Novel and novella markets

Unbound Books (US)

[This was copied a year ago and I haven't reviewed it for accuracy, nor have I dealt with them.] http://www.unbound-books.com/writers.htm

Welcome to Unbound Books.

We publish and distribute books, magazines, newsletters and other products from our location in Northern California.

We actively promote equal access to new and formerly unpublished writers, poets and artists. We publish hardcover and paperback originals, most of our books are perfect bound (standard paperback). We also publish and distribute some books which may be classified as 'novelty books'. Novelty books may include many things which do not fit in the traditional hardcover or paperback format, such as board books, hand sewn books, hand bound books, open the flap or pop up books. We are committed to publishing books with strong story lines, unusual or unique point of view and alternative or difficult subject matter. We are interested in providing 'fresh' material in an interesting format. We distribute into several small niche markets with a focus on retailing specific content and small bookstores nationwide in the United States. We are looking for strong writing, fine detailing and great characterizations. We do NOT accept any manuscripts or materials which promote hatred in any form and reserve the full and total right to reject any manuscript sent to us. We accept unsolicited manuscripts, artwork, poetry and photography under the following guidelines:

* Novels - Please send a cover letter, synopsis and the first three consecutive chapters or approximately the first 50 pages of your manuscript. Novels should be complete prior to submission. Your manuscript should be printed on typewriter or comparable printer paper, Courier or typewriter face type at 12 point size with double spacing. Please number and header your pages with either the authors name or the story title. Please include a SASE if you wish your manuscript returned. Please do NOT send a complete copy of your manuscript until requested to do so by our company. Novels should be a minimum of 65,000 word count and no more than 120,000 words. Please note the word count of the finished total manuscript on the title page. Please do NOT send us your sole originals, make photocopies if necessary.

*Novellas - (45,000 words or less) Please send a cover letter, synopsis and the first three consecutive chapters or approximately the first 50 pages of your manuscript. Novellas should be complete prior to submission. We print Novellas 'back to back' or two per book and we prefer that both novellas are by the same author if possible. Your manuscript should be printed on typewriter or comparable printer paper, Courier or typewriter face type at 12 point size with double spacing. Please number and header your pages with either the authors name or the story title. Please include a SASE if you wish your manuscript returned. Please do NOT send a complete copy of your manuscript until requested to do so by our company. Please note the word count of the finished total manuscript on the title page. Please do NOT send us your sole originals, make photocopies if necessary.

***Our focus at this time is on Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Erotic Romance, Dark Fiction, Horror, Children's Books, Supernatural Mystery, Thrillers, Suspense, Traditional Mystery, Gay Books both traditional and leather community, Humorous Cookbooks and Erotica. We are also interested in Alternative Lifestyle Books both fictional and nonfictional. We will consider books in other genres if they blast our socks off! Remember - we are ALWAYS looking for nonfiction and Literary works.

***Check our submissions area for topic specific books we are looking for. If you decide to try to write to one of these special books then please let us know in advance. We cannot guarantee that we will contract the book and usually we ask that you prepare a sample 'chapter' specifically to title so that we can gauge your style, content and viewpoint - the only time we vary in this is if we already know your writing style and we will be happy to let you know if you qualify upon query. If you decide to pursue one of our special books we PAY for that single chapter by offering you a copy of any of our titles at the time of submission of your sample chapter. In a sense, you earn this book whether we accept you under contract for the actual special topic book or not.

A sample chapter is considered to be 2500 - 3000 words!

We report in three months. Please contact us via email if you have not heard back within that time frame.

****PAYMENT ~ Yes, we DO pay our authors. Royalty agreements vary from book to book and are negotiated with the author at the time an offer is made. In general most of our authors are paid 6-10% (Industry Standard) of the wholesale price of the finished book. Note: Royalties may be less if the book is illustrated or if the royalty is shared by a contributing photographer or other artist. Inquire directly for more information about such splits! Royalties are paid biannually. We do not pay advances at this time. We DO provide 20 copies of the published book to the writer at time of publication and an additional 20 copies of the book any time it is re-titled or resized wherein the writer has to recheck the new product for consistency of edit. We DO require that the author purchase the copyright for their work and that they be in SOLE ownership of that copyright at the time of negotiations. We do accept agented manuscripts but do not 'privilege' their position in our reader pile.

