Ylva Publishing is the home of quality lesbian fiction and fiction about women-loving-women. Our primary market is the romance genre, but wherever possible we will consider a range of genres, subject to reader interest and market viability. We’re constantly searching for new talented authors, who take their craft seriously.
We want our books to have a rich diversity and we’re committed to representing authors from a wide variety of backgrounds, both already published and due in the coming year. We actively encourage submissions by authors of color and writers with disabilities. Writers of any religion, nationality, and age are welcome at Ylva.
We would love to publish more own voice stories featuring black characters, characters of color, older characters, disabled characters, and characters of different shapes and body types.
We pay royalties after publication if we accept a manuscript. Authors are not expected to contribute to the expenses involved in publishing and marketing their work, and we will never ask for payment for this. However, we are looking for authors who will actively participate in every step of the publishing process and in the marketing of their book.
Please note:
● We exclusively publish fiction written by women.
● We invite submissions of believable romances, mysteries/crime, young adult, and well-researched historical novels.
● We publish fiction that focuses on women loving women.
● Please note that at the moment we’re not looking for any kind of speculative fiction.
● We do not publish poetry.
● We do not accept manuscripts that have been simultaneously submitted to multiple publishers.
● We’re not interested in stories that glorify violence.
Our Preferred Word Count for Genres:
● Romance, crime/suspense, action/thriller, mystery: 50,000 – 80,000
● Contemporary, historical, and general: 50,000 – 80,000
● Young Adult/new adult: 50,000 – 80,000
● Erotica: 50,000 – 80,000
Before sending us your manuscript:
● Please don’t send us your first draft. Revise and proofread your manuscript thoroughly before submitting it for consideration. Correct any spelling and grammar mistakes.
Information we need from you:
● Please send us your manuscript as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file attached to an e-mail. Do not mail us paper copies. Any and all unsolicited manuscripts sent to us by post will not be returned.
● Include a synopsis of the plot and provide the word count for the entire, completed manuscript.
● Let us know how long you have been writing and whether you have already published novels or short stories (and if yes, where).
● Tell us in one sentence why someone should buy and read your book.
● Please tell us how you plan to market your book if we accept your submission and let us know if you have a website and if you are active on social media.
The submission process:
● We will send you a confirmation e-mail after receiving your manuscript. This may take up to 14 days.
● It typically takes our submission team eight to twelve weeks to review your manuscript.
Manuscript formatting guidelines:
● Indent the first line of each paragraph 0.2 inches. Don’t put an extra blank line between paragraphs.
● Don’t place hyphens at the end of a line.
● For scene breaks, leave one blank line; then, in the next line, center three spaced asterisk [* * *], followed by another blank line.
● Number each page (except for the cover page).
● Use smart (curly/typographic) quotation marks [“ / ” / ‘ / ’] instead of straight quotation marks.
● Use smart apostrophes [’] instead of straight apostrophes.
Please send your submissions to: submissions@ylva-publishing.com
Download our Submission Guidelines here PDF.