Editors and publishers confirmed for Pitchfest
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Cassie Knight, Publisher at Champagne Book Group
Currently looking for:
Champagne Book Group (CBG) has been open and publishing electronic fiction since 2004. CBG’s goal and vision is to deliver to readers quality books crafted with care and infused with passion to transport readers beyond their imagination.
For this pitch session, we are only seeking romances across the sub-genres (except for erotica which is better served by other publishers). In particular:
- Contemporary romance (no highly explicit or erotic)
- Royal Romance
- Sweet Romance
- Holiday Romance (particularly Christmas)
- Historical romance
- Romantic suspense
- Urban fantasy and paranormal romance (including science fiction romance)
About Cassie
Cassie Knight has worked in the publishing industry as an author and editor for over twenty years. She has taken her love of the industry in a new way and is the proud owner of CBG. In addition to running a successful digital-first publishing company, her passion about the publishing industry and the business of writing, especially within the romance genre, has led to her actively mentoring writers and teaching numerous workshops, in-person and online, for Savvy Authors, Kiss of Death, San Diego Romance Writers of America and the Greater Seattle Romance Writers. Her greatest joy is working with authors and bringing readers great books.
Tule Publishing
Currently looking for:
#OwnVoices stories, Contemporary romances with fresh takes on classic romance tropes, Romantic comedy, Holiday romances (including Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, etc.) and Mysteries (including thrillers, cozy mystery series, police procedurals, women sleuths, etc.)About Tule Publishing:
Since being founded in 2013, Tule Publishing has published almost 900 books by more than 200 authors from all over the world. Although Tule began with a focus on contemporary romance, today Tule acquires all genres of romance and women's fiction, as well as mystery titles.
Lydia Sharp, Senior Editor, Acquisitions Manager, and Assistant Publisher at Entangled Publishing
Currently looking for: Young adult, new adult, and adult.
- In Young Adult: ANY genre with romance.
- In New Adult: contemporary romance, sci-fi romance, urban fantasy and paranormal romance.
- In Adult: contemporary romance, sci-fi romance, urban fantasy and paranormal romance, historical romance, upmarket women’s fiction with or without romance, high-concept thrillers with little to no romance.
Also seeking lead characters with minority identities in all of the above.
About Lydia:
Lydia Sharp is a Senior Editor for Entangled Publishing, the Acquisitions Manager, and Assistant Publisher. Since joining Entangled in 2013, Lydia has worked with authors who are New York Times bestsellers and USA Today bestsellers, as well as helped several debut authors see their dream of being published come true. Lydia is continually on the lookout for new authors and fresh voices to add to Entangled's list, and would especially love to see more diversity in submissions.
About Entangled Publishing:
Entangled Publishing is an independent publisher of romantic fiction, in the adult, new adult, and young adult markets, distributed by Macmillan. Since its first release in 2011, Entangled has grown to thirteen imprints, with titles appearing on the USA Today Bestsellers list and the New York Times Bestsellers list, as well as recipients of various literary awards. Every month, Entangled releases several titles in digital-first format and selective titles in simultaneous print and digital formats. Our books are available at major online retailers around the world, and we have a joint partnership with St. Martin’s Press that enables us to showcase a select number of books in mass-market paperback. Many of our titles are also released in audio format. Our marketing team prides itself on thinking outside of the box while remaining sharp, savvy, and connected. Every book we publish receives a unique, custom-tailored marketing plan that we revisit regularly to ensure continued sales. We are actively seeking diverse authors and diverse books across all imprints, and we look forward to reading your stories.
Deb Werksman, Editorial Director at Sourcebooks Casablanca
Currently looking for:
Deb Werksman is acquiring mainstream romance fiction and romantic women’s fiction, with a powerfully compelling hook and commercial appeal.
About Deb:
Deb Werksman has been at Sourcebooks for almost 23 years before which she owned her own publishing company. She is the editorial director of romance fiction and acquires romance and general fiction. Sourcebooks is known for its sales and marketing, and it’s commitment to building authors’ careers.
Pride Publishing from the Totally Entwined Group
Currently looking for: LGBT+ Romance Fiction in all subgenres including romantic suspense, crime and thriller, BDSM and cowboys/Western. We are also accepting submissions to our seasonal collections, based around Spring, Summer, Halloween and Christmas.
