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 there is a romance component that ends happily ever after. They are open to M/M, F/F, M/F, LGBTQIA pairings.
Founded in 2012, they primarily publish series through Kindle Unlimited, although they have print editions available of some of their work. They were founded by the bestselling romance author Kathryn Le Veque, as primarily a self-publishing operation initially, but they branched out, years ago now. They still publish a lot of Kathryn Le Veque’s books. The editorial team involves a lot more people now, and you can learn more about them here.
Their covers are good and genre appropriate. An author who was published by them in 2022, posted about their experience with Dragonblade, under the user name Lil and it seems to be a mostly positive. You can learn more about them. “Lil” said that Dragonblade helped promote the work more than most small presses but they did contribute.
Dragonblade contracts are 7 years long, and are apparently pretty standard with above average royalty rates, that vary on the length of the book (longer books get a better rate).
Do not submit to them unless you feel like your work is a good fit for their existing catalog. You can get a good feel for that catalog here.
They ask that all manuscripts be between 40,000 and 120,000 words, Any explicit text must be between consenting adults, and they are not interested in manuscripts that include rape, illegal or degrading scenes. Nothing with bestiality, pedophilia, enslavement, or incest should be submitted to them. They also specify that if your book has excessive sex/heat, to please submit it to the Dragonblade Flame line.
You can learn more about submitting work to them here.
They also run a yearly contest, formally called “the Write Stuff” and now called “the Write Track” which is free to enter and is open this year till February 1st, 2024. You can learn more details here. The winners receive cash prizes and publication.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2023 Guide to Manuscript Publishers. She regularly teaches three acclaimed courses on writing and publishing at The Writer’s Workshop at Authors Publish. You can follow her on Facebook here.
