Salt Publishing – Seeking Romantic Fiction

Via another online list, I was alerted to this. Salt Publishing, a well-known and well-respected publisher of short stories and poetry, are starting a romance imprint, initially with e-books and paperback to follow. There is some information here in an interview with their editor, Jane Holland; since it’s necessary to scroll half way down the page to find it I’m reproducing it below. They are seeking novels and novellas.

Caveat: romantic fiction might be seen as light, but is not to be taken lightly. If you don’t take your characters and your theme seriously, editors will see it a mile off. If you can’t create a character you yourself could fall deeply in love with, then perhaps better not to try.

Salt Publishing have been publishing award-winning poetry, essays and fiction for ten years now, and have offices in London, Cambridge and Glasgow.

They will be launching Embrace Books, a brand-new romance imprint, in Spring 2011. A few months ago, Jen Hamilton-Emery at Salt invited me to edit Embrace Books for them, and I agreed!

What will you be looking for?

Initially, we are looking for romances in contemporary, historical, paranormal or same-sex categories. There are two heat settings: Red Velvet – ‘sexy, sophisticated romance’ – and After Dark, which is a shade hotter and closer to erotic romance.

For Red Velvet, books should be around the 60,000 mark, and up to 65,000 for After Dark. I’ll also be looking for novellas across both lines and all categories, from 12-25k.

Personally, I enjoy bubbly Heyer-style Regencies, but paranormal continues to be popular, so those are also being keenly sought. Historicals don’t have to be before the twentieth century, but should not be any later than the 60s.

I should also add that I’m open to new ideas, new time periods and new genres. So even if something doesn’t quite fit the guidelines – an unusual subgenre like Steampunk, or even some combination that’s never been done before – then email me with your ideas and a short sample, say 10 pages.

I’m particularly keen, by the way, to encourage lesbian romance. There seem to be plenty of gay romances available right now, but very few lesbian category romances. So try me.

Overall, I am looking for authors who are easy to work with, open to humour, willing to self-promote, willing to discuss their work without becoming over-defensive, eager to push beyond their comfort zones, and most importantly, authors who understand the importance of courteous, professional behaviour.

We are launching initially with ebooks, but will be looking for titles to select for later print editions. Payment is by royalties only.

How can people submit?

Email the first 3 chapters of your romance and a 3-5pp synopsis by Word (doc) attachment, with a writing CV if appropriate and a cover letter to me: jane@saltpublishing.com

Try to avoid RTF or Vista files, if you can, i.e. docx.

Novels don’t have to be finished before you submit, but bear in mind that response times may be quite short and if requested, I’d hope to see the full ms within about 6 weeks.