Christopher Marlowe was among the most popular poets in early-17th century England. His fame depended on posthumous collaborations, exchanges that were orchestrated by his publishers. In this essay I suggest that we should see the non-authorial production of Marlowe not as an obstacle to be removed by literary scholarship, but rather, as the defining feature of Marlowe’s poetry. Focusing on the community of the publishers of Hero and Leander and other poetic texts associated with Marlowe, and exploring the literary communities imagined and projected by their publications, I argue that the shape of the corpus of Marlowe’s poetry reflects its production, continuing reproduction, and circulation in a literary scene whose participants looked for, offered, and exchanged manuscripts, wrote and ridiculed prefatory puffs, read, commented on, praised, and dismissed texts, and sought cultural and social distinction through such display of their connectedness and discernment. This shift of focus from the author to the literary scene in which epyllia were written and circulated also connects the study of publication and authorship to the study of literary publics.