|
OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
Sarah Montrose, Acquisition
Editor
All publishing services offered at no cost to the authors.
All current Siren-BookStrand
authors, including exclusive authors,
as well as all new authors, please send your newest submissions to:
submissions@sirenbookstrand.com
In the Subject line, type:
SUBMISSION: Title of Book (total computer word count)
Submission without the proper Subject line may
be placed by the filter into our Spam folder!
Please see below (highlighted box) near bottom of
web page for complete instructions on how to submit.
|
We
publish only romance with a happily ever after.
|
|
Note: We publish
only books that fit into one of the imprints specified
below.
Please check
the imprint you are interested in prior to each submission.
Our guidelines may change without notice to adapt to the
current market and reader expectations.
IMPRINTS
(1) SIREN
CLASSIC
- M/F
or M/M romance.
- H/h are sexually involved only
with each other during the course of the story.
- H/h cannot commit
adultery while married to each other or to someone else.
- No dubious consent,
forced seduction, or rape
allowed.
- H/h cannot be a
"career" criminal, prostitute/hooker, or porn star.
- H/h must be noble and
honest characters.
- The romance must focus
on these two and no other.
- H/h
must have a happily ever after with each
other.
-
H/h cannot be killed off in another book.
-
H/h must be at least 18 years old
during the course of the story, with NO emphasis on how
young they are for the purposes of titillation.
-
We may allow head
hopping if author knows how to do it right.
(2) SIREN
ALLURE
- M/F, M/M,
or F/F romance.
- H/h may be involved sexually with
secondary characters.
- Sex scenes are not menage or consensual sharing arrangement.
- May contain
adultery.
- May contain dubious consent
or forced seduction if
there is consent just before intercourse and no
thinking or crying rape afterward.
- Both H/h must have at least a happy for now with each other.
-
H/h cannot be killed off in another book.
-
H/h must be at least 18 years old
during the course of the story, with NO emphasis on how
young they are for the purposes of titillation.
-
We may allow head
hopping if author knows how to do it right.
(3) SIREN
POLYAMOUR
- One woman
with two or more men F/M/M+ or one beta male
with two or more males M/M/M+ in a consensually sharing
relationship.
- H/h cannot have sexual liaisons with
secondary characters outside the mutual polyamorous relationship.
- Heroine cannot
be in a previous polyamorous relationship with
anyone else before the heroes.
- Sex scenes are generally "taking turns"
with
no menage sex scenes (no double or triple penetration).
- No adultery
(no cheating on a spouse; exception: spouse is part of the
consensual polyromance).
- No dubious consent,
forced seduction, or rape
allowed.
- H/h cannot be a
"career" criminal, prostitute/hooker, or porn star.
- All characters
in the polyamorous relationship, at a basic
level, are noble and honest (yes, we have to
fall in love with them all).
- The romance is
focused on the heroine and each man in this
relationship.
- Must have a happily ever after for the heroine with at least
two men.
- If heroine ends up with one man, it's considered a
Siren Allure and is not a Siren PolyAmour.
-
The heroine and the men in the "permanent"
polyromance cannot be killed off in another book.
-
All characters involved in any polyamorous
sex scenes must be at least 21 years old even if
it's a historical.
-
Each
character in the permanent polyromance must have
at least one scene in their point of view.
-
No head hopping allowed in the PolyAmour
imprint. We will request rewriting to remove
head hopping.
-
Note:
When any or all of the heroes are blood-related
siblings, we do not consider it to be incest or
pseudo-incest if there is NO physical
attraction, no sexual relationship, and no
touching each other for titillation between or
among the siblings at any time during the course
of the story. When in doubt, leave it out.
(4) SIREN
MENAGE AMOUR
- One woman with
two or more men M/M/F or M/F/M+ or one beta male
with two or more males M/M/M+.
- Consensual
menage relationship.
- No sexual liaisons with secondary characters
outside the menage relationship.
- Heroine
cannot be in a previous menage relationship
with anyone else before the heroes.
- If it
involves the heroine, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with either
double penetration (vaginal and anal) or
triple penetration (oral, vaginal, and
anal).
