Who Are The Best Publishers For Supernatural Romance Novels?

Question

As a fan of paranormal romance books, I'm hoping fellow readers can share their top traditional or indie publisher picks for this specific niche.

Kenia Martinez · Answer

For supernatural romance, many popular titles originate from digital-first publishers like Entangled Publishing (specifically the Embrace or Covet imprints), Sourcebooks Casablanca, and Berkley’s various paranormal titles. Even many of the successful supernatural romance stories are launched as full-length, serialized novels on web novel platforms, allowing for a fresh, bingeable take on the genre. An example of such a full-length, serialized novel would be ‘Ravished By The Alphas (Reverse-Harem Paranormal Romance)’, a complete novel offered through the platform’s freemium model, where most of the story can be read for free before purchasing any portion of it.

Ronald · Answer

Supernatural romance is one of my favorite genres, and there are a few publishers in the field that stand out to me. The press does a great job with supernatural romances, publishing titles like Charlaine Harris’ ‘Dead Until Dark’ (vampires), for example. Tor Romance, on the other hand, does a great job with supernatural characters as part of a science fiction story (e.g. Nalini Singh’s ‘Angels’ Blood’). They are consistently publishing new and interesting novels.

For years I got my werewolf and witch romances from Harlequin’s Luna line, but the line has since closed. The publisher’s legacy lives on however in the form of other imprints, such as HQN. A new publisher for me to look into for supernatural romances that are a bit darker is Orbit Books. They publish a variety of novels but many of them are part of long series and therefore fit my desire for a really immersive read that will make my heart race and allow my imagination to soar. For example, their Others series by Anne Bishop is a great choice for those looking for a supernatural romance with a strong fantastical element.

Eva · Answer

I have a lot of respect for the companies that publish supernatural romance, so I’m listing off a few of them here. For example, the Nocturne line from Harlequin was a seminal series of books about vampires and other shifter types, and many of their titles continue to influence the genre today. The supernatural romance titles published by Harlequin’s digital-first imprint, Carina Press, are also good choices for supernatural love stories, such as ‘Moon Called’ by Patricia Briggs. The books are published with the reader in mind, and are great for those looking for a story with a side of romance and the supernatural.

Blackstone Publishing does a great job of publishing the paranormal romance novels in audio as well. The Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning was a recent pick of mine that had great narration. It’s a great look into supernatural love stories and the publishers that favor them.

Emily · Answer

The few mainstream publishers that consistently produce high quality work in the supernatural and paranormal romance genres are Avon Romance (‘A Discovery of Witches’ by Deborah Harkness is a great example of how to blend well-written magic and romance) and Entangled Publishing (as mentioned above, many of their titles are paranormal and urban fantasy romance, such as ‘Dark Lover’ by J.R. Ward). The diversity of supernatural creatures in the stories published by Entangled is particularly excellent.

I also love to follow indie publishers. Sourcebooks Casablanca has some great unique supernatural romances. For example, The Winter King by C.L. Wilson is a great standalone with a gorgeous hero and lovable, sexy-to-me female lead. Berkley Romance puts out some really high-quality supernatural romances as well, including Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews. They just pick some of the best stories for supernatural romances and the publishers have great taste, too.

Rhett · Answer

I’m always going to look to publishers who get the mix of spooky and romantic just right in supernatural romance. One of my favorites is Kensington Books, with their awesome range of supernatural and paranormal novels, including Jeaniene Frost’s Halfway to the Grave, a sexy and action-packed supernatural romance. For YA supernatural romance I love Entangled’s Teen line, and titles such as The Vampire Stalker by Allison van Diepen are fantastic examples of supernatural Romanian YA novels with a healthy dose of young love thrown into the mix.

Piatkus also publishes an array of quirky supernatural romps, with many of the authors being British. The Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands for example is a really fun take on the vampire novels that are so popular at the moment, offering up a hilarious take on how to be an immortal.

Petjun Barde Bordeos · Answer

Access to the physical stores of readers and authors is important to many. While it’s fun to browse paranormal romance books on the regular Paranormal Romance section of a store, a publisher’s ability to guarantee print distribution to stores across the country is a critical factor for many authors. The five major conglomerate publishers – Penguin Random House (Berkley, Jove, Avon), HarperCollins (Avon – note the confusion on this one as their imprint list is not fully online), Hachette (Forever, Grand Central), Simon & Schuster (Gallery, Pocket) – are the typical ones that have sales and distribution to warrant being considered by authors looking for that type of distribution to physical stores like Walmart, Target and airport bookstores. Of course many readers are also physical book readers and love to discover new authors on the store displays of physical copies in stores, so these publishers will generally be the ones that authors will see the most of as they sit on physical shelves across the country. However, even here there are fewer and fewer physical copies on the shelves as store space is continually cut, and so more and more a corporate buyer (not the store manager) will decide whether or not to continue to stock a title. Debut authors published by big publishers may even get a front-of-store display for two weeks and then be returned to the warehouse if they don’t fly off the shelves in that time. It’s a high-risk, high-reward way to publish. And note that even the “best” physical distribution publisher is not necessarily in the best interest of the long-term health of an author’s career, but it does carry a level of prestige and reach in the literary world that currently digital publishing does not.

