Editors and publishers confirmed for Pitchfest
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Christina Herrera at Romantica Publishing
Currently looking for:
We love a book that makes us laugh out loud and has us begging for more! We especially want series, including fantasy with romance and contemporary romance. Additional subplots in a romance are great too. We are focusing on the closed-door or sweet heat levels. We are also huge fans of Christian Romance! If your book is PG or closed-door romance, please consider submitting your book to us.
About Christina:
Christina has a bachelor's in Creative Writing. She is a bestselling author of eight books. She founded Romantica Publishing because she believed the world needed more publishers who shared her values. She has been writing books since 2014. She passed a grammar test from one of the most prestigious publishers in America. She has years of industry experience working for multiple publishers and a movie producer. She believes no dream is too big to pursue.
Kelly Moran at Rowan Prose Publishing
Currently looking for:
Kelly will be looking for pitches in horror/thriller, paranormal romance, rom-com, YA, paranormal, horror romance, and select cozy mysteries. She's looking for unique voices and great world-building. She's especially seeking Hill House vibes, witchy elements, fae or shifters, serial killer, relevant storylines, hilarious meet-cutes, and strong female leads. BIPOC and LGBTQ+ voices welcome.
About Kelly and Rowan Prose Publishing:
Rowan Prose Publishing is a boutique publisher of genre fiction. By authors. For authors. Find your next great read!
Rachel Gilmer at Sourcebooks
Currently looking for:
is looking for character-driven projects with diverse voices across genres such as Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Romance, and Contemporary Fantasy. Her preferences include cozy or warm fantasy, high-heat and dark romance, supernatural and psychological thrillers, and gothic or folk horror, with a focus on projects that blend genres or bring fresh perspectives.
About Rachel:
Rachel Gilmer, an associate editor at Sourcebooks
Janet Bruins at Picnic Heist Publishing
Currently looking for:
At Picnic Heist Publishing, we publish beautifully crafted picture books that celebrate cultural heritage, intergenerational stories, and a sense of wonder. We are currently looking for:
Picture books (fiction and narrative nonfiction) with strong storytelling, engaging characters, and a fresh perspective.
Stories that highlight cultural traditions, family connections, and community values.
Playful, imaginative, and slightly offbeat stories with a timeless appeal.
We are not looking for:
Traditional American holiday books (e.g., Christmas, Thanksgiving).
Stories that are overly moralistic or lack a strong narrative arc.
Books that do not align with our focus on cultural heritage, unity, and shared experiences.
About Janet and Picnic Heist Publishing:
Janet Bruins is the founder and publisher of Picnic Heist Publishing, a small press dedicated to publishing picture books that celebrate cultural connections and the richness of storytelling traditions. With a strong editorial team that brings experience from the Big Five publishers, she collaborates with authors and illustrators to develop books that captivate young readers and families. Founded in 2024, Picnic Heist Publishing is committed to producing thoughtfully crafted, beautifully illustrated children’s books that inspire curiosity and a love of storytelling. Our goal is to amplify meaningful stories that reflect the world’s many cultures and foster a sense of connection across generations.
Holly Ingraham at Alcove Press and Crooked Lane
Currently looking for:
For Alcove Press, Holly is looking for:
Upmarket women’s fiction
Book club fiction with a commercial hook
Family dramas
Witty rom-coms
Cozy romantasy
On the Crooked Lane side, she is looking for:
High-concept thrillers with strong female protagonists
Locked room mysteries
Amateur sleuths
Psychological suspense
Overall, she is especially drawn to complex family dynamics, female friendships, motherhood, and moral dilemmas, as well as diverse casts and underrepresented voices. Holly would love to receive projects perfect for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ali Hazelwood, Emily Henry, Jesse Q. Sutanto and Rachel Hawkins.
About Holly:
Senior Editor Holly Ingraham is an award-winning editor with over fifteen years of industry experience. During her career, she has worked at BookEnds Literary, spent ten years as an in-house acquisitions editor for St. Martin’s Press, and launched Holly Ingraham Editorial in 2018. She joined Alcove Press and Crooked Lane Books in early 2022.
