Women’s Fiction

Golden Storyline Books: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Note: Usually we keep our updates in chronological order starting with the most recent at the top and the oldest at the bottom but because of the amount of updates required here, and their relationship to each other, we’ve condensed and reorganized all the updates to go here. The latest update for this note, is…

Berkley (an Imprint of Penguin Random House): Accepting Manuscript Submissions Through May 17

Updated May 16th 2024: they have reopened to manuscript submissions and the portal is working this time they will stop taking submissions at 5:00 PM ET, May 17th. Updated March 18th 2024: The submission period did not work out as planned. They had major technical issues and no one was able to make a submission….

Alcove Press: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

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. You can learn more about their launch in this…

CamCat Books: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

Updated August 8th, 2024 CamCat Books is a small independent publisher that was founded in 2019. They were founded by Sue Arroyo, an entrepreneur who sold her previous business, Trident Technologies, to start CamCat. In March 2024, Arroyo passed away following a fall, you can learn more about her passing here. The company is continuing…

Hera: Accepting Submissions

Hera is a new female-led, independent digital publisher. They focus exclusively on publishing commercial books, including works psychological suspense, police procedural, and thrillers, to romance, and glamorous contemporary fiction. They were founded in 2018 and published their first book in January 2019. Their books generally have excellent and engaging covers. Hera is based in the…

Blue Moon Publishers: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Updated March 26, 2021: Their website is still operating but they have not published a new book in almost a year, I would not recommend submitting to them. Blue Moon is a boutique Canadian Publisher. They focus on publishing Literary Fiction and Women’s Fiction, as well as Young Adult and Middle Grade works. The stories…

Bookouture: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

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…

Shadow Mountain: Now Accepting Manuscript Queries

Update January 1, 2022, ALL submissions to Shadow Mountain Publishing or Ensign Peak must be represented by a literary agent. Shadow Mountain Publishing, however, will open to unagented and unsolicited manuscripts ONLY during the following dates: March 1 through March 7 June 1 through June 7 September 1 through September 7 December 1 through December…

Literary Wanderlust: Accepting Submissions

Updated July 2022 Literary Wanderlust is a Denver based independent publisher. They were founded in 2014 and they publish print and digital books. They currently are only open to publishing the following genres: Adult Romance (all sub-genres and heat levels)         Adult Paranormal and Urban Fantasy         Adult Crime,…

Black Opal Books: Now Accepting Manuscript Submissions

UPDATED NOVEMBER 15, 2021 – They are still in operation, but everything I’ve heard from authors has made it clear that their serious issues are ongoing. They are not listed in the manuscript guide and I keep this article up as a reference point. UPDATED JULY 30TH, 2019 – They have gone through some recent…

Head of Zeus: Accepting Manuscripts Submissions

Updated August 22, 2023. They appear to be permanently closed to unagented submissions. Head of Zeus is a UK based print publisher that was founded in early 2012. They publish a wide variety of work including non-fiction, literary fiction, general and genre fiction. They have a number of imprints and have good distribution in the…

Loveswept & Flirt: Now Accepting Book Manuscript Queries

January 2019: Loveswept announced over Twitter, that they are going to close. Website not updated yet. No updates on Flirt, but they are not included in the 2019 Manuscript Publishers Guide. Loveswept and Flirt are Random House’s digital only imprints focused on romance and women’s fiction. They are accepting queries for submissions in contemporary romance,…

Kensington Publishing: Now Accepting Book Queries

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. To get a good feeling for what they…

Lyrical Press: Accepting Manuscript Submissions

UPDATED OCTOBER 2022 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. Lyrical publishes books in all romance genres…

Desert Breeze: Now Seeking Romance Manuscripts

UPDATED October 2019: They are defunct. Desert Breeze is an ePublisher that primarily publishes romance novels although they do dabble in other genres such as women’s fiction and Christian fiction, with or without romantic elements. Much of the romance they publish is cross-genre and incorporates elements of various genres ranging from steam punk to modern…

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