non-erotic romance

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KatieR

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Forgive me if there's a whole thread on this - but I can't find it. Does anyone know of any publisher or agent who'd be interested in a M/M (gay, men) romance that is not erotic, simply romantic.

I've tried all the big publishing houses that I know of - Samhain, Kensington, Ellora's etc., Some have come back with a "no, it doesn't fit" but several (most) - and usually after they've asked for the full ms, have said they like the writing but it's not erotic enough. One even said if I'd like to make it more erotic, they'd publish it.

Traditional organizations of romance novels have said they're not interested in gay novels.

Doesn't anyone publish a romance that just happens to be gay? Have I got myself into a genre that doesn't exist? I'm at the end of my tether here.
Katie
 
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Oops. Sorry, I didn't read far enough to see that you'd tried non-erotic houses too.

Actually, although I wouldn't read gay love stories, isn't that a kind of descrimination via the big pub houses? Just look at Brokeback mountain, that was big.
 
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Selah March

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"Brokeback Mountain" wasn't published as a romance by a romance imprint or publisher. It was published as a short story in the New Yorker, and later as a slightly expanded story in Annie Proulx's collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories.


Traditional New York romance publishers are notoriously conservative in terms of pushing the social envelope. Despite the relative popularity of gay romance at small, independent ebook and print presses, it will likely be a few years before the large New York pubs dip their toes in the gay romance waters. Expect Kensington, which already has a gay fiction imprint that produces some gay romance (much of it written by gay men for gay men, as opposed to gay romance written by women for women, which is what dominates the current ebook and small press market) to make the leap first.

How long is your book, KatieR?
 
Dee Carney

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Have you looked at Cerrwiden Press? It's the sister press to Ellora's Cave.

They don't specifically say they take m/m (but nothing really points to the fact that they wouldn't), so you may need to query first. Minimum length is 50K.

Good luck!
 
DeleyanLee

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I think what you're looking for is a gay/lesbian publisher of romance. Standard genre Romance, last I heard, was defined strictly as hetero, so none of the big-box publishers will touch a gay romance. If you check out the gay/lesbian fiction section at a big-box bookstore, you should find similar books and get the publisher's information for submission/further research.

Good luck finding a home for it.
 
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Suggestions: Torquere, Seventh Window, Running press, PD Publishing... I'll have more when I am at home where my books are.
 

scarletpeaches

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Dee Carney said:
Have you looked at Cerrwiden Press? It's the sister press to Ellora's Cave.

They don't specifically say they take m/m (but nothing really points to the fact that they wouldn't), so you may need to query first. Minimum length is 50K.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
I believe as of October this year they weren't open to submissions.
 

KatieR

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veinglory said:
Suggestions: Torquere, Seventh Window, Running press, PD Publishing... I'll have more when I am at home where my books are.
Click to expand...


Ah - thank you veinglory - there's a couple I haven't tried. Thank you.
 

Selah March

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KatieR said:
It's 90k so not a short story (Annie Proulx - wow!).
Click to expand...

Then I'd agree with the suggestion to try Cerridwen (if it's open to subs at this time - you might have to wait), Torquere, Seventh Window, PD. I thought Running Press was only doing historical gay romance, vein? I could be mistaken about that.
 
smlgr8

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To my knowledge, Cerridwen doesn't do m/m. They didn't when I pubbed with them.

You might try Dreamspinner Press. They are all m/m and they do take non-erotic m/m romance. My sales with them for one month (that's all I have received so far) have been fairly decent although my stories are erotic. Neverthless, they have several titles with little or no sexual activity.
 
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veinglory

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In the romance-based publishing world it seems that M/M has been accepted as an erotic "kink" rather than just a relationship type. I am not sure where the readership is.

I tend to write mild to moderate erotic content (a few with no erotic content at all). I have several emails from readers of my Samhain books specifically thanking me for providing gay romance with minimal erotic content--so I think there is a readership for it.
 
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KatieR

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veinglory said:
I tend to write mild to moderate erotic content (a few with no erotic content at all). I have several emails from readers of my Samhain books specifically thanking me for providing gay romance with minimal erotic content--so I think there is a readership for it.
Click to expand...

That's good to know. I'm sure there must be a readership for it.
 
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