Your story must follow these general guidelines to be accepted:

1. Romance. Less Than Three Press is looking for romance stories. Setting, environment, and period are wholly up to the author; LT3 only requires a good, solid romance.

   1. We want to see the relationship develop throughout the course of the story. We do not want to see the characters fall instantly and forever in love in the first thirty pages, and the rest of story be gratuitous sex and zero content. We want a solid plot with solid characters. Lots of sex is not a romantic substitute.

   2. There is nothing to be ashamed of in romances novels. We like the angst, the fluff, the sex, the cheesiness, the fun, the characters, all of it. We want to read romance stories, and any story that hints at being ashamed of that, or seems to throw it in just to meet a requirement, will be immediately rejected. We want stories from people proud and happy with what they write.

2. M/M. We’re primarily looking for M/M fiction. Please do not submit stories that feature M/F, M/M/F, or characters that change gender (male-to-female or vice versa). F/F is also acceptable.

3. SEX. In no way do we require the inclusion of explicit content in your stories. Including explicit content does not increase the chances of your story being accepted; bad sex scenes will most certainly decrease the chances.

4. Creativity. Old school is usually best school, and we’re all familiar with the standard tropes, but that’s no excuse not to remix it or try something new. Things to steer clear from:

   1. Vampires, werewolves, etc. We’ve seen these done the exact same way five thousand times. No angsting vampires, no lone wolves hated by angry packs, etc. Offer something different in a supernatural setting.

   2. Weepy men who are little more than women with dicks. We like to see guy on guy, not pseudo-chick on pseudo-chick.

   3. Gender substitution. Don’t simply take a traditional story, change the female lead to male, and call it done. That’s not creativity, that’s lazy. Try for a unique spin.

   4. Oceans. No Jack Sparrows. No sailors who are secretly in love with each other, one of them gets kidnapped, raped, etc, before they find true love. Every sailor story is exactly like the other. Do something different, or don’t bother.

   5. In keeping with the longstanding traditions of the genre, tentacle fiction is more than welcome so long as it suits the story and has a functional place in it and is not included for reasons of gratuitous sex/rape.

5. Rape. We want no part of it. Gratuitous rape for the sake of easy hurt/comfort or sexual appeal, is not welcome here. Less Than Three does not regard rape as something to be tolerated and found sexually appealing, nor do we condone it as a cheap and easy way to bring characters together.

6. Children. Adults engaging in any manner of sexual activity with minors is unacceptable.

7. Bestiality. We are not interested in people banging animals. PLEASE NOTE this is not the same as anthro. That is more than acceptable. John Doe going out to the barn and doing Barney the Bull is not. In cases of shifting, sex with shifter in animal form is not acceptable.

8. Male Pregnancy. No.

9. Tragedy/Ambiguity. We are not interested in depressing endings, or endings that leave readers confused. As well and often stated, we are interested in romances, and we like our romances to end happily.

10. KINK. BDSM, etc, is welcome, but only if it’s necessary to the story. Including it gratuitously, like sex in general, will get a story rejected.

11. Incest and polyamory. These are acceptable and welcome. However, upon submitting a story for consideration, please state the story contains it, so we are aware and will know that proper warnings need to be posted.

We like to see the classics redone and redone well. We just don’t want to see stories that ‘redo’ something the same way everyone else has ‘redone’ them. We like the classic romantic set ups, we like rewritten fairytales. We’re up for space operas, dragons, elves, magic, whatever. Just, give us a fun, different, romantic spin on it.

Less Than Three Press is always willing and eager to be impressed. If you have something you think we will like, regardless of what we list as liking/not liking, submit it. Try to keep the guidelines in mind, because we can be unbending on some matters, but we like when someone manages to take us by surprise. Good writing is good writing and will always speak for itself.