List of Publishers - Sweet Only

[Chaeya]

Here's a list of publishers where you can submit your books if you prefer writing sweet, sensual or suggestive romance. If you like reading them, you may want to check out their books as well.

1. Carina Press (Subsidiary of Harlequin):

http://www.carinapress.com/submission...

(If the link doesn't work, just go to carinepress and look up submissions.)

2. Blush (Subsidiary of Ellora's Cave):

Author's Information Packet: http://www.jasminejade.com/docs/Autho...

3. Astraea Press (don't know a lot about these guys, but I laughed when I saw they don't allow any "pink" to show in their stories, sweet only):

http://www.astraeapress.com/submissio...

4. Musa Publishing (don't know about them, but they strike me as heavy into paranormal and/or horror:

http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/p/...

5. Samhain (they accept all heat levels, but all the authors I know with them write pretty erotic):

http://samhainpublishing.com/submissions

6. Uncial Press (does not accept erotica):

http://www.uncialpress.com/submission...

7. Vinspire Publishing (no graphic language, violence or sex):

http://www.vrpublishing.com/vinspirep...

So this is my pick for the lighter side of things. I know there are other publishers who accept sweet romances; however, they advertise their erotic titles more than their sweet ones. This is just my opinion, it's best to do your own research regarding these publishers to determine which one will serve you best. I have no experience dealing with them.

Chaeya

[Chaeya]

Feel free to move this to the correct folder. I tried to post it in Authors/Writers Corner, but I failed.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

Thanks, Chaeya!

[Delaney]

This is a good list, Chaeya. I wasn't familiar with some of them. Here are a few more:

8. Harlequin's Super Romance and Mira lines are sweet, too. If there's any sex, it's so tame that it's negligible because there's little, if any, description.
http://www.harlequin.com/store.html

9. Turquoise Morning Press: They have a range of heat levels like Samhain and Carina Press. http://www.turquoisemorningpressbooks...

10. Dancing With Bear Publishing: An author launched the company this year and named it after her ex--"Bear"--a man she refers to as the love of her life.
http://www.dancingwithbearpublishing....

I'm sure we could find more if we checked out the publishers of the books in the Clean Romances group. I think they even had a thread listing publishers, but I couldn't find it to add the link here.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Sees Love in All Colors]

It's nice to have a good option for publishers. I write anywhere from no sex to steamy (but vanilla, non-erotic) sex.

[Chaeya]

Yeah, it's good to look around. This list will change and be updated, so if anyone else hears of anything, feel free to add. When I get some time, I'll put up the Erotic List.

[Roslyn]

Be sure to do your homework and check these publishers through a site like Preditors and Editors. For the most part new e-pubs are to be avoided, too many have gone down in flames leaving author's rights in limbo. (Of course, this can happen with an established pub as well, so be careful. E-pubbing is still the wild, wild west. There's a lot of volatility out there.) Also check a site like Emily Veinglory's. She keeps up on industry gossip and posts actually royalty earnings on a regular basis. There are a lot of epubs out there, but frankly I wouldn't bother with any but the ones that are actually making money.

[Chaeya]

You're correct, Roz. I generally like to give an e-pub a couple of years, check out what they of advertising they do, and their payment history.

Even the larger companies have had issues. That's why I prefer to indie publish, myself. I met some smaller presses at the RT, but the little (or nonexistent) advertising in magazines and such didn't convince me to give up 60% of my royalties to them. Just so someone can say I wasn't "vanity" published, isn't worth it to me. I would say my top pick would be Samhain or Carina, but none of the others unless I can negotiate certain terms.

[Dahlia]

Another place to check out epubs is http://hipiers.com/publishing.html#pu.... He updates every month and is pretty detailed.

[Stacy-Deanne]

I agree with Ros. I won't name names but I see one publisher on this list I wouldn't touch with a ten foot poll due to their horrible covers and lack of editing and the fact that they haven't been out close to a year and have released thousands of titles already. It's a warning sign to me. Then there are two more on here I've never even heard of. Don't just settle for anything that will publish your book. You owe it to yourself to get with the best you can or at least someone who is professional and will do a good job. Also, be careful of brand new publishers. I wouldn't jump to be published by someone who has been out less than a year. You don't know if they can sell books effectively or not if they haven't been around long. Always research and talk to authors from the companies you are interested in subbing to. That's the best way to do it.