Lorena Saavedra · Answer

Building a brand around a series of books is crucial for a publisher with a good art department. Creating one good cover isn’t enough. The art department must develop a visual identity for the entire series, possibly for the entire bibliography of one author. This is something thatinode in a good way with the ‘Immortals After Dark’ series by Kresley Cole, as the style evolved over time but each book looks distinct and still recognizable as part of the series. Or the beautifully illustrated covers of books by authors such as Grace Draven and Elise Kova. A random photoshooting of a model for each book or an entirely different style for the second book in a series would be doing a disservice to the author and his/her readers. It would create confusion as to what to expect from the subsequent books and dilute the author’s brand. This is why I pay so much attention to a publisher’s treatment of a series when assessing them. Do the books look like they could belong together? Is there a design language that has been thoughtfully developed for the series? If so, this usually translates to attention to detail in the interior as well, beautiful chapter headings, etc. and an overall sense of care in the production of the book. It shows that the publisher is proud of their product.

Diva Elina Barreto Suarez · Answer

Instead, consider who wins the genre-specific awards year after year. The RITA Awards (now known as the Vivian Awards) given by the Romance Writers of America and the PRISM Awards given by the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal chapter of RWA are two examples. Often imprints within a publisher have editorial staff who are particularly good at finding just the right book for the genre. Their award-winning books (not necessarily bestsellers) demonstrate that they have a good handle on the conventions of the genre and write quality stories. Also look to see who the sponsors are for the major romance and paranormal conventions like RWA National, RT Booklovers (now apparently a defunct magazine, but they used to hold an annual awards ceremony) and Dragon Con. Publishers who attend these events are not just out to make a buck off of books to people who read in these genres. They are part of the culture. They read, they attend conventions, they talk to writers and readers alike. They know that these genres are so much more than a line of products. They are a culture and the publisher who attends these events is likely to be one who truly understands that.

Merindy Hall · Answer

This brings us to the ‘uncanny valley’ of supernatural romance – books that are too odd for the mainstream romantic novel, yet not remote or dystopian enough for the mainstream fantasy or science fiction publisher, who will generally expect romance to play second fiddle to the main action of the novel. These books often end up with the independent literary publishers who are curious about the Weird, or with their authors as self-publishers. They may feature romance between creatures that are not humanoid; they may be deeply, profoundly paranormal; or they may be horror-tinged and leave the reader wondering whether the couple will ever arrive at a Happy Ever After. While some publishers specialize in romance, and others in fantasy, these deeply strange novels of supernatural romantic love are too idiosyncratic to fall into any fixed category, and so often get lost in the system. On the rare occasions when they do get published, it might be by a magazine like Strange Horizons (although even here romance is not a primary focus), or by a specialist publisher of Weird and fantastic fiction such as Undertow Publications. Alternatively, the author might simply decide to go it alone. If your taste in supernatural romantic novels runs to the experimental edge of this neglected genre, you may need to do some extra research to find the best publisher for your book. Indie review sites, Substack newsletters of writers in the same niches as you, and even lists curated by writers andReaders on specialized platforms like Storygraph (that focus on the weird end of the romance market, for example) may help. The space is amorphous, but it contains some of the most exciting writing of all.

Paty M Rodriguez · Answer

I’m a big supporter of author-run collectives or micro-presses. While ‘Heartspell Media’ (founded by authors for authors) and ‘Snowy Wings Publishing’ (a cooperative) are by no means perfect, they’re operating on a different ethos than the bigger conglomerates. For the most part, they’re much more collaborative, transparent, and responsive to feedback than their larger counterparts. As many are written by and for people within the genre of supernatural romance, they get the particular struggles of this genre too. They may not have the same marketing budget as the bigger companies, but they more than make up for it with their passion for the genre and their community-oriented spirit. Not only are the covers for books published by these presses frequently stunning because they hire from within the supernatural romance fan art community, but also the release dates for new books are generally coordinated so that authors are supporting each other. It feels much more like you’re buying from a family-run business than a large corporation. For those who want to be able to feel connected to the creative process of a particular author, these are the best place to go to find new voices. You’re not just buying a book; you’re supporting an entire ecosystem of artists and writers who are writing because they love the genre as much as you do. That emotional connection is powerful.

Who Are The Best Publishers For Supernatural Romance Novels?

10 Answers

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