Might want to think twice about subbing to this publisher

RemaCaracappa · Jun 1, 2014

GLBTQ writers, unless you're strictly G or L might want to forgo this one, sadly.

"And our newest imprint, Amber Allure, meets the needs of a growing Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transsexual fiction market with gripping tales of love and lust."

Note regarding sexual content: Although subplots featuring hetero (M/F) or ménage (M/M/F, M/F/M, etc.) pairings may be acceptable for secondary characters, they should not take up more than a small percentage of the overall story. The heroes (the main focus of each submission) must be strictly gay/lesbian and not bisexual—they should have no sexual desire for the opposite sex. For storyline purposes, your heroes/heroines may have a history of heterosexual or bisexual activity, but generally, they are now either fully out of the closet or will be fully out before the story concludes. Your heroes/heroines, however, may participate in gay/lesbian ménage (M/M/M or F/F/F) or all-male/all-female group sex. Again, all "heterosexual" involvement within the story should be kept to a minimum, and when it comes to your heroes/heroines, all sexual content should be M/M or F/F only.

http://www.amberquill.com/store/pg/89-Submissions-Allure.aspx#General

Filigree · Jun 1, 2014

Well, at least they let us know right off. I'm getting a bit tired of the bi hatred, though.

Lillith1991 · Jun 1, 2014

Filigree said:
Well, at least they let us know right off. I'm getting a bit tired of the bi hatred, though.

I'm not a fan of the bi hatred that goes on with some LGBT+ publications, though I can understand someone wanting to focus on gay and lesbian fiction. That doesn't excuse the Bi hatred to me though. The idea that bisexuality is a phase makes me uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable. I won't ever be submitting to them if I do erotica in the future.

RemaCaracappa · Jun 2, 2014

Lillith1991 said:
I'm not a fan of the bi hatred that goes on with some LGBT+ publications, though I can understand someone wanting to focus on gay and lesbian fiction. That doesn't excuse the Bi hatred to me though. The idea that bisexuality is a phase makes me uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable. I won't ever be submitting to them if I do erotica in the future.

If they want to do just monosexual gay/lesbian, they need to stop claiming to "meet the needs of" anyone outside of those categories.

Becky Black · Jun 2, 2014

I've read that before and I think something similar on another publisher and it definitely bothered me. I can see the point of saying the actual sexual content of the book should be only m/m or only f/f, but banning the characters from even having m/f desires is bizarre and exclusionary.

It's definitely the kind of thing that gives the m/m genre in particular a bad name as being only for straight women who have a hatred of "girl cooties" in a story.

Filigree · Jun 2, 2014

I agree, Becky. I understand the prohibition, from a standpoint of M/M and F/F publishers wanting a 'safe' zone for their authors. Having seen national and local 'straight' romance groups' reactions over the years, I can see why M/M authors self-segregated. At one point in my reading life, I was one of those female readers cringing at 'girl cooties'. By preference I really liked M/M for about two decades, first in fan fiction, then seeking vanilla-ish stories in mainstream SFF, then wandering into published original erotica.

I've outgrown that attitude now, and have a much wider set of erotic romance interests. It makes me sad that my work is too broad to appeal to many M/M-only publishers and readers. Yet, it's too graphic for many of the mainstream SFF houses I still love. I don't know how much I'm willing to give up to fit better in each camp. Self-publishing may be my best outlet.

And I am deeply resentful of the idea that bisexuality is a phase, or some kind of accommodation to male-dominated culture. It's not. If you're bi, you're bi - or pan, demi, asexual, or any other equally valid outlook.

Lillith1991 · Jun 2, 2014

RemaCaracappa said:
If they want to do just monosexual gay/lesbian, they need to stop claiming to "meet the needs of" anyone outside of those categories.

I agree. And if you read my post again you may notice how I said that what they were saying and implying made me extremely uncomfortable. They should advertise as a G/L publisher, not LGBT+.

Filigree said:
And I am deeply resentful of the idea that bisexuality is a phase, or some kind of accommodation to male-dominated culture. It's not. If you're bi, you're bi - or pan, demi, asexual, or any other equally valid outlook.

This. It's offensive to me in the same way saying any other sexual orientation is a phase.

veinglory · Jun 2, 2014

It's certainly a mixed message.

thethinker42 · Jun 2, 2014

Wow. That used to be a requirement for their themed collections, but I wasn't aware it applied to ALL submissions now.

veinglory · Jun 2, 2014

If it does they need to remove the "B" from their descriptions of the imprint.

thethinker42 · Jun 2, 2014

veinglory said:
If it does they need to remove the "B" from their descriptions of the imprint.

