HarperCollins Accepts Unsolicited Romance Submissions

The Romantic Editor 

posts research on publishers and submissions.

This week is about HarperCollins.

Big Six publisher HarperCollins has over 30 imprints within the U.S.

Avon Romance and Avon Impulse are HarperCollins's romance imprints.

Avon Impulse is digital original, meaning if your digital book sells well Avon may distribute it in print.

Avon Romance is mass market original. This is the original Avon Romance imprint and books published with Avon Romance are released in mass market paperback and in digital format at the same time.

The call for romance submissions is on Avon's homepage. (Scroll down, glance right.)

Avon submission guidelines state all manuscripts can be submitted online. Avon Romance and Avon Impulse share the same staff. (The manuscript lengths listed in the guidelines differ from the online submission form.)

The guidelines and online submission form are plainly written and user friendly, however a summary of what's being requested is below.


Avon Romance and Avon Impulse

Agented or Unagented submissions.

Submit manuscript online.

Manuscript lengths accepted: 10-25k, 25-50k or 50-100k

Romance genres accepted: General, Contemporary, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical, Regional, Regency, Short Stories, Time Travel, Suspense, Paranormal

Romance subgenres accepted: Gothic, Steampunk, Shifter, Vampire, Ghost, Magical, Futuristic, Time Travel, Western, Small Town, Suspense, Fantasy, Other

Must provide best scene or first 1k words. (Less than 1k words in length.)

Must provide query letter. (Less than 750 words in length.)

No special formatting required.

What might get you noticed:

Sexy alpha heroes who give heroine everything she needs so they can be together.

Smart, brave heroines who take chances in life and love.

Great story setting.

Series potential.

Dark and dramatic.

General response time: 3 months

Avon isn't just historicals. Rachel Gibson's editor Lucia Marco talks about that and more in her October 2012 interview with RomanceUniversity.org.


Read Related Articles:
Grand Central Publishing's romance submission guidelines; and 
MacMillon's paranormal romance submission guidelines. 

Written by: Kristin Anders, The Romantic Editor


For related articles, search using the below label "Publisher seeking romance submissions."