WANTED: market for m/m historical romance novel
The last book I wrote which I sold to Torquere did have (for me) fairly explicit sex (though without really graphic language) and was given their least-hot rating, I think. The new story I've written, for better or worse, didn't feel like it should be explicit, so while there is sex, it's of the closed door variety and I guess would be labelled a "sweet" romance. I wonder if that isn't a mistake for a m/m? Anyway, it has been rejected by what I think of as the big three: Alyson, Kensington, and Haworth. It's also been passed over by several agents. One agent is still considering a partial, but I don't have much hope he'll take on the book. I'm still hoping to find a print market for it and have been searching the smaller presses, but the ebook/print combo markets all seem to be closed for submissions, at least for now. And most of them are looking for "erotica romance" anyway--and I'm not sure I qualify for that. Are there markets for this kind of fiction? Are there even any ebook/print presses that are currently open to submissions? Seriously, I've looked at a dozen places at least and nearly all were closed. Samhain and Mundania seemed liked my best possibilities, but both are closed. I'm not sure where else to look. I'm not sure even Torquere will look at it unless I add in a bunch of sex. :) One other thing that's kind of important to me (but of course I'm totally flexible on, since I'd consider myself lucky to get my foot in any door after all those rejections) is a press that will let me have a wee bit of input on the cover art. A lot of m/m cover art makes me groan and not in a good way. :D Thanks, guys.

Hi there I think the thriving e/POD market isn't best suited to the sweeter end. You might look at the smaller print-only presses such as 7th Window and PD Publishing? Both of them take gay historical.

You might try Freya's Bower. It takes sweet romance, though your story will be rated slightly higher than sweet just because it's mm, even though the sex may only be alluded to.

Oh and if it fits, Wild Child may take it, since it won't count at all as erotica.

Try Seventh Window Publications, Regal Crest, Baycrest (One in Ten imprint), PD Publishing, Soft Skull, Alyson? (edited to add: D'oh! I see V beat me to it. Note to self: read all posts, THEN hit reply.)

You might also try http://www.lindenbayromance.com They had an historical m/m that won an EPPIE this year. It's been ages since I read Ransom but I don't think it was overly erotic. It certainly wasn't anywhere near as smutty as what I write.

Thanks for all the suggestions. :) I think Linden Bay and Baycrest are both closed to new submissions and Seventh Window has a word limit of 80,000. Regal Crest is one I've been considering, despite the cover art.. :D And also PD Publishing, from whom I've just ordered a book. Soft Skull, Wild Child, and Freya's Bower are ones I haven't heard of before. I will check those out. Thanks very much!

I understand the thing about cover art but some places seem to sell well despite being a little... dubious, on that front.

Oh I know. I don't mean to be picky--I certainly can't afford to be. And I've seen some really nice covers. I like the sexy covers, but the ones that look painfully unprofessional are a little disheartening. Do you have a favorite publisher?

I write more erotic for Loose Id (ebooks) mainly, less erotic for Samhain (ebook and POD for all titles so far). They are both good but Samhain is closed right now and Loose Id only takes erotic for the most part. I only have 2 historicals, one with Loose Id and one with Cobblestone (both novellas/ebooks) As a reader I buy across the board and all my books are boxed for moving right now or I would have a look through for publisher names. Actually, now I think of it you should look up erastes' Livejournal. She is putting together a list of all gay historicals. The more recent ones would give you some idea of who is publishing in that area now.

Depending on how genre-flavored the romance is, you might consider simply approaching a general literature publisher. Remember, Mary Renault's novels weren't published by a romance press. Try browsing through the site of the Historical Novel Society; that may give you a sense of which publishers are love-story-friendly, and I'll bet you'll even find a few m/m titles there.

Thanks for that suggestion Dusk - it might help me, too. :)