Publishing giant Harlequin now has an imprint specifically for ebooks. The publisher's website, Eharlequin, has been selling ebooks in recent years, but has been better known for its romance novel publishing in print form. The new digital imprint, Carina Press, publishes much more than romance. And unlike many online publishers, it does not require its other genres to feature a romantic story line.
Romantic books published by Carina Press can be “sweet” romances that feature little to no sensuality or they can be erotic romance. Manuscripts about same-sex relationships are allowed. Like other Harlequin books, the romances must focus on the relationship and have a happy ending.
Online Publishing Genres
Romance and erotica are both published by Carina Press, as is science fiction and fantasy, mystery, women’s fiction, thrillers and horror novels. Carina Press will also publish fiction with multiple endings. Children’s and young adult stories and novels, poetry and non-fiction works are not accepted.
The publisher is open for unagented submissions. Manuscripts can be anywhere from 15,000 words to more than 100,000 words. Manuscripts that have been previously published are welcome. Books that have been rejected by Harlequin in the past can be submitted to Carina for review.
Internet publishing hasn’t been a popular market for science fiction yet, but Carina Press is actively seeking many subgenres of science fiction and fantasy. Steampunk, cyberpunk and many other forms of science fiction and fantasy are accepted by the publisher.
Family sagas are a separate Carina Press genre that is of interest to the online publisher. These sagas follow a family through a few generations. These can encompass romance, suspense and other genre elements.
Internet Publishing Through Carina Press
Though Carina Press is an online publishing arm of harlequin, the pay to writers is on a different scale than print Harlequin authors. There is no advance paid for ebooks published through Carina, but the royalty paid on sales is a higher percentage than the one paid to print writers. Ebooks sold from the Carina website pay 30 percent of the cover price to the writer. Carina also distributes ebooks to third-party websites, and those sales bring in 15 percent of the cover price to the writer.
Print books are sometimes published by the online publisher after they have been published in ebook form. The genres chosen for book printing are romantic suspense, thrillers and mysteries.
To submit to Carina Press, writers must submit a full manuscript as well as a synopsis. Submitters should expect a response within 12 to 16 weeks.
Lizz Shepherd - I am a freelance writer specializing, for now, in Web writing. The Web is an enormous place and I have been carving out my own little ...
