About the Sapphic Fiction Market
First, what exactly constitutes sapphic fiction? The term sapphic refers to women who are attracted to other women, and it can include lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, or any other non-heterosexual identity. Sapphic fiction, then, is literature that features LGBTQ+ female characters and relationships.
Though it's still a relatively small and underrepresented corner of the overall market compared to m/m romance and general fiction, sapphic fiction has never been more visible. Or more competitive. What used to be a niche genre held together by a handful of dedicated presses has become a thriving space with readers who know exactly what they want and can spot lazy representation from a mile away.
Unlike broader fiction, sapphic books live and die by community: it is a reader-driven market with dedicated audiences, specialty bookstores, and a big online presence rooted in social media and word of mouth—get a few BookTokers talking about an underappreciated novel and watch the sales climb overnight because of their queer-focused following. This is not to say that traditional marketing methods don't work for sapphic books—they do—but understanding how sapphic readers actually find books can give publishers a serious edge.
What matters most in this genre is representation, and not just in terms of sexuality but also identity, authentic queer experiences, and marginalized voices. Publishers are looking for stories where queer women aren't tragic symbols or surface-level side characters checking off some diversity checkbox, but fully realized protagonists with agency and purpose. As long as your story is well-written and offers an authentic portrayal of queer women, it has the potential to find a place in the sapphic fiction market.
Understanding Your Publishing Options
There are three main paths to publication, each with its advantages, challenges, and trade-offs. Knowing what each option realistically offers can help you find the best fit for your book and your goals as its author. But remember—there is no best option, only the best option for you and for the book you're trying to get out there.
Option 1: Traditional Publishing
In traditional publishing, a publishing house acquires your book and handles most of the heavy lifting. It's often the most rewarding path, if only you manage to get yourself past the tough entry barrier first.
The process starts with a query letter to pitch your book, which you send to literary agents or publishers that accept direct submissions. If an agent likes it, they'll ask for your full manuscript. If they really like it, they'll offer representation and submit the book to publishers on your behalf, taking a commission from your earnings (typically around 15%).
Advantages:
Larger advance payments, although not always guaranteed.
Professional services at no cost.
Wide physical distribution with more bookstores and higher priority.
Industry prestige and validation that comes with the traditional publishing stamp.
Challenges:
Long timelines. The entire process, from first agent query to book on shelves, can take 2 to 3 years for new authors.
Highly competitive, with most queries rejected and a generally smaller appetite for sapphic stories.
Limited creative control over covers, title, and marketing.
Lower royalty rates, typically ranging from 7-15% for print and 25% for e-books.
If you value large-scale distribution and are willing to trade speed and control for more access and prestige, traditional publishing might be the best option for you. For sapphic authors, though, it often takes persistence and patience to work in an industry that still underestimates queer readerships and sometimes pushes to water down queer stories for mainstream audiences rather than the readers you may actually want to reach.
Option 2: Independent and Small Press Publishing
This is where many authors find balance between reach and respect. Small and independent sapphic publishers like Saphly, Bywater Books, Ylva Publishing, Bella Books, and others work much like traditional publishers but with more focused catalogs and often more direct relationships with authors.
Though these publishers have smaller teams and fewer resources than the Big Five, they make up with deeper knowledge of the genre, stronger connections to queer readerships, no pressure to sanitize content, and a focus specifically on sapphic fiction, meaning your book won't have to fight for attention against every other genre on the market.
Advantages:
Combines professional support with more personal attention, so you're not just another title on a massive release calendar.
Understanding of the market and its sapphic audience.
Higher royalty rates, often two to three times what traditional publishers offer.
Faster publishing timelines—months rather than years in many cases.
More creative collaboration. Smaller teams mean your input actually gets heard.
Most publishers accept unagented submissions, removing a major barrier to entry. Saphly, Bywater Books, Ylva Publishing, and Bella Books all welcome direct queries.
Challenges:
Smaller or nonexistent advances, meaning less upfront income while you wait for royalties.
Tighter budgets can lead to less power for mainstream marketing. Building your own platform matters a lot.
Less market saturation, which can make bookstore placement and library acquisition harder. Smaller distribution networks limit physical availability outside specialty retailers and online platforms.
For sapphic authors specifically, small presses are the sweet spot. You get professional support from people who genuinely understand and care about the genre and what it represents, without having to convince a mainstream publisher that your story deserves shelf space.
Option 3: Self-Publishing
In the self-publishing space, you are the publisher, and everything is up to you. You hire editors and cover designers, format the book, upload it to platforms like Amazon KDP or IngramSpark, set the pricing, and handle all the marketing.
This path has shed much of its former stigma ("oh, you're self-published, so you must not be good enough to get a real publisher, right?"). Many self-published sapphic authors have built substantial careers, particularly in romance where readers care more about the story than the publisher's name on the spine. The catch? You have to treat it like a business. Nothing happens on its own.
Advantages:
Higher royalty rates, typically ranging up to 70% for e-books and 40-60% for print. Everything you earn goes straight to you: (list price − printing costs − distribution fees) × royalty percentage = your earnings.
Complete creative control over everything that concerns your book.