- If it is
an M/M/M, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with double
penetration (oral and anal).
- No
adultery (no cheating on a spouse; exception: spouse is part
of the consensual menage relationship).
- No dubious consent,
forced seduction, or rape
allowed.
- H/h cannot be a
"career" criminal, prostitute/hooker, or porn star.
- All
characters in this menage relationship, at a
basic level, are noble and honest (yes, we
have to fall in love with them all).
- The
romance is focused on the heroine (or the
beta male) and each of the man in the
relationship.
- Must be a permanent menage with a happily ever after for all the characters
together. If the heroine or the beta male has sex with any
man during the book, it's considered
permanent.
-
Characters in
this permanent menage cannot leave the
heroine or the beta male and take another
mate in another book.
-
Characters in
this permanent menage cannot be killed off
in another book.
- If heroine
or beta male ends up with one man, it's
considered a Menage & More and is not a
Menage Amour.
-
All characters involved in any menage sex scenes must be at least 21 years old
even if it's a historical.
-
Each
character in the menage relationship must
have at least one scene in their point of
view.
-
No head hopping allowed in the Menage Amour
imprint. We will request rewriting to remove
head hopping.
-
Note: When any or all of the heroes
are blood-related siblings, we do not
consider it to be incest or pseudo-incest if
there is NO physical attraction, no sexual
relationship, and no touching each other for
titillation between or among the siblings at
any time during the course of the story.
When in doubt, leave it out.
(5) SIREN
MENAGE AND MORE
- One woman with
two or more men M/F/M+ or M/M/F, or one beta male with two or more alpha males M/M/M+,
or two women with one or more men M/F/M+
or F/F/M+, or three women F/F/F.
-
Consensual menage relationship.
- Some of
the relationships are temporary flings.
-
Heroine may be involved in previous
menage or polyamorous relationships with
others who were not the heroes.
- If it
involves the heroine, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with either
double penetration (vaginal and anal) or
triple penetration (oral, vaginal, and
anal).
- If it
is an M/M/M, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with double
penetration (oral and anal).
- May contain
adultery.
- May
contain dubious consent or forced seduction if
there is consent just before intercourse and no
thinking or crying rape afterward.
- At a minimum, must have a happily
ever after for
at least the heroine and the lead hero (or the beta male and
the alpha male in an M/M+).
-
Except for the heroine
and the lead hero (or the beta male and
the alpha male in an M/M+),
other characters in the "temporary" menage may
take another mate or may be
killed off in another book.
-
All characters involved in any menage sex scenes must be at least 21 years old
even if it's a historical.
-
We
may allow head hopping if author knows
how to do it right.
-
Note: When any or all of the
heroes are blood-related siblings, we do
not consider it to be incest or
pseudo-incest if there is NO physical
attraction, no sexual relationship, and
no touching each other for titillation
between or among the siblings at any
time during the course of the story.
When in doubt, leave it out.
(6) SIREN
LOVEXTREME Forever Series
-
One woman with five or more men M/F/M/M/M/M+ (cannot
have a second woman) or one beta male with five or more men
M/M/M/M/M/M+.
-
Consensual menage relationship.
- No sexual liaisons with secondary characters
outside the menage relationship.
-
Heroine cannot be in a previous
menage or polyamorous relationship
with anyone else before the heroes.
- If it
involves the heroine, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with either
double penetration (vaginal and anal) or
triple penetration (oral, vaginal, and
anal).
- If
it is an M/M/M/M/M/M, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with double
penetration (at the same time) or
triple penetration (there are six of
them, so there should be plenty
going on in a LoveXtreme).
- No
adultery (no cheating on a spouse; exception: spouse is part
of the consensual menage
relationship).
- No dubious consent,
forced seduction, or rape
allowed.
- H/h cannot be a
"career" criminal, prostitute/hooker, or porn star.
-
Story cannot be too
big for the word count. Must develop
the story line properly and not rush
through it.
-
There are at least
six characters here. You must flesh out your
heroine or your beta male and each hero in the
relationship so that each one is distinct from
the others. There's no rushing through this.
