What are some cheap publishing companies?

What book publishing companies accept manuscripts from independent writers?

• I want to send my book to a publisher but i don't want to spend a bunch of money to get an agent. I need to find a reliable publishing company that accepts submissions. I write romance so the publisher needs to accept some graphic scenes.

• Answer:

  @Writergirl - we're all 'independent writers' if by that you mean unpublished. ;) What each imprint (of a publisher) accepts depends on the imprint. It's up to you to research which types of publishers accept "graphic scenes." Are you writing erotica? One way to know what type of romance a publisher publishes and how far you can take the sex scenes in those books is to read some books of the publishers you're thinking of submitting to to get a view of how far you can take those types of scenes. I have no idea what you're talking about when you say 'spend a lot of money to get an agent.' Legit agents only get paid when they sell your book, and they take their commission out of the check the publisher sends. If you're being asked for money by an agent then you're either being scammed or you've hooked up with an agent who's not competent enough to sell your novel, which is why they're asking for money up front and not taking it from any sales they make. Either way, your comment on this suggests you need to do some in-depth research into how publishing works because if you don't then your'e likely to be scammed and scammers are in all facets of publishing, from freelance editors to publishers to literary agents. Also, if you choose to go it alone (without an agent) then at least hire an entertainment lawyer who has experience with publishing contracts. Unless you know how to negotiate one, you're most likely going to get the short end of the stick because publishers write contracts to benefit them and you have to negotiate a better deal for yourself (something an experienced agent or lawyer will do). To answer your question, Harlequin takes unagented manuscripts for most of their lines. Their lines follow a certain formula (each has it's own formula), so you'd be best to not only read their books in the line in which you want to submit but to also read up on the specific formulas they want for the specific line (Harlequin editors are online and are active on social media and Harlequin also has a blog and contests for newbie romance writers). For example, all their romance is written in 3rd person from both the female and male POV. - most genre romance in general is written like this, not just Harlequin lines, and this comes from an editor at a big 6 publisher. Good luck with your submission. My fingers are crossed for you.