*****IF YOUR MANUSCRIPT IS ACCEPTED ~ Unbound Books publishes books using some of the best high tech / low overhead equipment available on the market today. We are BIG MAC friendly, that means we use Apple Macintosh computers and software in the creation of all of our books. We believe that the future of bookmaking in America will be driven by smaller companies who find innovative ways to bring quality material to a growing marketplace. Books are hotter than ever with over 4 million titles currently in print. If YOUR manuscript is one we select for publication then we will ask you to provide one hard copy of the complete manuscript as well as one disk copy if possible. We prefer to convert Microsoft Word into our systems and formatting and we prefer NOT to retype your book! Microsoft Word comes with most Microsoft products such as Office98 and is available for both Macintosh and IBM clones. You can send a sample floppy along with your mailing using your existent formatting program, we can then determine if our systems can read your system. SEND YOUR SUBMISSION TO:
Unbound Books
6366 Commerce Blvd
PMB#155
Rohnert Park, CA 94928

e-mail for other info at [email protected]

Erotika Publishing (US)

[Another publisher whose information I copied in 2004, so it could be out of date. I have not dealt with them.]
EROTIKA PUBLISHING COMPANY, Winter 2004

Erotika Publishing Company is a mail order business. Our objective is to produced quality, hardcore BDSM fiction novels and nonfiction educational guides. Our readership includes men and women between the ages of 18 and 65. We produce a 5 ½ x 8 ½ staple stitched paperback. Our production style allows us to keep all books in stock and available for purchase. Erotika markets through aggressive advertising in worldwide magazines, such as SKIN TWO, Marquis, PROMETHEUS, and catalogue companies, banner exchange programs, and our Internet Website. We are a fast growing small in-house alternative press able to give customers and our authors personal service and attention.

We are seeking quality first time writers looking to take their first steps in publishing, or previously published authors interested in expanding their horizons and talents into new areas.

Before we take the time involved in reading an entire manuscript, you will want to make yourself familiar with our books, their style, format and content, to be sure this is a publishing form that you’ll want for your manuscript. If you have not already read an Erotika title, as a prospective author you can purchase one (1) paperback for the $6.00 wholesale price, plus $4.00 shipping. Contact [email protected] for additional information.

We are looking at submissions for the following:

Novels in the Alternative/BDSM and Spanking categories. BDSM involves submission, dominance, bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, masochism, and fetishes. We prefer romance novel style including hardcore BDSM. Characters can be heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual, but we do not currently accept gay male fiction. You may want to include psychological or physical dominance/submission between men and women, or women and women, S&M, bondage, spanking, whipping, masturbation, piercing, anal sex, enemas, orgies and exhibitionism, etc… (refer to our web site descriptions for other content suggestions). Please submit story collections that DO NOT include both female domination and male domination. It is best to submit separate collections for both categories. A few short story collections may be considered. Do not include: bestiality, incest, characters under 18 having sex (even in flashbacks), excrement or snuff. If you have any content concerns, please do not hesitate to query us with your questions. We DO NOT accept manuscripts in which characters are involved in nonconsensual acts; a violent rape scene. (A role-play rape scene between consenting adults is fine).

We are looking for provocative and innovative works that speak from your own voice, which show a positive outlook on sexuality no matter the graphic sexuality or taboo. The sexual fantasies may range from supremely seductive to very outrageous as they enter into taboo areas of fantasy and sexual exploration. We expect works to include all the elements of good fiction: good stories, characterization and quality writing—particularly a sensuous use of language for your graphic sexual scenes. Our novels do not read like Penthouse Forum. Graphic content should be varied, not repetitious scene to scene. (Any time period, historical, contemporary or future is acceptable, although we do not recommend and would rarely accept Science Fiction fantasy).

