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.
While their other fiction imprints open and close to unagented submissions, they are almost always open to unagented Romance fiction for their Casablanca imprint. This includes Own Voices, marginalized voices, inclusive and diverse romances. 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).
They try to respond to all submissions in 8 to 12 weeks. If they do not respond to you, please assume rejection.
Completed manuscripts must be between 85,000 and 100,000 words. They expect you to submit the completed manuscript as a word doc or docx. If your work has been published before please include a sales history, and mention what you are hoping for in terms of your long-term career.
Also include a query letter and the full synopsis.
To learn more, visit their website here.
You can view the full list of submission guidelines for all of their imprints here, so you can see which imprints are currently open to unagented submissions.
Here’s the link to the submission guidelines for the Casablanca imprint.
Emily Harstone is the author of many popular books, including The Authors Publish Guide to Manuscript Submissions, Submit, Publish, Repeat, and The 2021 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.