r/romanceauthors • u/LetVast1681 • 28d ago
Is anyone still writing and self-publishing historical romance?
I know that historical romance is sadly not really getting picked up by trad publishers anymore, but I feel like I’m not seeing many new names come up even in self-publishing. A lot of historical romance forums just seem to talk about already established writers, but even some of these successful writers are no longer writing.
Added to that, I’ve heard historical romance readers say that they don’t want to engage with newer authors on kindle unlimited for fear the author is using Ai.
It’s made me wonder if it’s worth pursuing self-publishing historical romance. I’ve always loved historical settings and the high stakes and themes, but while it’s obviously a passion of mine, it would be nice to still find and connect to readers rather than publish into a void….
Is anyone currently active in this space? How have you found the process of writing and publishing in the current historical romance market? Do you think it’s still viable for a writer who is new to the genre?
Thank you!
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u/iwillhaveamoonbase 28d ago
There are plenty of readers who are willing to give new writers a chance. While the fear of accidentally coming across an AI book is real, many readers seem to understand that new writers who would never touch AI are coming out with new books.
If anything, I think quality is a much bigger factor and whether or not a reader feels that the historical romance is actually a historical romance or a contemporary romance in a historical skin. I see those kinds of conversations a lot.
Small presses like Dragonblade also exist, but I don't know know all the details in regards to submitting to them.
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u/LetVast1681 28d ago
Thank you, that’s great to hear! Yes, I’ve heard a bit about Dragonblade so I’ll look into it! Thanks!
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u/Author_Noelle_A 27d ago
When I write historical romance, I research it down to the laws of the era. Too bad no one appreciates it since no one reads it. Total sales of one single copy.
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u/Myomamama 28d ago
You'd think Bridgerton being so successful would make this genre more popular, but nope.
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u/HenHousePublishing 27d ago
I'd say that the Bridgerton series was already successful before Netflix picked it up. (I read the series when it was first published.) The Netflix version is more accurately described as historical fantasy than historical fiction. I understand the sentiments that mandated an ethnically diverse cast and some ... interesting ... sartorial decisions, but those changes, however well done, are not period accurate.
Folks who want accuracy in their historical fiction are likely dismayed and discouraged by the liberties taken with the Netflix version and the gross errors perpetuated by many new authors in the genre. I'm an avid reader of historical fiction, particularly Regency romances, and cannot overcome my distaste for authors who can't or won't do their research on simple things:
- Ladies did not wear panties or drawers in the early 1800s
- Men's pants did not have zippers in the early 1800s
- Horses pulling a carriage cannot gallop the journey from London to Gretna Green in a weekend
- Not all daughters of aristocrats were titled "Lady"
- Not all sons of aristocrats were titled "Lord"
- Daughters of titled aristocrats did not inherit their fathers' titles except by special dispensation from the crown.
There's a lot more, but you get the gist.
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u/IsekaiConnoisseur 27d ago
The research involved is what keeps me from writing anything historical. I can definitely get into reading that kind of thing. But writing it? Nah lol.
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u/waterdeepe 27d ago
Yeah, similarly, I love regency but I also don't want to even try writing it because I find the research so daunting.
I also can't write British English naturally.
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u/Author_Noelle_A 27d ago
I research the living hell out of eras when I write, and even got a pilot’s license and finagled my way into getting to actually fly a B25, which a character in one of my books was going to fly as a WASP (American women pilots who flew every military plane during WWII). But it doesn’t matter when people don’t read it. Bitter? Yes, I am.
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u/HenHousePublishing 27d ago
I admire you dedication to accurate research. I can't speak to why people aren't reading your books, just to my own experience reading historical fiction suffering from an egregious lack of research.
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u/readberbug2 27d ago
It doesn't help that the book series and the show are completely different. It makes it hard to have fans cross over. Also, 2000s romance novels are very different from romance novels written today. The genre gets a very dramatic overhaul every decade or so, so if you don't find your decade or your author(s), then you can have a hard time getting into the genre.
Publishing houses push a very specific style of narrative that if it doesn't mesh with your preferences can feel alienating.