These are the criteria on which we review submissions: 1) Is it erotic and arousing?
2) Does the story appeal to a large audience?
3) Is it well written and cleanly edited? Punctuation, spelling, grammar and sentence structure.
4) Does the writing style seduce the reader with description of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell? (Example: The scent of lavender lifted from her hair that slid across my naked breasts)
5) Would it be a good Erotika title based on its content and style? (see above)


Final manuscripts should be roughly 42,000—58,000. Some exceptional books of greater length will be accepted if we feel that they might sell to our markets as a double volume release. (We are accepting no single short stories)

We offer a two year book contract to authors. A longer term can be negotiated if desired by both parties. No advance will be paid to authors. Royalties are paid quarterly at a rate of 12% of retail or wholesale price for paperbacks. Financial statements are included with your royalties for tax purposes.

To submit: DO NOT submit a complete manuscript and do not send us an Internet address where we can view your work. Please send a brief chapter by chapter synopsis (1-3 lines for each chapter) of your work and 10-20 pages (typed, doubled spaced). THIS SUMMARY IS A MUST! NO SUBMISSION WILL BE CONSIDERED WITHOUT ONE. For short story collections, include a brief synopsis of each story and two samples. Include SASE if you want your query returned via mail. E-mail submissions in MS Word compatible file attachments are acceptable. We have a large number of submissions to review and we ask for your patience. Manuscript review can take one to three months depending on volume. You are welcome to contact us in six weeks if you have not received a reply.

For email submissions, please note: When emailing your submissions, be sure to refer to your work by its title (or working title) in the subject line. i e: ‘Submission: Alexandra’s Awakening’. We have been inundated by computer viruses in email attachments, and we’ll delete any email without opening it if we do not have adequate identification of its source.

Please include the following with your submission:

1. Name and address

2. Pen name

3. Email address or phone number

4. Title

5. Genre of erotica (male domination, spanking, etc).

If your work or any part of it has been previously published, or has been or is currently posted to an Internet Website, please let us know when you submit your query.

PLEASE NOTE: In addition to a good well-written story, an attention to grammatical detail will make yours stand out from a crowded field of submissions and draw our attention. We expect cleanly written, edited manuscripts. We do not have the editing staff available for extensive editing, so for the most part manuscripts need to be ready to print, grammatically correct and checked for spelling. We do read through all manuscripts and small errors will be corrected. We reserve the right to make those editorial changes to the manuscript that we feel are necessary to enhance the quality of the work.

Strunk & White’s Elements of Style can be used as a general guideline for grammar. Please use normal paragraph indentations (do not double space paragraphs). Indent your paragraphs as customary for works of printed fiction (.5 is standard, though .3 is preferable for our needs). In punctuating conversation, use double quotation marks, not single. Then use single quotation marks inside the double quotations. (This is opposite of the form used by most English/Canadian publications, but it is standard American form.)

On acceptance: A disk of your work formatted for Microsoft Word (or compatible format) will be requested. We prefer to have the entire manuscript in one file, or no more than four files, to include NO special formatting, which would only make problems in the publication of your manuscript. To finalize our arrangements, an agreement will be signed between Erotika and the author, giving Erotika the sole right to publish the work (both in the print and electronic—Ebook publishing rights) over a two year period, and spelling out the financial arrangements. Generally, new works are published within two-six months of acceptance.

Marketing: Our most successful advertising is through the Internet. We encourage the participation of our writer’s (where possible) in either the marketing of their books to appropriate websites where the kind of erotica they write will be sought after and welcomed, or in suggesting websites they are familiar with that Erotika can link to. Books sell best when publisher and author market. In addition to our Internet marketing, we mail our customer base with new offerings. Submissions sent through regular mail can be sent to:

Erotika Publishing Company
6300 Powers Ferry Rd NW, Suite 600-169
Atlanta, GA 30339

Email: [email protected]

NOTE: Guidelines are subject to change.