100% agree.

Zoe X. Rider · Jun 2, 2014

Yeah, it's a little offensive to "meets the needs" of the LGBT fiction market" with only main characters that have "evolved" toward being strictly gay or lesbian.

(Much better would have been: "The heroes (the main focus of each submission) should have no sexual desire for anyone but each other. For storyline purposes, your heroes/heroines may have a history of heterosexual or bisexual activity, but the relationship that forms in this story must be a same-gender pairing.")

RemaCaracappa · Jun 2, 2014

Well, this is better...

So last night I decided to do some poking around their website, looking at a few of their titles and the book descriptions, I have to say they looked contradictory to the submission guidelines, so I decided to drop them a nice, polite email to inquire. I received a response before I was even awake today:

Hello,

I am a bisexual author who has recently found your site. I have a work in progress for which I am looking forward to identifying appropriate presses to which I might submit a manuscript. I notice that you identify Amber Allure as one which "meets the needs of a growing Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transsexual fiction market with gripping tales of love and lust."

However, I notice that your submission guidelines appear to explicitly exclude bisexual characters:

"The heroes (the main focus of each submission) must be strictly gay/lesbian and not bisexual—they should have no sexual desire for the opposite sex. For storyline purposes, your heroes/heroines may have a history of heterosexual or bisexual activity, but generally, they are now either fully out of the closet or will be fully out before the story concludes."

I was hoping someone might be able to clarify this conflict for me, as I was hoping to not cross you off of my list to consider for submission. The main character in my novella is bisexual, and she is out of the closet.

Thank you,

Rema Caracappa

Dear Rema,

Thank you for contacting AQP for clarification on this issue. Yes, we do indeed consider manuscripts for all GLBT fiction. As you may or may not be aware, we recently updated our websites, merging our various imprints together under the same "umbrella." In the past, all bisexual manuscripts were released under our "Amber Heat" (heterosexual) imprint (and cross-posted on the separate Amber Allure website if the overall gay content within the story was applicable) because the target audiences were so different for stories with strictly "gay" content versus stories that contained even so much as a suggestion of heterosexual relationships. When the websites merged, however, the wording did not get changed on the specific Allure submission page. I have now made the necessary adjustments.

I hope this helps, and thanks for checking!

Trace Edward Zaber
Co-Owner/Editorial Director/Creative Director
Amber Quill Press, LLC
The Gold Standard In Publishing!
http://amberquill.com

veinglory · Jun 2, 2014

Thanks for clearing that up!

RemaCaracappa · Jun 2, 2014

Yeah, sure. I'm still not a fan but I suppose it could be worse.

JulesJones · Jun 9, 2014

Having just looked at the website, I'm not convinced that's much of an improvement. It's still m/m (or f/f) OR bi, and never the twain shall meet. If you're writing m/m or f/f, then your lead characters had better be strictly GL, no desire for the opposite sex, and any past straight or bi activity was just a phase before they came out of the closet.

That rules out a lot of my stories where there is absolutely no on-screen m/f activity, whether by primary or secondary characters, but where one or more of the protagonists is bi. Not passing through a phase or in denial, but bi. They just happen to be bi while being monogamous and in love with a member of the same sex.

veinglory · Jun 9, 2014

I am now even more confused.

" If submitting a story strictly aimed at M/M or F/F audiences, subplots featuring hetero (M/F) or ménage (M/M/F, M/F/M, etc.) pairings may be acceptable for secondary characters, but should not take up more than a small percentage of the overall story. The heroes (the main focus of each submission) must be strictly gay/lesbian and not bisexual"

It is true that a lot of MM FF readers have an issue with 'MF cooties' -- so if targeting that audience pansexuality is a bad fit. Sad but true. But it is a comment now directed specifically to for authors choosing to target that market. But it does not leave room for anyone writing pansexually and targeting that audience.

"If submitting a story where the main heroes/heroines are bisexual, however, then the opposite should happen...subplots featuring only gay (M/M or F/F) pairings may be acceptable for secondary characters, but should not take up more than a small percentage of the overall story."

This on the other hand makes very little sense to me. Does this mean a bisexual protag may not have a same sex partner. And if so WTF? All bi protags must essentially act straight?

I think this description needs to be torn down and rewritten so that it makes sense. As written is it really the opposite of Q.

