Romancelandia has been discussing the decline of historical romance for years now, so you’ve likely heard about it. For me, the most alarming warning sign was Harlequin’s recent decision to shut down its long-running historical romance line. That’s a big deal, given that whole generations of readers have grown up reading Harlequin’s historical category romances.

The good news is that historical romance is by no means dead! Instead, it’s increasingly shifting to the indie side of publishing. Today, many historical romance authors self-publish. There are also a number of small and mid-size publishers that still publish historical romance; I’ve worked with a couple of them.

Another bit of good news is that author Andie James wants to add a new small press dedicated to historical romance: Besotted Books.

Besotted Books Commitments

In Andie’s words, Besotted Books is committed to:

• An opportunity to buy subscriptions direct from the company instead of supporting large retailers
• Publishing books the Historical Romance community will love while also expanding the genre by embracing all time periods, locations, and whose stories we are telling
• Allowing new voices into the community and embracing current authors who may be looking for a new home—an alternative to Trad Pub as they turn away from the genre
• No AI. Period. All of our books will be human written, human edited, and human designed
• A place readers can come to find new HistRoms they know are written by real people and that they will love

The “No AI” clause is particularly important to me, because many of the current small presses do use AI, whether in cover design, marketing, or translation. Some authors don’t mind that, but I prefer to support human labor.

Support Historical Romance

As someone who prefers working with a publisher rather than going solo, I whole-heartedly support Besotted Books. Historical romance authors deserve more publishing options, while readers benefit from having alternative options for purchasing books.

I’ve spoken with Andie about Besotted Books, and I know she’s approaching the venture thoughtfully and carefully. Nevertheless, setting up a new publishing house requires a lot of money, and none of us are billionaires.

That’s where readers can help. The Kickstarter for Besotted Books just went live. If you love historical romance and you have the means to support it, I encourage you to do so. If you can’t support financially, please consider sharing the Kickstarter with fellow readers or writers. It’ll take a lot of people to make this work, but I believe we can do it!