You Shouldn't Want This
Sweetrot is the horror romance imprint of Edge & Busby Press.
You shouldn't want this. You're going to anyway, and so are we: obsession, devotion, hunger.
The Promise
Every Sweetrot book ends in love.
The lover who would burn the town down and the one who hands them the match.
Obsession that should terrify you and somehow reads as tenderness.
If the last page doesn't make you feel loved and a little afraid, it isn't ours.
Every Love, Out Loud
We publish love stories with every pairing:
Our leads are trans, bi, nonbinary, ace, queer, straight, and everything in between.
We especially want trans love stories.
If we didn't list it, send it anyway.
MF, MM, FF, and every multi: MMF, FFM, poly, harem, reverse harem.
NBM, NBF, NBNB, T4T.
What We Crave
The relationship is the plot.
The horror is real, the romance is real, and neither one carries the other.
Heat can run from closed door to explicit.
Dark, gothic, monster.
Omegaverse, fated mates, captor and captive, predator and prey.
Sweetrot carries the same literary standard as everything Edge & Busby publishes.
Prose with a pulse, characters with interiors.
The books that get called guilty pleasures, written so well nobody feels guilty.
Submissions Are Open
We're reading novels, novellas, and short story collections.
Touchstones, for the kind of work we read in:
Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca
Navessa Allen, Lights Out
Onley James, Unhinged
Harley Laroux, Losers: Part I
S.T. Gibson, A Dowry of Blood
Brynne Weaver, Butcher & Blackbird
Aveda Vice, Feed
What We Don't Want
We don't publish romantasy, cozy paranormal, tragedy wearing a romance label, or horror with a romance sticker on it. If the world needs a map, if the love fails, or if the relationship could be cut and the book still works, it isn't ours. No one under eighteen in anything sexual, no exceptions. Dark consent is welcome on the page but no endings nobody chose: they stay by choice.
Guidelines
Word count:
Novels and Novellas: 20,000 to 120,000 words.
Story collections: 45,000 to 90,000 words total.
What to send:
The complete manuscript.
Formatting requirements:
- 12pt Times New Roman
- Double-spaced throughout
- First line of each paragraph indented
- Story title and page number in the top-right header of every page
- Submitted as a .docx file
Include a brief cover letter in the form field that introduces you and your book.
Simultaneous submissions:
Yes. If your manuscript is accepted elsewhere, withdraw it through Subfolio.
Multiple submissions:
One manuscript at a time. If we pass on your submission, you're welcome to send something else.
Previously published work:
We do not consider manuscripts that have been published in full, in print or digitally.
Individual stories from a collection that appeared in journals are fine and should be acknowledged in the cover letter.
Submission fee:
Submissions are free.
Subfolio offers an optional tip at checkout if you'd like to support the press.
Tips are not considered in editorial decisions.
How to Submit
Submissions are handled through Subfolio.
Please allow 3-4 months for us to review your manuscript. We will respond to every submission.
We pay advances and royalties on every book we acquire.
Contest contributors are paid honoraria.
Questions about your submission can go to submissions@sweetrotbooks.com.
Please don't email manuscripts directly. We only read what comes through Subfolio.
