Carina Press Submission Guidelines
5/10/23
About:
Carina Press is Harlequin’s digital-first adult fiction imprint; all our titles publish first in digital, with select releases in audio and print. Since its inception as the first digital imprint within a traditional publishing house, Carina Press has been an industry leader, publishing a broad range of romance and mystery.
Carina Press accepts both agented and unagented submissions.
We are committed to inclusion and representation in our publishing program. We are interested in working with authors from traditionally marginalized or underrepresented groups, including but not limited to Black authors, authors of color, disabled authors, and LGBTQIA+ authors. Our editors strive to make our list inclusive and work hard to build a catalog that is representative of the romance reading public.
Genres we acquire:
- Contemporary romance
- Erotic romance
- Paranormal & urban fantasy romance
- Science fiction & fantasy romance
- Romantic suspense
- Historical romance
- Mystery (with or without romance/romantic elements)
We welcome LGBTQ+ pairings/groupings and content across all subgenres for publication in our general Carina Press imprint. Additionally, we have a specific line for trope-based LGBTQ+ contemporary romances, Carina Adores.
We DO NOT publish: inspirational or faith-based romance; erotica without a central romance plot; nonfiction, including poetry, essays, memoir or biography; science fiction/fantasy without strong romantic elements; young adult fiction of any genre; general historical fiction; literary fiction.
Word Count:
Minimum word count is 50k. Submissions under 50k will not be considered.
Maximum word count is 125k.
Carina Adores:
Carina Adores is our trope-driven LGBTQ+ romance line. Carina Adores submissions are for trope-driven romance over 75k words.
We welcome LGBTQ+ content outside of these parameters as submissions for our general line.
Submissions package:
Required:
- Query letter
- Synopsis (~1,600 words)
- Full manuscript
If you are proposing a series, please include a short series outline.
Submissions Process:
Please submit via Submittable. Note that we do not accept submissions via email; any unsolicited email submissions will be deleted.
Timeline:
Please allow 12 weeks for a response. After 12 weeks, feel free to follow up via Submittable.
Previously published submissions:
In very select cases, Carina will consider books that have been previously released or self-published by authors with a well-established publishing background. We define “previously published” as a title that was available for purchase or as a free download on an e-retailer site, or on Kindle Unlimited. Works published through public platform sharing sites like Wattpad DO NOT count as previously published.
For previously published work, the author must either currently retain the rights or have a letter of reversion from the original publisher. If you are submitting a previously published manuscript, please submit it via the “Previously Published” category in Submittable.