Why Your Love Stories Matter ❤️🔥👑
Hot Flashes, Hot Dukes, and the Power of Midlife Romance. Huzzah for 2025! Empress Editions is now accepting fiction submissions!
✨ A vibrant space for midlife women, The Empress now reaches over two million readers through our networks of networks. ✨ From bestselling author Alisa Kennedy Jones. ✨ If you enjoy content about midlife, humor, and agency, I’d love to welcome you as part of our community. ✨ For only $50/year ($4.17 a month!) or $5/month, you’ll gain access to all my articles, Monday columns, book clubs, and virtual events.
Fellow Empresses, Happy New Year! How are you?
Let’s talk about love stories—yours, mine, and why they matter. Especially as we gear up to open fiction submissions for Empress Editions today—January 1, 2025.
Here’s the thing: I’ve been a failure at love. Consistently. Apart from one twelve-year exception, I’ve mostly gotten it spectacularly wrong.
A few months ago, at a dinner party, a man I didn’t know asked what I do. Normally, if I find the asker annoying, I claim to be something soul-crushingly dull—like a life insurance actuary—which effectively ends the conversation. But that night, too many people knew me. So, I admitted the truth: I’m a writer.
“Oh? What do you write?” he asked.
I groaned. “Mostly love stories.”
“Oh, so like Fifty Shades!?” He scoffed into his drink.
“So, what if I do?” I cocked my head at him, daringly.
(I don’t. I’m more of a rom-com girl.)
But, Ghaaaagh! He was one of those. A guy who thought he had “literary leanings”, a guy far too refined to recognize the brilliance contained in tales of midlife romance.
But here’s what his “leanings” miss:
Midlife love stories matter because they challenge the narrative that romance belongs only to the young, straight, white, neurotypical, and thin.
In a world that renders midlife women invisible—mocking our desirability and value after childbearing years—the overwhelming success of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story speaks volumes. With 148.28 million hours watched in its debut week, that series didn’t just break records; it shattered stereotypes. It showed the beauty, complexity, and resilience of love in midlife.
What midlife woman doesn’t carry a story? Perhaps you were ghosted (or worse betrayed) by someone utterly undeserving of your time. Maybe you were told you were “too much” or “not enough.” And yet, through that pain, you persevered.
The truth is that the best love stories are rooted in pain. By midlife, we’ve mastered it: heartbreak, loss, disappointment. These experiences give our stories depth. They teach us that real intimacy is less about taking off your clothing and much more about taking off your “I’m fine.” They teach us what it means to wrestle with a heart in conflict with itself—the cornerstone of great storytelling.
Romance at this stage reflects the bespoke nature of midlife itself. Just as perimenopause presents a dazzling array of 60 reported symptoms by the Cleveland Clinic* (many sources cite more than 100), our love lives are equally multifaceted. From romantic comedies of errors to the tender curiosity of historical romance and the escapist wonders of romantasy, these stories are as diverse as the women who live them.
And yet, we’re made to feel ashamed of these stories—the very ones that bring us joy. Society dismisses our narratives as frivolous, unserious, trash.
But we know better.
The romance genre is revolutionary because it centers women’s experiences, desires, and agency. The intimacy portrayed isn’t just about heaving bosoms or throbbing members (though there’s room for that too); it’s about transformation. It’s about a woman awakening to her own pleasure and power—taking charge of her story, her choices, and her life.
That’s why midlife love stories deserve to be celebrated, not silenced.
At Empress Editions, we’re here to reclaim the narrative. Starting today, January 1, 2025, we’re calling for midlife romance submissions that reflect the wild, vibrant tapestry of this stage in life.
What we’re looking for:
Stories between 70,000–90,000 words.
Heroines with distinct voices—snarky, heartfelt, clever, or calm—navigating love with authenticity and depth.
Narratives that explore generational, familial, and romantic relationships with nuance and grit.
Representation across race, class, orientation, disability, neurodivergence, and chronic illness.
Bonus points for humor as desiccated and light as a fart. For us, Fleabag was as much a romance as Bridgerton.
Send us 20–50 pages of your completed, PDF-watermarked manuscript, along with a concise 500-word synopsis and your contact information. Submissions are open to agented and un-agented authors alike. Email us at hello@empresseditions.net with “Submission” and your title in the subject line. There is no hard and fast deadline. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis.
It takes guts to write about love, especially when the world dismisses your stories as trivial. But we’re the heirs of Queen Charlotte, Jane Austen, Nancy Mitford, and countless other women who’ve defied the odds to tell their truths.
So, make f*cking way. Your love stories matter. And we can’t wait to read them.
About Our Books
Every Empress Editions book is a testament to exquisite craftsmanship and thoughtful design. Each title is graced with a signature poppy-colored matte dust jacket, setting a vibrant tone before the first page is even turned. Inside, bespoke full-color textiles enliven the endpapers and bookmark, adding a touch of artistry to every volume. The weighty, cream-colored paper lends a luxurious heft, perfectly complementing the timeless elegance of ITC Baskerville typography. Empress Editions is more than a publisher; it is a curator of literary treasures—beautifully crafted books that resonate deeply with midlife women, offering voices that reflect their own, all at an accessible price.
Get on the list for our debut title—coming in April!
In the meantime, want to support us right now? Here’s an easy (and elegant) way to do it: grab a piece of our new official merch! From shirts emblazoned with “Make fcking way”* (complete with our signature crown graphic) to mugs sporting the Empress Editions logo, these items make bold statements and perfect gifts.
Once you’ve got yours, snap a photo of yourself rocking it or sipping from it, and share it along with a link to this story. Not only will you look amazing, but you’ll also help amplify the message that midlife love stories—and the voices behind them—matter.
Happy 2025. Stay safe out there.
Yours in Grandeur & Deep Sh*t,
*An earlier version of the newsletter cited an old stat from Cleveland Clinic. Apologies!
Congrats on this endeavor! I think if, G-d forbid, something happened to my beloved, I wouldn’t bother dating. I love my alone time and the only reason to have a companion is to make sure the other is still breathing in old age. In that case, a phone system with a gal pal or one of those ugly necklace alerts would do the trick. It’s a rare thing to be lucky in love twice. So maybe that’s where a delightful fictional story fills the gap. Kudos! 👏👏👏🎉🎊🎈
Fantastic! Congratulations on your publishing enterprise!
Alisa, would you like to write a guest essay for my blog about your new publishing effort? I publish a guest blog by a woman writer or publisher past midlife on the tenth of each month. Reach to my mailing list and platform is over 6000.
And given that my book on writing, editing, publishing and marketing Seasoned Romance launched last August, I'd love to brainstorm about other ways to collaborate.
PS Alisa, may I send you a comp e-copy of "Write & Sell a Well-Seasoned Romance?"
See: http://www.stellafosse.com