Interview with Shauna Summers, Executive Editor for Ballantine Bantom Dell
Shauna Summers is the executive editor for the Ballantine, Bantom, Dell imprint. She edits authors such as Suzanne Brockmann, Shana Abe, and Lara Adrian.
Two debuts that she is excited about include Cecilia Grant’s “A Lady Awakened” (hhttp://www.ceciliagrant.com/) that will release in January 2012 and Molly O’Keefe’s contemporary series that will be released in the summer of 2012. I’ve had the opportunity to read “A Lady Awakened” and I felt like I hadn’t read these characters in a romance before. It was an amazing read and I’ll be excited to start talking about it later this year and hopefully have a giveaway for it in the late fall.
Molly O’Keefe’s previous books have been published by Harlequin Superromance and these books will be bigger stories that are in the vein of early Jennifer Crusie and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Funny and emotional. The first book, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, is about a hockey player who is one concussion away from serious and debilitating injury. He is being forced into retirement but unhappily. His father is an old rich Texas guy who gets engaged to a MUCH younger woman. But this is all a ploy by the estranged father to get his kids to come back so that he can make amends. The first two books will be published back to back in summer 2012 with the third in 2013.
Shana Abe is writing a YA series set in the Drakon world with a tentative title “Beautiful Dark”. The first will be released in the fall of 2012.
Some highlighted fall titles include
- The Secret Mistress by Mary Balogh
- Another two in one former Signet releases (sorry I forgot to get the titles)
- Maya Banks’ fall trilogy set in the Highlands
Spring will see Lara Adrian’s 10th book in the Breed series. This will be in hardcover and is titled “Darker After Midnight”. It will be the last book in the Breed series and the next series from Adrian will be a spin off with younger characters.
Suzanne Brockmann will start hardcover series beginning with “Born to Darkness.” The concept is that in a slightly future Earth we have tapped into the full extent of our brain and thus are faster, stronger, with telekinetic powers.
The BBD publishing philosophy is that they acquire strong voices and have no set publishing schedule. Some months may have more releases than others. The new digital Loveswept line will operate under the same philosophy. There will be no set number of books that they will release although the plan is to launch with 8 titles and one release a month thereafter, either a digital reprint of a former Loveswept line or a new original fiction piece purchased new for the Loveswept line.
All of the editorial staff can and will acquire for the Loveswept line. Any good romance, any subgenre, any length. They are unsure about erotic or m/m and will be exploring that for the future. The digital publishing program is very fluid and they only want to publish books that they really love. The Loveswept line may be a place to publish more niche material that is great but may not have a wide reaching audience.
They are paying a negotiable advance and 25% off the net for royalties.
The price point, which will excite readers, is $2.99 to $4.99, probably based on length.
Yay for the nice pricepoint on the digital Loveswepts. One a month isn’t a lot though for a line with such an extensive backlist.
Thanks for doing these interviews, Jane! I, too, am excited about the price point. That will have me looking to buy. It’s also fun to hear what’s coming up. It’s an at home version of RWA, I guess.
Really looking forward to the Cecilia Grant book — it sounds awesome.