Mills & Boon Calling the Asha Tampas of India

Pulp romance publisher Mills & Boon is settings its sights on India.

All ye aspiring Anne Mathers, Sara Seales, Sara Weales, Mary Wibberlys, Essie Summers and Carole Mortimers of India, head to the keyboard immediately. 

You see, Mill & Boon has launched a Passions short story writing contest exclusive to India to discover the next big romance author.

While the short stories can be set in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kozhikode, Paris, London or anywhere else, they must have an Indian element.

Of course, passion, intensity and happy endings are a must.

Here’s what the winners can expect to get (according to the announcement):

The winning submission will be published by Mills & Boon and its author will receive a yearlong consultation from the Mills & Boon editorial staff as well as a free laptop computer and diamond jewellery. Two runners-up will also be selected and will each receive constructive critiques of their submission and an editorial consultation. In addition, all three finalists will also receive a free yearlong subscription to their favourite M&B series. The winner will be announced February 4, 2009.

India has lots of Mills & Boon fans including our very own Asha Tampa, a frequent visitor to this blog and a blogger in her own right.

After frittering away countless hours of our life reading tons of M&Bs, all we can say is that there are better ways to waste your time. 

6 Responses to "Mills & Boon Calling the Asha Tampas of India"

  1. Þórarinsdóttir   December 16, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Congrats Asha. Glad that those nights wasted on M&Bs haven’t gone a waste for you.. (read about your new job). And I like this profile picture better than the previous one.. but wish it were brighter and bigger!

    – one of your stalkers

  2. beni   December 16, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Aren’t they supposed to be romantic books with dirty stuff?
    I remember my cousin got into big time trouble with my aunt for borrowing one from her classmate.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: Aren’t they supposed to be romantic books with dirty stuff?

    You must be confusing them with the Rasavanti books that young South Indian boys used to surreptitiously read.

    M&Bs (at least when we used to read them a gazillion years ago) were staid boy meets girl…sparks fly..boy & girl fight…girl pines over the boy…boy & girl unite…all’s well that ends well. The boys/men are always the strong/macho/domineering type and the girl the effeminate kind (not the feminist bra-burners).

    Some of the M&Bs were borderline risque.

    We doubt things have changed much over the years. Hopefully, there’ll be others here who are au courant with M&Bs.

  3. beni   December 16, 2008 at 7:46 pm

    oh, for that kinda stuff, i’ve only read Victoria Holt. Her books are mostly 19th century gothic romance mysteries.

  4. asha.tampa   December 23, 2008 at 7:37 am

    Wow, jus read your post!!! 😀

    Thats cool, can you give some more inputs, as to how to apply and all that jazz? Waise, I feel quite flattered by all this, you know(fluttering eyes) 😛

    At Þórarinsdóttir: Thanks so much dude… I accepted the lower pay package jus cos the profile attracted me so much. Lets see where these new winds of change take me.

    And thanks so much for goin thru my blog. It makes writing much more easier, as I’m sure SI will agree, when you know someone reads what you are writing. Right, SI?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write above: Thats cool, can you give some more inputs, as to how to apply and all that jazz?

    The following are verbatim excerpts from the Mills & Boon press release:

    1. Rules and regulations for the Mills & Boon Passions short story writing contest are available at http://www.millsandboonindia.com (Web site is not working)

    2. Submissions will be accepted on-line only. All entries should be e-mailed to passions@hmbindia.com (e-mail may be working)

    3. Entrants must be aged 18 years and over. Submissions should be Microsoft Word documents.

    The short stories must be typed, double spaced, a maximum of 2,000 words and suitable for the Mills & Boon Modern series.

    All submissions must be in English and be received no later than 11:00am IST, January 21st 2009.

    Story concepts must be original and must not have won a previous prizes or awards nor have been previously submitted, reproduced or published. Only one entry per person will be accepted. Submissions should include the author’s name, address, e-mail and phone number.

    Since the Mills & Boon India web site is still not working, added the contact info in the press release as well.

    Contact Details: Kunal Mandaliya
    Marketing and Media Coordinator
    Harlequin Mills & Boon
    +91 9833030532
    kunal.mandaliya@hmbindia.com

    Good Luck, Mademoiselle. We look forward to reading the news about your wining the Passion Contest oops we mean Passion Short Story Contest. 😉

  5. Þórarinsdóttir   December 23, 2008 at 10:45 am

    Asha, More power to you for thinking that way!.. good luck with the new job and with the passion contest.. you have got a great talent agent in SI. 🙂 They even send goondas to get the job done.

  6. asha.tampa   December 23, 2008 at 10:46 am

    Jeez, thanks so much! I’m not good at spinning yarns though, except for those school and college days when I used to cook up a new story everyday to explain my bunking classes 😉

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