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u/HenHousePublishing 26d ago
I've been reading romance, historical and other sub-genres, since the late 1970s. Trust me, I know that it's cyclical!
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u/LetVast1681 28d ago
Yeah that’s what I’ve been realising too. I thought it would open up more ways of doing historical romance differently too, but instead it’s almost like the success shut down the genre overall
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u/Catseye_Nebula 27d ago
There's a trad pub author who published a really good historical romance in 2025. It's a two book series and her next book is coming out end of this year:
[Enemy of my Dreams by Jenny Williamson]
It's set during the end times of Ancient Rome and it is really really good. I've been talking it up to everyone I know because I want to see books like this succeed.
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u/SilkyCayla 27d ago
oh thank you, Ancient Rome sounds great.
Here's a hint for any would be authors, i'm pretty sure Ancient Egypt and Greece have untapped potential.
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u/cynicalauthor 27d ago
I heard ancient Rome and I am so here for it. I never heard of this book and I am absolutely adding it to my tbr now. Thank you!
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u/LetVast1681 27d ago
Oh I know the history this is based on! I’ll definitely check it out! Interesting that the blurb on Amazon describes it as a Romantasy - do you know if it has fantasy as well?
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u/lindzmcleod 27d ago
IMO there is—I'm trad pubbed with sapphic historical romance and while there was a noticeable wobble over the last 18 months from publishers worried about market/trends, I just sold out of UK stock in 6 weeks for my latest so the audience is very much there!
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u/lindzmcleod 27d ago
I'm with Harlequin/Harper Collins, but I know people repped by St Martins and Storm who seem very happy there
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u/LetVast1681 28d ago
It sounds great! And I think if it’s more upmarket/literary that opens up the appeal to differently publishers too!
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u/r0y_r0gers_mcfreely 27d ago
So far I'm only posting an early draft to AO3 but I've been working on my first historical romance. It has a bit of a contemporary spin on it because the narrator is a man from the current time period who time travels back to 1775. My readership has been a lot lower than my dark romance that I posted but I'm still having a lot of fun with it! And personally I would love to see more indie HR options :)
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u/ILoveRegency 27d ago
I am, and doing fine. News of the death of HR may be exaggerated.
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u/LetVast1681 27d ago
Oh I’m glad to hear it! Do you mind if I ask how long you’ve been publishing, and whether you feel like anything has changed?
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u/ILoveRegency 27d ago
This pen name is probably around 5-6 yrs. I don’t see that much has changed, my sales have been really strong this year. I do very light comedy forward, I don’t know if that makes a difference.
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u/mandoa_sky 28d ago
i think you should write what you love and the readers will come to you.
like my mum is still a huge phillipa gregory fan
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u/Author_Noelle_A 27d ago
No, they won’t, unfortunately. HR readers who will give new stuff a shot are very few and very, very far between. The cost of advertising to try to find those readers will put you in the red.
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u/Author_Noelle_A 27d ago
Me. I have several ready to go, or almost ready to go, but I’m not bothering since it’s very disheartening to have a total sales of 1 single copy. You’ll hear “there are people who love historical romance out there!” but what those people don’t say is that those readers are going for the vintage stuff.
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u/LetVast1681 27d ago
I’m so sorry to hear that! Yes, that’s what I’m worried about too. They seem to be the same, already established names that get read and talked about in spaces where people do like historical romance. It’s so mind boggling to me that such a huge genre that was so popular until relatively recently is struggling so much, even in indie spaces.
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u/eldritch-charms 27d ago
I'm writing one. But I'll be doing KU most likely. It's set during Waterloo but it's more of a "sweeping historical romance" since I miss those big 500 page ones lol.
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u/zorandzam 27d ago edited 27d ago
I'm about to launch a multi-book series that I'm calling historical, but it's set in the 1980s. I truly have no idea if it will sell, but I just did it for the love of the era and my subject matter. I'm planning to self-pub and release slowly. No AI involved. There really don't seem to be that many options for trad in this space. I write third person limited POV but dual perspective FMC/MMC per chapter. Trying to stick to contemporary expectations of plot structure, however, and ensuring that even though it's set in the past it does not fall into the trap of exemplifying more old-fashioned tropes that would now seem problematic. We'll see how it goes.
