie would be broken by weighting the scores as set out in RWA’s Policy & Procedures manual. (Sec. 95.2)

• The final-round GH entries are judged by a panel consisting of (in order of preference) three editors or two editors and a PAN-eligible published member. Are there any requirements regarding the publishing houses? Is it difficult to recruit editors or are they eager to read the manuscripts? Do the same editors always judge and are they usually junior editors?

Publishing houses must be in good standing and it’s most important that an editor is a dependable judge. Time is tight as winners’ names are required for engraving and printing. Generally, editors look forward to the opportunity of judging and many of the final judges are senior editors.

• Several Ruby Sisters received requests for fulls from final round judges. Since the requesting judge may never be known, it’s possible finalists have booked their Conference pitch to an editor who has already read, and rejected, their manuscript. Why are the editors’ identities kept secret?

Before the winners are determined, all contest details are confidential. Following, the identity of final round judges is kept secret out of courtesy to the judges unless the editor states his/her identity can be revealed. Once scores are delivered, requested fulls are sent and editor information provided–if that is the judge’s wish.

• Are any statistics kept as to how many Golden Heart finalists move on to be published?

We don’t keep those stats although The Golden Network may have that information.

• The entry fee for the Golden Heart is $50 and electronic submissions are not acceptable. Are there any plans to change this fee or to accept electronic entries?

The contest has been designed to pay for itself and set up to break even. There has been some discussion about using electronic methods although this depends on budget and would be determined by the Board.

Thanks, Carol! Good luck to all writers packaging up a manuscript this year. Hope they make RWA’s GH room safely. Leave a comment and one lucky guest, drawn at random, will receive a $15 Barnes and Noble gift card.