Things to keep in mind when searching for publishers:

Is this publishers' books available in places OTHER than their own website?

Does this publishers' books have decent sales?

Does this publisher have ANY top selling books?

Who runs the company and what is their expertise in publishing?

What's the royalty rate? Is it fair compared to other epublishers?

Does this publisher have expertise in selling your particular genre?

Does this publisher do ANY promotion? If so, how do they promote? Do they send books to popular reviewers and popular sites that would get your name in front of readers?

Do they edit?

Are they an author mill?

Do they have many complaints from several sources?

Will they alert you if they are having business problems down the road?

Extremely important: Have YOU read any of their books and what did you think of them?

If you are interested in a pub and they have a history of low sales, not paying authors, rude staff, no promotion, ugly or cheap-looking books, books that need to be edited or just bad in general...run.

Last question: Can they do something for you that you can't do for yourself? With some publishers you might as well be self-publishing on your own.

[Chaeya]

Stacey-Deanne, I think if there's a publisher on the list that isn't up to snuff, then I think you should point out who they are. I know publishers have been called out on other boards because of shady dealings and/or being author mills, warning people to stay away from them. I picked up this list from another board and simply took out everyone who did primarily erotic. I stated clearly that I had no dealings with any of these people and that everyone should do their own research. I simply don't have time to do an extensive research, so if there's some people who aren't legit, I can remove them from the list.

[Roslyn]

They're not on your list, but for the goodness sake google Genesis Press before submitting anything. Allegedly they don't pay allegedly. Allegedly a lot of authors have alleged allegedly that they haven't received royalty statements for years, allegedly.

I don't know anything about the other pubs on your list. Obviously Samhain and Ellora's Cave have good reps, the rest of these people I don't know anything about.

[Stacy-Deanne]

Chaeya,

I am not trying to say Musa is necessarily a bad publisher but it's weird to me how they popped up at the END of September and have released and accepted MANY books since then. They release tons of books daily. I also know many writers who have submitted to them and been accepted within HOURS. Now I know this doesn't mean they are bad but I am sorry, that's a quick turn around for anyone to accept a book and the fact that they put out so many is just odd.

Also seeing how they are so new I would definitely wait until people know what they can do. As Ros pointed out, tons of publishers have popped up like a storm and then disappeared. So it's not that they aren't legit, but I wouldn't sub to them unless I waited at least until they've been around longer.

The covers...no comment.

So I am not saying they are a bad pub, but I'd be careful getting involved with any pub that's this new and accepts and releases books so fast. It's kind of like they are more concerned with how many authors they can get to sign on than releasing books. I would just use caution and commonsense.

The top ones on the list are the ones folks should shoot for and that's Carina, Ellora's Cave and Samhain. Astrea is new but I haven't heard anything bad about them or anything. I know squat about Vinspire or Uncial so I'd definitely research.

Also, Delaney is published with Astrea so if anyone is considering them they should talk to her about her experience.

Best Wishes!

http://www.stacy-deanne.net

[Chaeya]

I agree with everything you said, but if someone has had a bad experience, I think it's a good thing to let people know. I haven't heard anything bad yet, but being they are so new, it's possible no complaints have come in. So don't be sorry.

[Stacy-Deanne]

I am just always cautious of what I say about folks or things online but when I figure someone needs help I always let them know that they should be careful and research before dealing with people or businesses they aren't familiar with.

[Jasmine]

Would any of them take a young-adult IR book?

[Delaney]

Astraea does. Click on the submissions link above for details.

[Jasmine]

Thank you!

[Jasmine]

Delaney wrote: "Astraea does. Click on the submissions link above for details."

Oh crap I can't do that. it's cool I think after my rewrites I'm going to query a agent. A harper collins editor read it and said that the perfect chemistry readers would like it. So I might query Simone's agent.