Romance Publishing Houses Submission Guidelines

I thought I'd take a gander at some of the publishing houses to see what they're accepting for submissions. I do have to say, for not having an agent there are a lot of publishing houses that won't except unsolicited manuscripts.

Please note, this is for reference only. Please visit publishers website for more information.


Random House, Inc.
Does not accept unsolicited submissions, proposals, manuscripts, or submission queries via e-mail at this time.

Kensington, Zebra, ect…
For fiction, send cover letter, first three chapters, and synopsis (no more than five pages). Note that we do not publish science fiction or fantasy.

We do not publish poetry.

For non-fiction, send cover letter/query, including the author’s qualifications and connections relevant to the book’s content and marketing, and summary or outline of book’s content.

All submissions should be double-spaced, paginated, cleanly printed and readable. Do not bind pages together.

If you need material returned, you must enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope large enough to hold the submission. If we may recycle your pages, you can receive a response by enclosing a letter-size, stamped, self-addressed envelope. MATERIAL WITHOUT RETURN POSTAGE WILL BE DISCARDED.

You may QUERY ONLY by e-mail. Do not attach manuscripts or proposals to e-mail queries. An editor will respond if he or she is interested in seeing your material based on your query.

SUBMIT TO ONE EDITOR ONLY. From the list of editors and their areas of interest, determine which editor would be best suited to or most interested in the type of book you are proposing. Address the submission to that editor’s attention.

ALLOW AT LEAST THREE MONTHS FOR RESPONSE. PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE KENSINGTON OFFICES.

IF YOU DO NOT HEAR BACK ON YOUR QUERY, IT MEANS THAT WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING YOUR MANUSCRIPT.

Alicia Condon, Alicia Condon, Editorial Director of Brava (paranormal and fantasy romance, romantic suspense, historical and contemporary romance, young adult paranormal romance of 80,000 – 100,000 words). acondon@kensingtonbooks.com

Audrey LaFehr, Editorial Director (women’s fiction, romance, romantic suspense, thrillers, erotica, multicultural fiction). alafehr@kensingtonbooks.com

Amy Pyle, Assistant Editor, Citadel Press, Kensington, and Aphrodisia (nonfiction including memoir, pop culture, narrative nonfiction, business, pop science/psychology; fiction including mainstream novels, women’s fiction, literary thrillers, and erotic romance). apyle@kensingtonbooks.com

Peter Senftleben, Assistant Editor (mainstream and women’s fiction, mystery, suspense/thriller, urban fantasy, paranormal and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, erotic romance, gay fiction, pop culture, humor, entertainment). psenftleben@kensingtonbooks.com

Megan Records, Associate Editor (historical romance, paranormal romance, contemporary romance, urban fantasy, historical fiction, select women’s fiction). mrecords@kensingtonbooks.com

Penguin Group/Ace/berkly/Viking
Manuscript Submissions
Due to the high volume of manuscripts received, most Penguin Group (USA) Inc. imprints do not normally accept unsolicited manuscripts.

HarperCollins
How do I submit a manuscript? Can you send me a copy of your Writer's Guidelines? Do you accept manuscripts from unagented writers? And other questions along the lines of "where should I send my fabulous manuscript?"

Unfortunately, with the exception of Avon romance, HarperCollins does not accept unsolicited submissions or query letters. Please refer to your local bookstore, the library, or a book entitled LITERARY MARKETPLACE on how to find the appropriate agent for you. You can also visit our site for writers, http://www.authonomy.com/?utm_source=hccom&utm_medium=tilead&utm_content=mssubmissionfaq&utm_campaign=hccomQ409

Avon
To submit your romance or women’s fiction (only), please query first. You must query by e-mail. When you do so, please put QUERY in the subject line. Due to the overwhelming amount of Spam email we receive, subject lines that have manuscript titles often do not reach the editors. Your query should be brief, no more than a one-page description of your book. Do not send chapters or a full synopsis at this time. Also, please do not send attachments – THEY WILL NOT BE OPENED. You will receive a response — either a decline or a request for more material — in approximately six to eight weeks.

Please e-mail your query to avonromance@harpercollins.com

Random House
Q. I want to submit my manuscript to be considered for publication, how should I go about doing this?
A. We only accept for consideration those submissions which come via a literary agent. This decision has been taken in response to the vast number of unsolicited submissions we receive, which we simply do not have the time or the manpower to evaluate properly. So please follow the advice above.

Ellora's Cave/Cerridwen
Ellora's Cave is always open for submissions in all our genres.
Cerridwen Press is currently open by invitation only. No unsolicited submissions.

Please read the Author Information brochure for information on the company and instructions and advice on how to submit manuscripts to us.

If you would like me to look into other publishing houses, please comment and I will look into it.