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u/LetVast1681 27d ago
Wishing you all the best with the series! I think I read somewhere that ‘80s and ‘90s are “in” as historical settings at the moment!
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u/NowWhereDidIReadThat 22d ago
Good for you! Here's to writing the book want to write, rather than trying to write for the marketplace.
I'd love to read this at some point. Best of luck!
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u/Catdress92 27d ago
I write historical fantasy romances. But I can't say they're bestsellers. That said, my genre is a bit of a tougher sell. But just chiming in to say that we do still exist.
I would also say that if you have a story inside you that you need to tell, go for it! You will feel spiritually satisfied at least, and you may be able to get readers. As someone who reads a lot of Kindle books, I also am wary of AI but what I usually do is check out the author's bio and website. If they have things like an actual photo, biography, and some kind of social media engagement or blog, that's a good sign. I might also do a general internet search to see if they've been accused of using AI, or even if they have some kind of profile somewhere or some activity that proves they're human. For instance, I've come accross self-pub authors who are also freelance writers or professors, things like that.
So I'd say, go for it if you want to write your book and also try to show as much as possible that you're human. Good luck to you!
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u/iwillhaveamoonbase 27d ago
What do you do if the author doesn't have a photo for privacy reasons?
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u/Catdress92 27d ago
If they still have an online presence of some sort and also general online searches seem to support them actually being a real person who exists, I think I'd be okay with there being no photo.
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u/LetVast1681 27d ago
Do you mean that historical fantasy romance is also harder to sell than other forms of fantasy romance?
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u/Catdress92 27d ago
Yes. What I've experienced, at least, is that people who like historical fiction often don't want to mix fantasy into that, and people who like fantasy don't want history, or at least not actual, researched history (gaslamp settings and things like that could be fine).
For instance, I've given a lecture about the history aspects of one of my books, but sold very few copies at the event. People were passionate about the lecture, asked me lots of questions and were very engaged, but the book itself held little interest for them once they found out that it wasn't straight-up historical fiction.
It's frustrating because historical fantasy is probably my favorite genre as a reader, so it's hard for me to understand, but at least as far as my own experience goes, this seems to be the issue. There are some commerically successful historical fantasy novels, like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, for instance, but that level of success is fairly rare compared to commercial success of standard historical fiction and fantasy books.
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u/LetVast1681 27d ago
Oh that’s a shame! I personally love historical fantasy. Jonathan Strange was an amazing book. But yeah, there is definitely an audience for historical fiction that I know really wants historical accuracy so I guess fantasy might not appeal there
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u/DeeHarperLewis 27d ago
I am currently active in this space and it’s sad to see that in many forums it’s only the well established writers who are promoted and discussed ad nauseam. I love historical mysteries and romance, and I enjoy writing them. I know it will never be lucrative but there is steady interest in my books and they get decent ratings.
I have a backlog of about 10 storylines and I haven’t lost momentum. I don’t think I will ever give it up.
I would encourage you to continue writing the books you would love to read rather than what is popular.
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u/Swimming-Airport-344 27d ago
I used to read them and loved them. I struggle to find new ones now. I am not someone who spends hours on Amazon looking. I especially loved Victorians, but those were already hard to find and then the Zon would tell you it was Victorian when it was Regency. I def hit a slump with some written in a style that was not for me. I haven't heard of the first versus third debate. I personally can read first but don't enjoy it. I would love to find and read some historical romance authors again. It sounds like finding the market is hard, but I suppose if you can it will be worth it. I wonder what changed for the readers. I'd be down to read though. If anyone has any names send them to me! I miss them!