Faster timelines since you control the entire process.
Flexibility to make changes to your book without having to go through a publisher.
No rejection. After all, the decision to publish is in your hands.
Challenges:
Upfront costs for professional services. Quality editing and cover design can run into thousands of dollars.
Discoverability challenges. Many sapphic romance authors have found success in self-publishing, but it takes a lot of work and marketing to stand out.
No distribution partnership. While platforms like Amazon KDP and IngramSpark do offer distribution services, they may not reach all bookstores or libraries.
Though the publication itself can be quick, marketing can get time-consuming, overwhelming, and discouraging, especially if results don't come immediately.
No professional support means no one to back you up if things go south or even to just guide you through the process.
Self-publishing works well for authors who want full autonomy and are willing to treat publishing as a creative and business endeavor. For some sapphic authors—especially those writing niche subgenres or those with existing audiences on platforms like Wattpad and Inkitt—this route can feel more feasible, fulfilling, and sustainable. But it's important to understand algorithms, advertising platforms, reader expectations, and long-term brand building, which extend the workload far beyond just writing.
Which Path to Choose?
The choice depends on your priorities. If validation, wide bookstore distribution, and hands-off production matter most, pursue traditional publishing. If you want genre expertise and personal support without needing to find agent representation, small presses are an appealing middle ground. If it's creative control, speed, and maximum royalties that you care about most, go the self-publishing route, as long as you're willing and able to invest upfront and handle the business side.
And remember, you don't have to stick to one path forever. Many successful authors have chosen to mix and match, using traditional publishing for some projects and self-publishing for others. Just make sure it aligns with what you want, and don't be afraid to seek advice from other authors and publishing professionals.
Finding the Right Home for Your Book
Option 1: Finding a Literary Agent
If you're pursuing traditional publishing with a bigger house, you'll need a literary agent. They will act like your advocate and intermediary, submitting your manuscript to editors at publishing houses, negotiating contracts, and guiding you through the process.
Several reputable databases like QueryTracker, AgentQuery, Manuscript Wish List, and Reedsy's Literary Agents Directory make finding an agent a straightforward process. Research agents who represent sapphic fiction or your specific subgenre, check that they're currently open to queries, follow their submission guidelines exactly, then send your query letter and requested materials. If they're interested, they'll request your full manuscript.
Option 2: Finding Sapphic Publishers
Opportunities for sapphic fiction in larger publishers have grown a lot in recent years, but most sapphic-centered fiction is still published by small presses and independent publishers rather than corporate houses focused on broader appeal.
For decades, mainstream publishing either ignored sapphic stories entirely or demanded they be sanitized for general audiences. Smaller presses filled that gap, and as a result, many sapphic authors find it more comfortable to work with publishers whose catalogs are built around queer literature and where their book is far less likely to be treated as a risky investment.
Here are some legitimate sapphic publishers that accept submissions from authors without requiring agent representation and who never charge authors fees to publish:
- Saphly
A newer sapphic publisher that emerged from online writing communities, founded by writers who saw gaps in what traditional publishing offered to new authors. Particularly welcoming to debut works and focused on building a strong reader and author online community. Additionally. Saphly works as an online storytelling platform, combining traditional publishing with a platform-native audience. (Source: Saphly)
- Bywater Books, Inc.
The Bywater Books imprint offers mostly genre romance, while the Amble Press imprint also focuses on narrative nonfiction and fiction with a political edge, exploring identity, activism, history, and social issues regarding LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. A good fit for authors whose work doesn't slot neatly into genre categories. (Source: Bywater Books)
- Ylva Publishing
A woman-owned, long-established publisher specializing in sapphic fiction across many subgenres. Their common thread: strong female characters who embark on journeys that inspire and drive the plots of their own stories. (Source: Ylva Publishing)
- Bella Books
One of the most established sapphic publishers and a cornerstone of queer literature since its founding in 2001. They publish widely across genres and remain the largest lesbian-owned press devoted exclusively to books written for, by, and about women-loving-women. (Source: Bella Books)
- Bold Strokes Books
An independent LGBTQ+ publisher with a broad catalog across genres. While not exclusively sapphic, they have a long history of publishing sapphic content and maintaining a strong presence in queer bookstores and libraries. Their mission is to bring quality queer fiction to readers worldwide and to support committed authors in developing their craft and reaching an ever-growing community of readers via print, digital, and audio formats. (Source: Bold Strokes Books)
Whoever You Choose, Be Smart and Professional
When evaluating a publisher, agent, or any other professional you might involve in your work, do your research. Know what they're looking for, understand their process, look for a verifiable track record, clear submission guidelines, and transparent contract terms.
Resources like Writer Beware are invaluable for identifying scams, predatory practices, and publishers or agents with a history of unethical behavior. And here's the rule that should never bend: a legitimate publisher never charges fees. They should earn money by selling your books, not by taking payment from you. Saphly operates on this principle: authors are never charged to publish on or through our platform.
Take your time, ask questions, and seek advice from other writers or industry professionals before making any final decisions.
