For the first few years of Authors Publish, even though I only reviewed romance publishers that were over a year old, I had no lack of options in terms of romance publishers to review. They were the easiest genre to find publishers open to direct submissions, other than those focused on non-fiction.

Particularly in 2016 and 2017 the number of publishers seemed almost endless, then after a year of slower growth in 2018, the market quickly started to shrink. In 2018 this list contained 40 publishers, in 2019 it contained 33. It continued to dip, and for a few years I stopped putting together a list. By the time I created a new list in 2023 it had 44 publishers on it. It has continued to grow from there.

Part of this great swing in numbers was because of diminished eBook sales and part of this is the fact that there were too many romance publishers for the market to support.

Now there are even more romance publishers than were once on this list, although some of the presses included in this list were open the whole time, we simply had not reviewed them yet.

On this list there are traditional print publishers, established romance stalwarts, up and coming eBook publishers, and everything in between. We do not review publishers who have been around for less than a year. So all of these publishers have at least a small track record. If the imprints are distinct enough we list them separately. Harlequin has a lot of imprints, although not all of them are listed here.

These publishers offer traditional book contracts, and a number of them offer advances. To learn more about the publisher, click on the link in their name; most of these link to our full review. The full review contains information about submission guidelines and links to their website.

Some of the publishers only publish romance, but many are also open to erotica. Some are only focused on YA but most publish adult romance primarily. The list is in no particular order, although I have tried to group publishers and their imprints together.

Most of the publishers contained in the list are currently open to submissions, but not all of them are. So make sure to check on the publisher’s site before submitting.

Not all of these publishers’ websites are something most people would feel comfortable opening at work, so please keep that in mind.

Harlequin
Harlequin is easily the most famous romance-only publisher out there. In fact, their name was synonymous with romance novels when I was growing up. They have wide distribution, from grocery stores to bookstores. They are everywhere. Most of the famous romance writers got their start at Harlequin. They were acquired by HarperCollins a number of years ago.

Carina Press
Carina Press is Harlequin’s digital-first adult fiction imprint, publishing first in digital, and then depending on the numbers, releasing audio and print versions as well. Unlike most of Harlequin’s imprints they don’t just focus on romance, although they are open to all subgenres of romance, including contemporary, erotic, paranormal and urban fantasy, and science fiction.

Afterglow Books
Afterglow Books is a new imprint of Harlequin. Their tagline for Afterglow books is “From showing up to glowing up, these characters are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way.” This is how the editors describe what the new imprint is seeking: “Depth, relatability and sizzling spice, too: these characters are determined to live their best lives — and find the romance that makes them feel seen, unapologetically. In the pages of Afterglow Books, characters from all walks of life, all types of diverse identities, will pursue their dreams and discover love isn’t far behind. Because everyone deserves a happily ever after that’s true to who they are.”

Mills & Boon
Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK, and like Harlequin in the US, it is now an imprint of HarperCollins. Mills & Boon was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher, and it has gone through a lot of changes over the years, but it has always focused on publishing romance novels.

Love Inspired
Love Inspired is an imprint of Harlequin that focuses on the Christian romance market. They describe themselves as publishing “Contemporary inspirational romances that feature Christian characters facing the many challenges of life and love in today’s world.”

Love Inspired Suspense
Love Inspired Suspense is an imprint of Harlequin that focuses on publishing work where romance and suspense are both major elements. They describe the work they publish as “Edge-of-the-seat, contemporary romantic suspense tales of intrigue and romance featuring Christian characters facing challenges to their faith…and to their lives”.

Harlequin Intrigue
Harlequin Intrigue is an imprint of Harlequin Romance, which focuses on thrillers and procedurals. They want both a fully realized high intensity crime story, and a romance, both with complete plot arcs.

Harlequin Historical
According to their guidelines they are looking for “Richly textured, emotionally intense novels set across a wide range of historical periods—from the battlefields of Viking and Medieval times to the ballrooms of Regency and Victorian Society.”

Harlequin Medical Romance
Harlequin Medical Romance is looking to publish manuscripts of 50,000 words set in the medical world.

Dragonblade
This digital-first publishing house only publishes works of historical fiction with a clear focus on romance. Within the historical romance genre they are open to most subgenres including: Viking, Regency, Georgian, Tudor, Highlander, Medieval, Victorian, Roman, Civil War, Restoration, Edwardian, etc. They are interested in anything pre-20th century except Westerns and Amish. They are also open to time travel, historical fiction, historical fantasies, and historical mysteries as long as their is a romance component that ends happily ever after. They are open to M/M, F/F, M/F, LGBTQIA pairings.

Ylva Publishing
Ylva Publishing is the home of lesbian fiction and fiction about women-loving-women, and not surprisingly given the context, they only publish women. They mainly publish romance genre, but they are open to other genres, including historical fiction, crime, action, mystery, young adult, and erotica. They are currently closed to submissions.