-
In a continuing series,
you must explore the relationship
between the heroine or beta male and
each man.
-
All characters in this menage
relationship, at a basic level, must
be noble and honest (yes, we have to
fall in love with every single one
of these men).
-
The romance is focused on the
heroine (or the beta male in an
M/M+) and each of the man.
- Must be a permanent menage with a happily ever after for all the characters
together. If the heroine or the beta male has sex with any
man during the book, it's considered
permanent.
-
Characters in
this permanent menage cannot leave
the heroine or the beta male and
take another mate in another book.
-
Characters in
this permanent menage cannot be
killed off in another book.
-
All characters involved in any menage sex scenes must be at least 21 years old
even if it's a historical.
-
Each
character in the menage relationship
must have at least one scene in
their point of view.
-
No head hopping allowed in the
LoveXtreme imprint. It will be
impossible to stay focused reading a
story that hops around six heads. We
will request rewriting to remove
head hopping.
-
Author must submit at least the first three manuscripts
at the same time to be considered for the LoveXtreme Forever
imprint.
-
Note: When any or all
of the heroes are blood-related
siblings, we do not consider it to
be incest or pseudo-incest if there
is NO physical attraction, no sexual
relationship, and no touching each
other for titillation between or
among the siblings at any time
during the course of the story. When
in doubt, leave it out.
(7) SIREN
LOVEXTREME
Special Edition
Note: If author submits only
a single manuscript, even if it
meets all the requirements for
LoveXtreme Forever, it will be
assigned to LoveXtreme Special Edition.
-
One woman
with five or more men
M/F/M/M/M/M+, or one beta male with five or more men
M/M/M/M/M/M+, or two women
with five or more men F/M/M/M/M/M/F (we will consider
F/F/M/M/M/M/M+ where the women are involved with each other).
-
Consensual menage relationship.
-
Some of
the relationships are temporary flings.
-
Heroine may be involved in
previous menage or polyamorous
relationships with others who
were not the heroes.
- If it
involves the heroine, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with either
double penetration (vaginal and anal) or
triple penetration (oral, vaginal, and
anal).
-
If it is an M/M/M/M/M/M, must contain
at least one menage sex scene with double
penetration (at the same time)
or triple penetration (there are
six of them, so there should be
plenty going on in a
LoveXtreme).
-
May contain
adultery or dubious consent/forced seduction (if
there is consent just before
intercourse).
-
The peripheral men
do not have to be fully fleshed.
-
At a minimum, two of the main
characters (either the heroine
and the lead hero or the beta
male and the alpha male)
must be noble and honest.
-
At a minimum, must have a happy for now for at least
four of the
characters together to qualify for LoveXtreme (otherwise,
it's a Menage & More).
-
One of the peripheral men may
take another mate or may be
killed off in another book.
-
All characters involved in any menage sex scenes must be at least 21 years old
even if it's a historical.
-
No head hopping allowed in the
LoveXtreme imprint. It will be
impossible to stay focused
reading a story that hops around
six heads. We will request
rewriting to remove head
hopping.
-
Note: When any or
all of the heroes are
blood-related siblings, we do
not consider it to be incest or
pseudo-incest if there is NO
physical attraction, no sexual
relationship, and no touching
each other for titillation
between or among the siblings at
any time during the course of
the story. When in doubt, leave
it out.
(8) BOOKSTRAND MAINSTREAM ROMANCE
-
Traditional M/F romance with sex scenes only between the
hero and the heroine.
-
H/h are sexually involved only
with each other during the course of the story.
-
Hero and heroine cannot
commit adultery while
married to each other or to
someone else.
-
Absolutely no dubious
consent, forced seduction,
or rape of the
heroine by the hero or by
any secondary character
during the course of the
story.
- H/h cannot be a
"career" criminal, prostitute/hooker, or porn star.
-
H/h must be noble and honest
characters.
-
H/h
must have a happily ever after with each
other.
-
H/h cannot be killed off in another book.
-
H/h must be at least 18 years old
during the course of the story, with NO emphasis on how
young they are for the purposes of titillation.
-
We may allow head hopping if
author knows how to do it
right.
