Working With Us and Guidelines
I have worked with House of Erotica for two years now and find them an excellent partner for my creative output. Royalties are meticulously calculated and supplied on regular monthly statements; there are frequent anthology calls and the editorial team are very positive in their feedback and are always encouraging me to try out new ideas and suggestions. I look forward to many more happy years of writing under this banner."
- Vanessa de Sade
Working with House of Erotica has been a dream for me. Everyone is very supportive and open-minded.
- Dee Voyse
I have had several novellas published by House of Erotica. I have found them to be fast and efficient at turning my stories into e-books and distributing them to online retailers.
- Slave Nano
The communication between me as both an author and editor and House of Erotica couldn't be any smoother. My ideas are always welcome, and I'm very grateful they wanted to work with a first-time editor - it's allowed me space to grow in what I do.
- Jillian Boyd
In addition to our monthly collections, we also accept a wide range of unsolicited submissions all year round. If your stand-alone story is over ten thousand words in length and you’d like to work with us, please read the points below.
Please note our ‘big no-nos’. Due to various publishing laws in major territories, we can’t publish any story that contains or implies:
- Under age sex
- Incest – (including step-sibling, step-parents and distant relatives)
- Rape / non-consensual sex
- Recreational use of illegal drugs, or misuse of legal prescriptions
- Bestiality (however we can accept shape-shifters such as werewolves)
- Urination, defecation and vomiting in a sexual context
- Necrophilia
How do I submit?
Drop an email to fran@houseoferoticabooks.com with your full, finished manuscript (which should have been edited and checked for spelling and grammatical errors by you or someone you trust). You are welcome to send us either a word document or a pdf at this stage, although please note that if we accept your submission we will require a .doc version of it to work with. Within the email you should also include your legal name, pen name, a bit about yourself and a brief description of the story you are submitting.Please ensure that you are fully committed to submitting your manuscript before sending it for consideration – we don’t want to waste your time or ours if you’re not ready to publish it now!
How long until I hear back from you?
We will reply as soon as we physically can. You may experience a longer delay around our submission deadline dates or in the last few days of the month – as that is when we send out our authors’ royalty reports.What happens if you accept my submission?
If we accept your submission then we will email over a contract, metadata sheet and author guide. We require two signed copies of the physical contract to be sent back to us, one of which will be returned to you after we have signed it – please do keep this in a safe place.Please note that entering your metadata completely and correctly is very important as the information is passed onto a number of retailers - we want to make sure it is as accurate as possible to ensure optimal sales of your story.
Can I choose my cover image?
We prefer to keep our cover images within our own branding guidelines, however we do welcome any suggestions you may have – just mention your ideas in the e-mail which contains your .doc file and metadata.How long until my book is published?
Once we receive all the finalised files (this includes the correctly formatted word document, metadata spreadsheet and signed contract) then we will begin the process. Our turn-around is usually within a few weeks, although it can vary either way depending on how busy we are at the time.All digital books will be available from all major online retailers including iBookstore, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, All Romance, Nook and many more.
Will I get a proof copy?
If your collection has a nominated external editor, then they will receive a proof copy to approve. Otherwise we simply work on the basis that the document that you submitted to us was checked and finalised – meaning you were happy that it was ready to be published.When will I know initial sales figures?
It usually takes around three months after your book has gone live before you receive your first sales report (due to the delay between a retailer selling a copy and actually transferring the money to our account) and after that you will receive a monthly report (as long as your book has sold at least one copy since either your book’s release or when we last paid you). We will only report paid sales to you, not estimates and the reports are cumulative. Once you reach a threshold of £50, we will make payment to you.Will my book be available as a paperback and if so will there be any costs involved?
We will consider anything over thirty thousand words for publication as a paperback. We do not ask you to pay up front for the costs that we incur, however you will see two small deductions on or around your first sales report; just as we split the royalties 50/50 with you, so we do the external costs. The first is a 50% share of a fee we are charged for listing a paperback; currently this is £8.40, so we pay £4.20 and we deduct the same from your royalty report. The second deduction is a 50% share of the printing costs of a copy requested by the British library or any of the five other UK library depositories.Will I receive an author’s copy of my book?
We are happy to email you an unlocked and DRM-free PDF file of your book which you can keep for yourself and to send out for review purposes – however please bear in mind that as this has no restrictions on copying, you should beware of who you send it to – it can be easily copied by an unscrupulous individual for piracy purposes!If your book has been published as a paperback and you want a copy, you will need to purchase these yourself. Although we can supply a minimum of twenty units to you at a discounted price (please e-mail us for details), if you want a smaller amount we recommend you buy these from Amazon – you’ll be able to leave a ‘verified purchase’ review, and your purchase will impact your book’s chart position.
How will I receive my royalty payment?
All authors based in the UK will be paid via bank transfer. For everyone outside of the UK, payment is made via PayPal.If any questions remain unanswered then please take a look at our frequently asked questions page or feel free to email fran@houseoferoticabooks.com