Harlequin Starts Imprint for Young Adult Fiction

Tez Miller's blog reports Harlequin is starting a new imprint for teens and looking for manuscripts. They accept unagented submissions, so looks like a wide open new market.

Romance category sales are up 83%, and fantasy books are doing well, so they're a frigging publishing spotlight in an otherwise inky economic cave.

Writers Digest Popular Fiction Contest

Writers Digest is seeking short stories in the romance, horror, sci fi/fantasy, mystery/crime, and thriller/suspense categories

Length: 4,000 words or less
Deadline: November 3, 2008
Prize: $2,500, $100 worth of books, and 2009 Novel and Short Story Writers Market
Entry Fee: $12.50 per manuscript
See the website for details or to enter online.

Writer's Digest Genre Definitions

The newest issue of Writer's Digest has a fabulous genre tree that shows all the subgenre branches of mystery, romance, horror, and science fiction/fantasy.

So if you want to know what is an urban fantasy, sweet romance, or splatter, you can check out Writer's Digest's genre definitions.