JulesJones · Jun 9, 2014

I certainly read it as saying that stories with bi characters must show them either in m/f situations only, or in both m/f and same sex situations, and that a story could not show them in only same sex situations. And that's my most charitable interpretation. I could easily see it as saying that they're to be treated as straight with maybe a little same sex action on the side.

NinjaFingers · Jun 9, 2014

That's exactly how I read it.

In fact I read it as "Please only submit stories that support the stereotype that all bisexuals must sleep with people of both sexes regularly or not be bisexual."

Which is...actually...JUST as bad as the original.

BeeGem · Jun 9, 2014

Wow. I've been following this thread, and I find the changed version more offensive than the original version.

It reads to me as: bisexual characters must only be involved in m/f situations, and same sex situations may (and they've italicised "may") be acceptable for secondary characters, but even then, must be kept to a minimum.

So you can write bi people, as long as they appear straight?

Maybe I'm being uncharitable because I've had enough of "ew! bi cooties!" lately, but that's how that appears to me.

Ugh. Won't be submitting there anytime soon.

Filigree · Jun 9, 2014

Me, neither. I'm actually glad of their 'clarification', because it shows me how deep the established house prejudices go.

Fer cryin' out loud, why is this tendency toward clannish segregation so prevalent in the erotic romance genre? SFF books have been featuring mixed gay/bi/straight/whatever characters for decades.

I have one 1-star review saying the reader didn't finish because my book was too complicated. Okay, guilty. And that even the little bit of M/F squicked her too much. [When I plainly, clearly telegraphed early in the book that both of my male protags are bisexual.]

There are no damn cooties in my universe. Amber Quill was already off my list for other reasons, but this really sealed my aversion.

Latina Bunny · Jun 10, 2014

Um, wow. Really? I didn't realize that there are such...strict "rules" for all of these pairings. Maybe I'm misunderstanding them? They sound so...constraining?

Maybe I'm just too used to reading (usually older) fantasy and scifi--where there were endless possibilities of types of people (gay, bi, intersex, neuter, etc). That's why I loved reading fantasy and scifi when I was young. Love was love, and if someone's bi, then they are, well, bi! Simple as that.

I guess these strict "guidelines" like these are why I have problems with trying to figure out where my stories could fit (if/when I finish them, of course). Well, my stuff is not erotic, so I would never submit to this pub anyway, but I do read erotic romances from them and other pubs. I never knew how stifling these guidelines in the (erotic) romance markets can be.

/Sorry for ranting.

This just bugs me, especially because I love romance, but I also like the fantasical and otherworldly aspects in fantasy and scifi.

Filigree · Jun 10, 2014

Same here. For various reasons, the erotic romance houses tend to be very stratified.

There's small indications that the big SFF houses and intermediate imprints are relaxing some of their strictures against graphic LGBTQ sex scenes, esp. in digital branches. There are equally small indications that some erotic romance houses and authors are pushing deeper toward traditional SFF territories, as far as scope and complexity of story.

But until one side or other moves into the place where I need them to be, I play by both sets of rules, and seriously consider self-publishing.

RemaCaracappa · Jun 12, 2014

Sorry I haven't had much chance to get back here to this, but yeah I have to agree at this point, the whole thing is pretty ridiculous.

I have been told by another source that these submission guidelines are the least of their problems, though I wasn't given any actual detail.

gingerwoman · Jun 15, 2014

thethinker42 said:
100% agree.

Yes that gets a little confusing with the LGBT imprints don't really mean LGBT as they do tend to leave the B in when sometimes they don't really mean B. On the other hand they have stated you can have secondary bi characters....

Wicked Wonderland has bisexual male characters, and my next novel Wicked Safari (release date probably March) has bisexual male characters. My publisher is not a strictly LGBT publisher like the Amber Allure imprint. I've heard rumors that some of the publishers that tend to publish primarily gay fiction have had some kind of backlash from customers to books that weren't strictly gay. It's all a bit of a minefield. Which is why I deleted my other post. I'm scared of saying the wrong thing, and offending someone.

Might want to think twice about subbing to this publisher

Wouldn't you like to know?

Mildly Disturbing

The Hobbit-Vulcan hybrid

Wouldn't you like to know?

Writing my way off the B Ark

Mildly Disturbing

The Hobbit-Vulcan hybrid

volitare nequeo

Abnormal Romance Author

volitare nequeo

Abnormal Romance Author

Wouldn't you like to know?

volitare nequeo

Wouldn't you like to know?

volitare nequeo

The one with the gemstone eyes

Mildly Disturbing

Lover of Contemporary/Fantasy Romance (she/her)

Mildly Disturbing

Wouldn't you like to know?