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.

MF, MM, FF, and every multi: MMF, FFM, poly, harem, reverse harem. NBM, NBF, NBNB, T4T.

If we didn't list it, send it anyway.

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

Novels and novellas20,000 to 120,000 words

Story collections45,000 to 90,000 words total

What to sendThe complete manuscript

Submission feeFree

Simultaneous submissionsYes. If your manuscript is accepted elsewhere, withdraw it through Subfolio.

Multiple submissionsOne manuscript at a time. If we pass, you're welcome to send something else.

Previously published workOriginal, unpublished manuscripts only. Stories in a collection that first appeared in journals are fine. Note them in your cover letter.

Response timePlease allow 3–4 months. We respond to every submission.

Formatting

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
A brief cover letter in the form field that introduces you and your book

If your manuscript includes sexual assault you must include it in the content warning or it will be automatically rejected. Your manuscript is not judged on this, but we have readers that read work with SA and readers that don't. Thank you for your considerate warnings.

How to Submit

Submissions are handled through Subfolio. Subfolio offers an optional tip at checkout if you'd like to support the press. Tips are not considered in editorial decisions.

We pay advances and royalties on every book we acquire.

Questions about your submission can go to submissions@sweetrotbooks.com.

If you email a submission it will not be read.

Submit your manuscript