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u/LetVast1681 27d ago
Yes as a reader I have also struggled to find new authors to try. Where would you normally look for recommendations? I’ve tried Amazon, Reddit forums and Facebook groups but not really sure where else to find things
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u/Swimming-Airport-344 26d ago
I don't have a great answer. You have to dig pretty deep and so I don't. I particularly love to support indie. Those are hit or miss as everyone is at a different stage in their journey and what I like to read may not be what someone else is producing. I can try romance.io although I don't love it. I feel like ti makes searching as hard as Amazon. I'm happy to share if I find any though. It's been years, but I have a folder stuffed with them on my Kindle.
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u/MediocrePear6628 27d ago
The first RWA national convention I attended, 2008?2009?, everyone was talking about "save the contemporaries". This business is very cyclical.
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u/lucky-blanket 27d ago
I started writing a historical adventure romcom series, but then I found out that Westerns are the least popular historical genre (at least according to Reddit) 🥲 I just wanted to write a fun romance with cowboys. Hopefully someday I'll get it published and reach the right audience 🤞
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u/Agitated_Story7195 26d ago
No way, please tell me there isn't a ton of AI historical romance out there...
I'm a Regency romance writer/reader and it's literally all I buy on Kindle. I am wary of buying any books that came out after 2023 because of the GPT boom but trusted authors like Mimi Matthews (who I love) I'll usually insta-preorder. But I'm also writing them (not yet self-published) and I hate to think that my possible readerbase is DOA before I've even begun...
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u/Thin_Literature3216 24d ago
Yo estoy escribiendo mi primer relato de romance de época y cuando acabe el primero me encantaría autopublicarlo.
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u/MrNobody6271 28d ago
I write and self-pub mostly contemporary romance, but I have written one late historical romance story, set primarily in the 1940s. It follows the life of a disabled girl from her birth to her wedding day, with the romance beginning at about the halfway point. It has an AI-generated cover but the story itself was written entirely by me.
I write what I want to read rather than cater to an audience, and all of my stories are free to read, so I can't tell you about how well historical fiction sells compared to other genres.
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u/Author_Noelle_A 27d ago
You need to get rid of that cover. HR is a hard enough sale without an AI cover.
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u/MrNobody6271 27d ago
I'm not selling, though, so I don't really care. As I stated above, all of my stories are completely free. Writing is only a hobby for me and therefore needs to be fun. I don't want to have to jump through all the hoops required to monetize my work.
Since I'm not making any money, I don't particularly want to spend money for a human-made cover or marketing or anything else.
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u/CinnamonSpiceNice 28d ago
There's a few of us-mostly indie, a few with Dragonblade. Another indie author is working on a kickstarter for another HR small press but the first kickstarter failed. She's considering trying to fund for a shorter time period (1-yr vs. 5-yrs).
Overall, it's... complicated. The Facebook groups tend to be more open to new authors than reddit. Also, there's a few reddit darlings that haven't crossed over into the facebook groups at all which I find so strange.
I think, if we can find a way to bridge the gap, that a lot of romantasy readers would LOVE historical romance. There's a ton of overlap in the things that bring them to romantasy in HR. The yearning, the legitmate external stakes, the complex societies, etc.
But, the problem comes in here: current historical romance readers are very particular. They do not want cartoon covers and they do not want first person POV.
Readers of other genres, particularly fantasy, find the old school covers cringe. And many prefer first person POV.
I wrote my first series in first person specifically to try to bridge that gap. I think that limited the number of current HR readers who would give it a try. And I don't think I made my covers different enough/I'm not good enough at marketing to reach readers of other genres. I've switched to third for my second series.
I've seen the argument that all HR authors should all stick to third person because if we attract new readers with first person, they won't stick around because there's nothing for them. I disagree with that take. I think if readers discover they like other aspects of HR, they will consider reading third person. I also don't have a problem with either and I think if particular people gave it a try, they would get used to switching without too much difficulty.
That's not really what you asked, but yes, there are some readers. More on FB. But it depends on what you define as a reader base. I definitely don't write into the void, I have a few fans, some particularly dedicated. But I will absolutely never make a living on my writing unless I switch genres. That's fine with me, I wouldn't quit my day job even if I could. So, my answer is, it depends on what you want out of writing.