Dust off that font.

Many epublishers are sending out “critical need” notices for m/m stories. We can’t write it fast enough. I’m not kidding you.

Normally, things go like this. You write a story. You polish it and then you send it out. The other day, I had a publisher come to me asking for a piece.

M/M is on fire now, but that doesn’t mean you can slap anything up on the screen and call it done. You also have to know the house you’re sending it to.

Do NOT send a happy fluffy story to Velvet Mafia. Phaze, as of last time I read their guidelines, specifically requested that there be NO submissions involving priests or nuns. There’s another publisher, the name escapes me right now, that states they do not want the word “cunt” in any submissions. FB and EC have very specific house styles and, no matter how well the piece is written, if it doesn’t meld with their house style, you can forget it. According to the editors I’ve spoken to, most rejections are not due to bad writing, but that the piece doesn’t fit the house.

Chippewa/LAP wants yaoi submissions. For those of you who don’t know, there’s a difference between yaoi (my normal genre) and other types of m/m erotic fiction. There are other publishing houses seeking yaoi. If a house wants yaoi, then they want yaoi.

And, keep an eye on your word count. If a publishing house caps themselves at 90k don’t send them a 115k word piece. If they bottom out at 10k don’t send them a 5k piece. I spoke to a guy the other day whose AGENT submitted a piece that broke the top word count for a publishing house. That agent should have never considered that particular house. Period.

Also, know what erotica is before you give it a go. An erotic story is not a “stroke story.” Oh yes, erotica is hot, but it’s also a full story with developed characters and this pesky thing called plot.

“Critical Need” does not mean desperate.

With all of that stated, if you’ve been thinking about dipping a toe in the waters of m/m now might be a good time.