(9) SIREN EVERLASTING CLASSIC
- Special series and
collections meeting all SIREN CLASSIC requirements,
written by a Siren-exclusive author.
(10) SIREN EVERLASTING POLYROMANCE
- Special series and
collections meeting all SIREN POLYAMOUR requirements,
written by a Siren-exclusive author.
(11) SIREN MENAGE EVERLASTING
- Special series and
collections meeting all SIREN MENAGE AMOUR requirements,
written by a Siren-exclusive author.
|
|
Word count requirements |
The minimum word count
requirement for each story is
at least
20,000 words.
We do not want collaborative works or anthologies. |
|
Requirements for all imprints |
Story must be well written and have an interesting story
line, strong conflicts, and well-developed characters.
Romance for the main
characters must be 70% of the
story. Romance with or between secondary characters cannot
take more than 30% of the story from the main characters.
|
|
Specific erotic romance requirements |
Sex scenes must be red-hot using explicit, adult sexual
language and leaving little or nothing to the imagination. |
|
Sex Scenes |
We do not publish sweet
romance. Sex must be fully consummated and described.
- Siren erotic
romance must contain at least two consummated
sex scenes using explicit adult language. Because this
is an erotic romance, there must be penetrative intercourse
involving the genitals. Do not write these scenes using purple
prose or flowery language.
- BookStrand
mainstream must contain at least one consummated
sex scene using language suitable for the general
audience (euphemisms allowed). There must be sexual
intercourse.
|
|
Requirements for romantic hero
or heroine |
Your romantic hero and heroine, even if
very flawed, must basically be
honest and noble and represent everything that romantic
heroes and heroines should be. |
|
Cliffhangers |
We do not accept any story that ends with a cliffhanger
where the H/h are separated or one or both are facing a life-or-death
moment. The H/h must at least have an HFN with
unresolved threads while the author is writing a sequel.
We may consider a life-or-death cliffhanger if the
sequel with the HEA is submitted at the same time. |
|
Character age requirements |
- All characters must be at
least 21 years old to be involved in a ménage or polyamorous
relationship.
- All characters must be
at least 21 years old to be involved in heavy BDSM
scenes or the BDSM lifestyle.
- All characters must be over 18 years old
to be involved in any sexual scene, with NO emphasis at any
time on how "barely legal" they are for the purposes of
titillation.
|
|
Incest and "pseudo" incest cannot be the premise
or main focus of story mainly for sexual titillation |
- If "steps" become sexually involved with each other, the premise of the book cannot
emphasize on how exciting it is that "daddy," "mommy,"
or "brother" finally got to do it with their "son,"
"daughter," or "sister" and so on for the purposes of sexual titillation.
It must be a secondary issue that is no longer the focus
once they become involved
sexually.
|
|
Automatic rejection |
Absolutely "NO!" to
descriptions of bodily
functions; any form of pedophilia; necrophilia unless it's
the undead, such as vampires; or bestiality unless it's a sentient being,
such as a shape-shifter. |
|
Point of view |
New authors: Third person only
("he" or "she"). We won't consider
first person.
Current authors: First person ("I") only if
explicitly approved
by Publisher.
Ménage romance: Third person only. No first
person or one-person POV in a ménage romance. Readers don't
like it, and neither do we.
Notation: As a service to our readers, first-person and one-person POV
in an MF or MM will include a warning as such on the book page. |
|
Not accepting |
We don't publish short stories or collection of short stories, general
fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, or any kind of collaborated
works. |
|
Print |
Print-on-demand only. Will
specify in offer letter. |
|
Royalty percentage |
40% of download price for
e-book sold at BookStrand.com website
50% of publisher's royalties received from distributors
6% of cover price for print books |
| Royalty payments |
Quarterly.
Paid 30 days after the end of each quarter (January 1 to
March 31 paid on April 30th, April 1 to June 30 paid on July
30th,
etc.). |
| Submission requirements |
Manuscript must be polished
and free of grammatical and spelling errors. |
|
What to submit |
Please attach your
COMPLETE
manuscript as ONE document either in WORD or RTF format.
