We believe in celebrating diverse views. To help give voice to typically underrepresented stories in the romance and women’s fiction genres, we are opening our inbox to unagented submissions exclusively to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) authors.
We’re looking for full-length romance novels and women’s fiction that promotes a variety of backgrounds and diversity.
In commercial fiction, we’re searching for women’s fiction. These books will center on women’s journeys and life experiences. Often the focus is on female friendships, sisters, or discovering family secrets, told from the woman’s point of view. These stories may be contemporary or historically set. The narrative can either be in first person or third person.
We’re also looking for commercial fiction by BIPOC writers about people of underrepresented genders. This includes trans people, non-binary people, and those who are otherwise marginalized. The focus will be on friendship, family, or falling in love. The narrative can either be in first person or third person.
For romance and rom-coms, we’re looking for a celebration of falling in love—characters who get to know each other, overcome obstacles, and then have a resolution that gives us all the warm, fuzzies of a happily-ever-after at the end.
A good rule of thumb is to frame your novel around certain tropes, or types of stories, that are always popular. Some reader-favorite examples include second-chance romance (someone who’s reunited with a high school crush, for example), friends-to-lovers, forbidden love , secret baby, marriage of convenience, fake engagement/significant other, or a fairytale retelling—just to name a few.
Novels should be 80,000-100,000 words.
To submit, send your query letter in the body of an email to ForeverSubmissions@hbgusa.com with the first three chapters and a synopsis of your work attached.
You’ll receive personalized feedback from our editors within 90 days.
The review team consists of:
Sam Brody, Madeleine Colavita, Sabrina Flemming, Leah Hultenschmidt, Alex Logan, Kirsiah McNamara, Amy Pierpont, and Junessa Viloria
We’re so excited to hear from you!