Preparing and Submitting Your Manuscript
A manuscript riddled with typos or structural issues won't make it past the first page. Before you query agents or publishers, your manuscript needs to be polished. It doesn't have to be perfect, but it should be professional.
Don't submit a half-written manuscript and promise to finish it later. Agents and publishers aren't looking for promises and good intentions. They want a product they can start working on.
When the reviews start flowing in, you wouldn't want to be blindsided by obvious plot holes or issues that can happen when writing in a vacuum. At minimum, have a friend proofread your work. Better yet, look for beta readers in genre-specific communities like r/wlwbooks or r/sapphicbooks on Reddit, sapphic author groups on Facebook, and Discord communities. They'll catch problems and give useful, unbiased feedback.
Once you have feedback from beta readers, revise and edit your manuscript. Grammar, typos, and sentence structure will likely be cleaned up by a publisher's copy editor later, but your story still needs to be compelling enough to get considered. A messy draft doesn't exactly inspire confidence in you.
It might be tempting to run your manuscript through AI to clean it up or make it sound better. Don't. Publishers can spot it, and "sounds like ChatGPT" has become its own category of rejection that will land you in their slush pile after less than half a page. If you use such tools for anything other than fixing commas and typos, you'll sound just like everyone else who did the same thing.
Traditional and some independent publishers provide professional developmental editing as part of the process, but smaller presses may have limited editorial resources that put this entirely in your hands. If it's in your budget, a developmental editor can identify plot holes, pacing issues, or character inconsistencies that you're too close to see and that non-professionals may not catch. It doesn't mean your writing is faulty but that you care enough to ensure your manuscript is as strong as possible.
Standard manuscript format uses 12-point Times New Roman or similar serif font, double-spaced lines, one-inch margins, and indented paragraphs. And if you're submitting your manuscript to a publisher, check each publisher's specific guidelines. You wouldn't want your submission dismissed because you didn't follow simple instructions.
Alongside the manuscript, you'll need to submit a query letter and often a synopsis. The query letter is your one-page pitch to convince the agent or publisher that your book is worth their time. In some cases, it can be more important than your book itself; if your query letter doesn't grab attention, your manuscript might not even be read.
Do your homework and personalize each query letter to the recipient. Mention why you're querying them specifically—maybe a book they published that you read and loved, or an interview where they mentioned looking for something exactly like what you've written. This shows that you're not just spamming generic letters to every agent or publisher you can find, but that you believe they would be a good fit.
Most importantly, keep in mind that the purpose of the query isn't to summarize the plot but to make someone desperate to read it. Leave other details for the full plot synopsis.
Check out Reedsy's "How to Write a Query Letter" guide to get more insight and examples. For extra advice and even query letter critiques, the r/PubTips Reddit community is definitely worth your time.
This is when you finally send it out. Follow submission guidelines, double-check everything, hit send, and be patient. It typically takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months for a response, and sometimes you won't hear back at all.
Rejection is part of the process and common in a subjective industry. Don't argue back, don't hit agents or publishers with angry responses or justifications, don't ask for feedback on why they rejected you. Just move on to the next submission until you get a yes.
What Happens After the Yes
If a publisher or agent requests your full manuscript and loves it, you'll receive an offer. Here's what to expect.
Agents will offer representation. But before you jump the gun and accept any offers, ask about their vision for your work, their submission strategy, and the terms of their agency agreement. It's also perfectly acceptable to notify other agents who have your full manuscript that you've received an offer, which can prompt faster reads on their part.
Publishers will offer a contract. Read it carefully. Pay attention to your rights (are you selling world rights, only English rights, or what?), royalty rates, advance amounts, reversion clauses (how do you get your rights back if the book goes out of print?), and option clauses (does the publisher get first dibs on your next books?).
And once your book has officially found its home, production begins.
The editing process usually involves developmental edits (changes to plot and character), line edits (sentence-level improvements), and copyediting (grammar, consistency, accuracy). Cover design and formatting usually happen in parallel. You'll have opportunities to approve or discuss changes, though the extent of your input, again, varies by publisher. Small publishers are more likely to incorporate your feedback into the edits and designs, but bigger publishers tend to have more limited room for flexibility. Either way, final decisions rest with the publisher.
Between signing and publication, expect 12 to 18 months for traditional publishers, while small presses usually move faster. During this time, work on marketing materials, build your social media presence, and create some buzz around your book. No matter what publishing you're pursuing, having a platform helps—so, start a website or a blog, engage on queer social media communities or literary spaces, join book clubs, and get your name out there.
The Part Where You Actually Do It
Publishing can seem overwhelming. But if you've written your book, you've already done what most people never do. Now, it's about being patient and finding the best way to share it. There will be rejections, waiting periods, and moments where you wonder if any of this is worth it. It is.
No matter if you choose traditional publishing, a small press, or self-publishing, the most important thing is that your story exists and finds its readers. There's no single right way to publish—just the path that best aligns with your goals, your resources, and the kind of relationship you want to have with your work. Research your options, find the right fit for you, and put yourself out there.
Sapphic fiction has survived this long because writers kept telling their stories even when the doors were half-closed. The door is wide open now. Add your book to the shelves.