Sourcebooks Casablanca 
Sourcebooks is a major independent publisher in the US whom we have reviewed here. Sourcebooks was founded in 1987, and in 1996 Sourcebooks Casablanca joined the family. Three other imprints followed. They have major distribution and good covers. they are always open  to unagented romance fiction for their Casablanca imprint. They are looking for strong writers that are excited about marketing books and building communities of readers, and whose stories have something fresh to offer within the genre. They publish romances that fall within the following subgenres: paranormal romance, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, erotic romance, and historical romance (prior to 1900).

Tiny Ghost Press 
Tiny Ghost Press is a small press that focuses on publishing YA fiction that centers LGBTQIA+ characters. This means that in their own words, they want “YOUNG ADULT novels, written from a QUEER perspective, That is stories featuring a queer protagonist or from a queer author. We’re interested in everything from contemporary romance, to dystopian adventures, and if your story dabbles in the spooky, the supernatural, or the paranormal, or has a speculative element even better!” 

Hera
Hera is a new female-led, independent digital publisher. They focus exclusively on publishing commercial books, including romance.

Decadent Publishing
Decadent Publishing is only interested in publishing romance fiction. They are open to fiction of any heat level (they define their heat levels as part of their submission guidelines) and most sub-genres of romance. Some of what they have published can be definitively classified as erotic romance.

Deep Desires
Deep Desires is a press that publishes romance and erotic romance. Deep Desires Press was founded 2016 by a group of authors and editors, including bestselling erotica author Cameron D. James, in addition to editors that have worked on bestselling erotica and erotic romance books. The founders also have substantial self-publishing experience.

Deep Hearts
Deep Hearts YA is a new publisher of fiction for young adults. They focus on publishing LBGTQ+ stories, in all genres and sub-genres, including aro and ace lead characters. They are primary a romance publisher, but romance does not have to be the main focus of the manuscript if self-empowerment or self-realization plays a central role.

Blind Eye Books
Blind Eye Books publishes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and romance novels featuring LGBTQ protagonists. They are a print publisher and their book covers are beautifully designed and really stand out. The books they have published have won and been nominated for a number of awards, including the Lambda.

Alcove Press
Alcove Press is a new imprint of the established publisher Crooked Lane (which is owned by Bookspan). Alcove Press is focused on publishing upmarket Book Club fiction that “explores family, friendship, and community”. They are actively trying to publish debut authors as well as established ones. A lot of what they publish falls under the Contemporary Romance umbrella.

Kensington Publishing
This large independent publisher is based out of New York. They publish a wide variety of mainstream fiction and nonfiction books, with a particular focus on romance. They publish an average of 600 books a year, so they accept a lot more submissions than most independent publishers.

Lyrical Press
Lyrical Press is an electronic-only imprint of Kensington, a large independent publisher. Kensington and Lyrical both publish mainstream novels and seem to put a fair amount of pressure on the author to promote their books. They publish a large number of books per year.

Shadow Mountain
They only consider historical romance (Regency, Victorian, Edwardian, etc.), and they are open to submissions a few times every year.

Entangled Publishing
They’ve run into a number of issues over the years, which are covered by our review, but they are still one of the largest and most responsive independent romance publishers.

Mischief
Mischief is the YA imprint of the romance publisher Entangled Publishing, that focuses on younger YA readers. They focus on publishing general YA for readers 13 and up, with fantasy, sci-fi, horror, contemporary, thriller, with sweet romantic elements. Work they publish is between 80 and 100k in length. These books can contain romantic themes and even occasional strong language and action and conflict, but nothing is overly graphic.

Mayhem
Is the YA imprint of the romance publisher Entangled Publishing, that focuses on older readers. They focus on publishing YA for readers 16 and older fantasy, sci-fi, horror, contemporary, thriller, with romantic elements. Work is between 90 and 120k in length. These books generally feature stronger language, more intense violence, and mature romantic themes.

Bold Strokes
Bold Strokes Books publishes only LGBTQ books. They publish general and genre fiction, with an emphasis on romance. They have great print distribution.

Boroughs Publishing Group 
Boroughs Publishing Group is an e-publisher that also does print on demand. They foucus on publishing romance novels, novellas, and short stories.

Changeling Press 
Changeling Press is an eBook publisher that also offers print on demand. They only publishe erotic fiction targeted at a female audience. However, within that genre they publish many subgenres including Sci-Fi/Futuristic, Dark and Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, BDSM, Action Adventure, and Guilty Pleasures (Adult Contemporary Kink).

Evernight
Evernight is an eBook publisher of romance and erotica novels that is currently open to submissions from writers. They also publish print versions of some books. They publish a lot of books and have a relatively high acceptance rate. The authors that have published with them have had a mixed experience. A number of the books they have published have been on the Amazon Bestseller list, but rumor suggests that those books tend to be written by the owners.

Bookouture 
Bookouture is a digital publisher that was purchased in 2017 by Hachette (you can learn more here). Bookouture was extremely successful in their own right. They started out in the UK but they have outposts in a number of countries now. They focus on publishing commercial fiction. They primarily publish women’s fiction, romance, thrillers, and chick lit.

Brother Mockingbird 
Brother Mockingbird Publishing is a small independent press committed to discovering writers from the American South, but they are also open to good fiction, regardless of where the author is based.  They publish a wide range of genres including romance.

