We love to encourage new writers and we’d be thrilled to e-publish books (both fiction and how-to) by established authors. We’ll even e-publish an author’s previously published books as long as that author is in full possession of the rights.

Since it’s the quality that counts (and not the quantity), we’re open to books of all sizes from novellas (15,000 – 30,000 words) to novels (30,000 words to 100,000 words) and big books (Over 100,000 words).

We publish super-erotic books, romantic erotica and what we call mainstream sexy. Our super-erotics contain lots of good, graphic love scenes and/or just-plain-sex scenes with the action described in detail—but without the use of common street vernacular (see Come Slowly Eden by Charlene Keel). We’re not saying that your characters can’t use colorful four-letter words in their thoughts or conversations but we’d rather not see them used to describe the action in a love scene (or even in a just-plain-sex scene) unless there’s no way to avoid it.

Our romantic erotica follows the established guidelines for romance novels, complete with happy endings and lots of graphic love and/or sex scenes (as in The Lodestone by Kathryn Fairfax).

Our mainstream sexy books may or may not follow the traditional romance novel formula but the big difference is that the love/sex scenes will be fewer and less graphic.

We have also broadened our scope of interest to include more mainstream books where erotica is not the primary focus. (see Seventh Dawn Of Destiny) by Kathryn Fairfax and Paul R. Wineman).

There are some things we don’t consider sexy, no matter how well they’re written. They include:

Bestiality – unless the creatures in question are of the other worldly variety, i.e. shapeshifters, werewolves, etc. And even then the change from human (or humanoid) to animal form can only take place before or after the act of love (or sex) and not during.

Pedophilia – this is absolutely forbidden. You may write about a character who is an adult survivor or even a kid trying to escape a bad situation (see Peggy Webb’s From a Distance for how to handle this subject with taste and sensitivity). But you must not ever present these horrors committed against children as titillation. It’s sick, not exciting, and we won’t stand for it. Characters involved in any sex scene must be at least 18 years old.

Rape – even if it is a necessary element of your story, it must never be presented as romantic or titillating. Rape is a crime of violence, not a crime of passion so while the villain may commit such an act, the hero never would—ever.

Bondage or spanking – no thank you. We consider TantalizingTales.com a purveyor of a gentle, pleasure-giving kind of erotica and yes, we know that some very nice people like to get hit and tied up. We don’t—and frankly, we don’t understand it. If it is a necessary part of your story (i.e. a heroine getting abducted), then it should be described briefly and never with the intent to titillate.

Bodily functions that involve human excrement (golden showers, etc.) in a sex scene – Eeeeeww, no way!

Weapons used on women as a substitute for male genitalia – No, uh-uh, ain’t gonna happen. I mean, how sick can it get? We don’t want this.

Necrophilia – or, sex with dead people. We obviously don’t mean vampires. We mean dead bodies in caskets, or freshly dug-up graves, or those in the local mortuary.

At this time, we’re considering only how-to and non-fiction works that deal with relationships, romance and sexuality. Book length should be 15,000 to 50,000 words.

We accept both fiction and nonfiction books that deal with gay and lesbian issues. Guidelines are the same as for our heterosexual books, except that protagonists must be gay or lesbian. Contact Us with (in the subject line): Attn. Ms. F.H. Craig (Gay and Lesbian Interests Editor).

Until further notice, all submissions must be made electronically. We are planning to implement print-on-demand technology but even then, we’ll prefer electronic submissions (we just don’t like what handling all that paper does to our cuticles).

Please send via e-mail the first two or three chapters of your book, along with a brief synopsis (up to 1,500 words). We don’t require the last chapter in order for your book to be considered, but we would like to know how you plan to end your story. Attach these items in .doc or .rtf format and use a common serif font (we prefer Times New Roman or Arial) and single or 1.5 line spacing.

We do not offer an advance at this time. Authors will receive a royalty of at least 35% (thirty-five per cent) of the cover price of all e-books sold. All contracts will be negotiated individually and contracts for print or print-on-demand books will be negotiated separately from e-books. Royalties will be paid to authors every other month for the first year of the book’s release and monthly for every year thereafter. You do not need an agent in order to submit your work but if you have an agent that’s okay, too.

We will e-mail you an acknowledgement when we receive your submission but you may not get our decision for two to three months, so please be patient. And we offer our heartfelt thanks to you for thinking of TantalizingTales.com as a home for your stories.