Jocelyn Travis at Sourcebooks
Currently looking for:
Adult romance and fiction with a fresh hook. I especially love stories with bold characters, found family, and a strong setting/immersive world that readers can escape into. Pitches that celebrate diversity and represent different cultures, communities, and marginalized groups are welcome and loved!
Please send me contemporary romance, small town, cozy fantasy, contemporary fantasy, romantasy, uplit fiction with romantic elements, book club fiction, friendship stories.
I am open to atmospheric horror, gothic, speculative fiction, dark academia, magical realism.
No dark romance; no romances with social media influencers or reality TV.
No thriller, mystery, or suspense.
No historical fiction.
No YA or children’s pitches.
About Jocelyn:
Jocelyn Travis’s love for reading started long before she began her career in publishing. Now an assistant editor and member of the romance and genre fiction team at Sourcebooks, she is never short on titles to add to her TBR! She shares Sourcebook’s mission to reach as many people as possible through books and the idea that Books. Change. Lives—for readers and for authors. When she’s not in a cozy sun-lit corner editing or sucked into an immersive story, she’s at the beach, singing in church, watching a K-drama, hanging with friends, trying new foods, or planning her next dream travel destination.
Josh Gregory at Albert Whitman
Currently looking for:
Picture books
Chapter books
Middle grade
Young adult fiction
I’m especially drawn to stories that focus on creativity, self-expression, and breaking with norms—books that encourage readers to push themselves in new directions, challenge preconceived notions, and pursue any goals they might have, no matter how seemingly out of reach. I want to read about characters who come from diverse backgrounds or have unique perspectives, who think outside the box and aren’t afraid to be different.
I appreciate a strong authorial voice and unconventional approaches to storytelling, but I gravitate toward characters and situations that are rooted in reality. That said, I’m not entirely opposed to fantastical settings or speculation about the future, so long as there are strong connections to real-world concerns. And while I’m not terribly interested in overtly comedic books, I am a firm believer that there is room for a little humor in even the most serious subject matter.
About Josh:
A lifelong reader and accumulator of books, Josh Gregory has equal appreciation for a good story and a nice-looking cover. Before joining Albert Whitman, he spent more than 10 years writing and editing children’s nonfiction.
Learn more about Josh and Albert Whitman
Tess Jones at Egret Lake Books
Currently looking for:genres of romance and women’s fiction
Egret Lake Books is accepting queries for completed manuscripts in the genres of romance and women’s fiction. We are looking for authors who want to partner to grow their careers with multiple books. Some books I’ve enjoyed are Lucy Score’s romance books, Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series, and women’s fiction books like Book Lovers, Where’d You Go Bernadette, The Vanishing Half, and Bridget Jones Diary. More information on our wish list can be found at http://egretlakebooks.com/submissions/.
About Tess and Egret Lake Books:
Tess Jones is the owner and lead editor at Egret Lake Books, a small indie publisher based in the greater Seattle area that publishes women’s fiction and romance. “As a publisher, designer, and editor, I enjoy working with authors on every aspect of their books. From submission through release and beyond we work closely to create great stories that readers will love while also growing their author brand.”
Tova Seltzer, Editor, Holiday House
Currently looking for:
I am looking for picture books, primarily literary fiction or high-concept nonfiction. I value lyrical/”voicey” prose with each word carefully chosen, and above all, seek to be surprised by a fresh idea or an unconventional approach. I’m especially looking for books that are story-forward and have a strong narrative arc, whether fiction or nonfiction. I’m also partial to books touching on art and design (triple points for architecture/interior design).
About Tova and Holiday House:
ova Seltzer (she/her) is an editorial assistant at Neal Porter Books, an imprint of the boutique children’s publisher Holiday House, Inc. Since joining NPB in 2022, she has been honored to aid in the creation of numerous critically acclaimed picture books, such as Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith’s My Baba’s Garden, Carin Berger’s In the Night Garden, and Nikki Grimes, Jerry Pinkney, and Brian Pinkney’s A Walk in the Woods. She lives in Jersey City with a black cat named Temerity.