25 March 2011

Open to Same-Sex Romance Submissions: Carina Press, Harlequin’s Digital-First Imprint

Post date: 25 March 2011
Note: Carina welcomes everything from all s3xual orientation including same-s3x romances).

Carina Press, Harlequin’s digital-first imprint, is open to submissions.

Our mission is to connect readers with authors who write the stories they want to read.

Carina Press features books from talented authors in all genres of romance, er0tica, science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, women’s fiction, and more. If the book of your heart fits into a niche that has very little shelf space in a traditional bookstore, Carina Press is eager to read and potentially publish your story.

Our submissions guidelines are below. If you have any questions, please first see our Submissions FAQ – if your question was not answered you can email us at submissions@carinapress.com.

WHAT WE’RE SEEKING…

Carina Press will consider shorter length stories between 15,000 to 50,000 words, genre novels between 50,000 to 100,000 words and longer and complex narratives of over 100,000 words. In other words, if your manuscript is 15,000 words or longer, we will consider it! We will not look at manuscripts under 15,000 words.

We publish a majority of romance but are also very interested in and publish women’s fiction, science fiction, fantasy, futuristic, mystery, thrillers, horror, and niches. If you have something new and fresh we would be happy to read your story!

Important note We do not require non-romance genre fiction books to have romantic elements. We read, acquire and publish non-romance with no romantic elements as well!

Your passion, quality of writing and voice is what will make your manuscript stand out and be considered for publication.

We are not acquiring young adult novels. Additionally, at this time Carina Press is not acquiring non-fiction or poetry of any kind.

* Romance
* Science Fiction, Fantasy, Steampunk, Futuristic
* Er0tica
* Mystery
* Thrillers
* Horror
* Family Saga
* Women’s Fiction
* Interactive Fiction with Multiple/Alternate Endings
* Previously Released Material

Romance and Er0tic Romance

We are seeking submissions in all subgenres and all levels of sensuality. We welcome everything from the very sweet to the incredibly s3xy, featuring couples (or multiples) from all walks of life and s3xual orientation, including same-s3x romances. Romances should focus on the development of the relationship, as well as external and internal conflict; the heat level should be appropriate to the book and enhance the story, and the primary relationship in the book should offer a happily ever after (HEA) or happily for now in an emotionally satisfying manner.

The key element to a successful romance is characterization, creating a unique, believable hero and heroine who need to end up together in order to achieve the happily ever after. Alpha heroes remain popular.

Subgenres of romance we are seeking include, but are not limited to, historical, romantic suspense, romantic comedy, futuristic, contemporary, western, Egyptian, Roman, paranormal, er0tic romance and fantasy.

Miniseries have proven to be very popular with readers and Carina Press is looking for interesting twists on established, popular romance themes (marriage of convenience, cowboys, vampires, babies). We are interested in seeing your fresh interpretation on novels featuring astrology, pets – especially rescue animals – playing a role within the story as matchmaker or catalyst, and other unusual or fresh themes. The only limit is your imagination!

Carina Press will also acquire books that have been previously released, but for which the author has either retained digital rights or had rights revert to them. To submit previously published material, please follow the below guidelines and submit it to Angela James at: submissions@carinapress.com. If your books are not available for submission digitally due to publication pre-digital age, please send a detailed query letter to Angela in lieu of manuscript/synopsis.

HOW TO SUBMIT

Please submit queries for only completed, fully polished manuscripts. In the subject line of your query, please type your manuscript name, your name, and genre of the manuscript. Queries must include the following and will not be reviewed if any piece is missing:

1. Brief, introductory query letter listing genre, word count and a short description of the book, as well as any pertinent information about the author, including both legal name and pen name and any writing credits.
2. The full manuscript saved as an RTF file and attached, with file name TITLE_MANUSCRIPT where you substitute your book’s title in place of TITLE.
3. 2-5 page synopsis of book that details character development, plot, and conflict/story resolution. Attach as an RTF file with file name TITLE_SYNOPSIS where you substitute your book’s title in place of TITLE.

Please be sure to put the following information on the first page of all files: manuscript name, author pen name/legal name, email address, phone number, genre, and word count.

Submissions should be sent to submissions@carinapress.com.

More information here.
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