REJECTION WITHOUT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Without a complete manuscript attached, we
will delete the email. Please don't send just a synopsis,
some sample chapters, a nearly finished/incomplete manuscript.
Do not send us a link to somewhere else to download the
manuscript.
|
HOW TO SUBMIT
(FOR ALL AUTHORS: new authors, current authors, and
Siren-exclusive authors)
Include the following in the
body of your email (please do not send the
information below as an attachment):
(1) your book's title
(required)
(2) series
name (only if it's a part of a series; otherwise, put
"None")
(3)
the
imprint from above your book will fit under (required - if you are
not sure, make your best guess)
(4) main
character sexual
partnering (required - for example: MF for male/female, MM
for male/male, MFM for male-female-male where the men
are not sexually involved with each other, MMF for
male-male-female where the men are sexually involved
with each other, MFMM where there is an alpha hero,
FMMMM where all the heroes are equal, and so on)
(5) the genre
(required)
(6) total computer word count of the finished manuscript
(required)
(7) your
legal name (required) (no collaboration with another
author on the same book will be considered)
(8) your pen name
(if you use one; otherwise, put "None") (no
collaboration with another author on the same book will
be considered)
(9) your current email address
(required from all authors with each submission)
(10) your
current physical mailing address (required from all
authors with each submission)
(11) your
current phone number
where we can reach you (specify day or evening, required
from all authors with every submission - we don't keep
phone numbers on file)
(12) Optionally,
include your writing credit or a short bio and the URL of your writing website
(13) Indicate (a)
This manuscript is original
new work that has never been published
OR (b)
This manuscript was
previously published either in whole or in part, for
sale or for free.
Must disclose manuscript history for us to consider your
manuscript.
(14) In no more than 300 words, give a detailed
but concise synopsis starting with a hook, an overview of
the plot, information on your major characters, the major
conflict and resolution, and the ending. (We will not look
at
any manuscript without a synopsis.)
(15)
Attachment of complete manuscript in a .DOC or .RTF
format. It must be an attachment. It cannot be a
link to somewhere else that we have to go to download.
Without an attachment, your email will likely be
directed into the spam folder by our email filter
system.
ATTACHMENT OF
MANUSCRIPT: Please label the attached file as
follows:
LAST NAME - Story Title - Total Manuscript
Computer Word Count - Targeted Imprint
EMAIL SUBJECT LINE:
Include in your Subject field: Submission:
Story Title (total computer word count. To bypass the Spam filter,
remember to start off the Subject field with the word Submission.
Please
note: For us to consider your submission quickly,
you must provide the 15 items above with every submission.
Failure to provide the required items will delay
your wait time considerably: 2 to 3 weeks for us to get to the
manuscript, plus another 1 or 2 weeks for us to request the missing items, plus another 2 to 3 weeks
after the manuscript is re-submitted with the required
information.
|
|
Where to submit (for all new authors, current authors,
and Siren-exclusive authors) |
SUBMISSIONS @
SIRENBOOKSTRAND . COM
Do not send your submission to
our admin or support staff
because your submission may not
get forwarded.
|
Previously published
works |
Send an inquiry before
submitting a previously published work.
|
Multiple submissions and
simultaneous submissions |
You do not have to wait for
your book to be published before you submit other
manuscripts. We will consider multiple
submissions at the same time from the same author if the
books are in a series.
However, we do not accept
simultaneous submissions. We respond quickly to all
submissions. If your manuscript is being
considered by another publisher, please do not submit the
same manuscript to
us for consideration.
|
|
Response time |
We respond fairly quickly if the
manuscript has all the information we requested:
- 2 to 3 weeks for current and
exclusive authors
- 3 to
4 weeks for new authors
If you have not heard from us in
4 weeks, follow up by sending an
email to submissions @ sirenbookstrand . com with
Submission Follow Up: Story Title in the Subject line.
|
|
Current authors |
Please attach only your
manuscript in your submission email according to guidelines
above.
Current authors, please do not send the cover
questionnaire or attach your own cover in the same
manuscript submission email because acquisition does not
handle or forward covers. Wait until the appropriate
staff member requests a cover questionnaire from you.
|
|