Small Town Girl 
An imprint of Brother Mockingbird Publishing that publishes a range of fiction including romance, but it must be set in the 1980’s.

The Story Plant 
The Story Plant focuses on publishing commercial fiction. They have published a number of USA bestsellers and they cover a whole range of genres, from romance to sci-fi, to mainstream fiction.

Camel Press
Camel Press is the genre imprint of Epicenter Press. Camel Press publishes genre work including romance, in the genres of contemporary, historical, and suspense.

Pelican Book Group
A print and eBook publisher of Christian romance novels.

Siren Bookstrand
Siren Bookstrand is a popular publisher of romance and erotica. They only publish books that end happily ever after. They publish many books every year and most authors seem happy with the work that the Siren Bookstrand editors do. They are primarily an electronic publisher, but they also have print editions.

Bella Books
Bella Books is a press focused on publishing stories about women-loving-women, and they are interested in acquiring manuscripts that involve these stories across all genres, including romance, mystery, thriller, paranormal, etc.

Literary Wanderlust
Literary Wanderlust is a Denver based independent publisher. They were founded in 2014 and they publish print and digital books, including romance.

NineStar Press
NineStar Press is an LGBTQA+ ePublisher based out of New Mexico that was founded in 2015. They primarily publish romance and erotica but are also interested in literary works about characters that are generally under-represented in fiction, for example ace, aro, trans, nonbinary, genderfluid, bi, pan, etc. They are also interested in genre-bending and fusion genres.

TWB Press 
TWB Press’s tagline is “Electronic Publishing for the 21st century.” They have an additional tag line on their main page that says “TWB Press publishes stories of human conflict and redemption through a variety of world views that reflect humanity at its best…and at its worst.” They publish the following genres: Science Fiction, Supernatural, Horror & Urban Fantasy, Thriller, Romance, Erotic Romance, and Mainstream fiction. They are closed at the time of this update. 

Tule Publishing
Tule Publishing started out as a romance e-publisher with multiple imprints. Many of their books have sold well on Amazon. Most books they have published have at least 25 positive reviews. They have published bestselling and award winning authors. They publish a wide variety of romance including western, paranormal, and holiday.

Entwined Publishing
The Totally Entwined Group is an eBook, audiobook, and print publisher that was successful in its own right before being purchased by the Bonnier Publishing group. There have been some shifts in focus since Bonnier purchased it in 2015 but the group still has a mostly good reputation. As of October 1st, 2024, they seem to have moved away from all three imprints, and their original name. They have now rebranded as Entwined Publishing. They also have eight imprints, all with brand new names. We may focus on some individual imprints moving forward, but this review is largely focused on the publisher as a whole.

Epic Books
Epic focuses on publishing Young Adult (YA) and New Adult (NA) fiction. They are part of Entwined Publishing.

Expanse 
Expanse is an imprint of Entwined publishing, which focuses on publishing romance that falls within the Science fiction sub genre.

Enchant
Enchant is the Romantasy focused imprint of Entwined Publishing, which we have reviewed here. For those unfamiliar with the term, Romantasy is a very popular genre currently, which is focused on a blend of Romance and Fantasy. At my local big box bookstore, Romantasy is currently dominating the fantasy genre by a large margin.

Evidence
Evidence is the Thriller/Suspense/Mystery focused imprint of Enchant of Entwined Publishing.

Echos
Echoes is the historical romance focused imprint of Entwined Publishing.

Page & Vine
Founded in 2022, Page & Vine describes themselves as a “boutique romance imprint” (although, honestly they do not appear to be an imprint, but their own independent company). They specialize in “bringing BookTok and social trending titles to bookshelves internationally.” They were founded by #1 NYT bestselling author Meredith Wild.

Inkspell Publishing
Inkspell Publishing started out as an eBook and print on demand Romance publisher in 2011. They now seem to focus on publishing eBooks primarily. Their eBooks have excellent covers, much better than most small and some big romance publishers. A number of their books have good reviews on Amazon, although most have not sold that many copies (although many more than most self published books).

JMS Books
JMS Books is a small electronic press that focuses on publishing LGBTQ+ erotic romance, romance, and young adult romance. They publish mostly shorter work, but stories between 40,000 and 60,000 words in length are eligible (but not guaranteed) to be published in paperback if they sell 50 electronic copies within the first six months of release. Stories longer than 60,000 words will be released in eBook and print format via print on demand. They use Amazon as their printer and distributor.

Cupid’s Arrow Publishing
An imprint of Paper Angel Press, they are open to submissions, both of novel-length work and shorter pieces, in the Romance genre. For more information about how their press operates overall, please read our full review of Paper Angel Press, which we link to above.

Quills & Quartos Publishing
Quills & Quartos Publishing was founded in 2019. They started with a very specific vision, to focus on publishing the best Austenesque romance fiction. This is of course a niche market within a niche market, so if this is not the right fit for your work, please don’t submit or read further. However if you are a fan of Jane Austen’s work and write work that is inspired and influenced by her work, they might well be the right fit. You can get a good feel for what they have previously published here.