Pride Publishing is on the lookout for LGBT+ Romance Fiction in all subgenres including romantic suspense, crime and thriller, BDSM and cowboys/Western. We are also accepting submissions to our seasonal collections, based around Spring, Summer, Halloween and Christmas. Check out the publisher website below for more information: https://www.totallyentwinedgroup.com/submissions/submission-calls-pride-publishing/ Stories of 10-100k. Series also welcomed.
About Totally Entwined Group:
We were established back in 2006 and we’ve been busy producing and supplying the very best fiction in the market ever since. Our flagship publishing house, Totally Bound Publishing, has been offering romantic and erotic romance titles for eight years. With an author base of more than four hundred talented authors and a loyal reader base in the US and the UK and increasing around the world, we release up to ten brand-new and totally irresistible titles each week, and are growing at a fantastic pace.
The Totally Entwined Group is known for innovation, passion, publishing excellence and quality, and offers the best stimulation for the imagination. The team at Totally Entwined provide a unique service to our authors and readers. We are a royalty paying, full-service Publisher. This means that there are no fees to the author to become published with us. Brought together by a mutual love of outstanding fiction, we offer a mass of business experience in the form of editors, artists, marketers, IT technicians, international rights and support staff to meet all of your needs.
We love what we do and are totally dedicated and committed to providing the best service that we can to our authors and our readers. Totally Entwined Group comprises three publishing imprints – Totally Bound Publishing (erotic romance fiction), Pride Publishing (LGBT fiction) and Finch Books (Young Adult fiction), publishing over 350 authors internationally.
Learn more about Pride Publishing and the Totally Entwined Group!
Totally Bound Publishing from the Totally Entwined Group
Currently looking for: Totally Bound Publishing welcomes sexy, smart romance fiction in any subgenre. MF, MFM or more (reverse harem) – we’re looking for the following genres in particular, or why not mix it up and combine the genres:
- - Billionaire
- - Shifter billionaire
- - Royalty
- - Athletes/celebrities
- - Dominance and Submission
- - Mafia/Bad Boys
About Totally Entwined Group:
We were established back in 2006 and we’ve been busy producing and supplying the very best fiction in the market ever since. Our flagship publishing house, Totally Bound Publishing, has been offering romantic and erotic romance titles for eight years. With an author base of more than four hundred talented authors and a loyal reader base in the US and the UK and increasing around the world, we release up to ten brand-new and totally irresistible titles each week, and are growing at a fantastic pace.
The Totally Entwined Group is known for innovation, passion, publishing excellence and quality, and offers the best stimulation for the imagination. The team at Totally Entwined provide a unique service to our authors and readers. We are a royalty paying, full-service Publisher. This means that there are no fees to the author to become published with us. Brought together by a mutual love of outstanding fiction, we offer a mass of business experience in the form of editors, artists, marketers, IT technicians, international rights and support staff to meet all of your needs.
We love what we do and are totally dedicated and committed to providing the best service that we can to our authors and our readers. Totally Entwined Group comprises three publishing imprints – Totally Bound Publishing (erotic romance fiction), Pride Publishing (LGBT fiction) and Finch Books (Young Adult fiction), publishing over 350 authors internationally.
Learn more about Totally Bound Publishing and the Totally Entwined Group!
Finch Books from the Totally Entwined Group
Yelena Casale, Chief Marketing Officer of City Owl Press, Executive Editor
Currently looking for: Acquiring for the main line of City Owl Press.
- Historical Romance - ancient, medieval and Renaissance only (please no Regency)
- Urban Fantasy with strong characters
- Contemporary Romance with interesting plots and settings.
I'm looking for exciting, well-paced plots with strong but flawed characters. No stand-alone novellas. I'm particularly looking for series, or potential series, as we are interested in developing an author's career.
About Yelena:
YELENA CASALE, YELENA CASALE, co-founder of City Owl Press, is a USA Today Bestselling Author and editor, who highly prizes quality and professionalism. She earned a Master of Science in Publishing from New York University and has always been interested in everything literature and publishing. Over the past decade, she has edited numerous fiction and non-fiction works, including novels, short stories, articles and business documentation for a variety of organizations, charities, and presses. She’s a highly experienced social media strategist and marketing expert. She is keen to share a wealth of knowledge with authors, bringing her editorial skills, expertise, and great enthusiasm to the mix. She loves strong urban fantasy and paranormal romance, as well as medieval, Renaissance and Native American historical romance.
Sword and Silk Books
Currently looking for:
We are currently open to almost anything except middle grade, children’s books, erotica, non-fiction, and poetry. However, we are actively looking for gripping mystery/thriller, ghostly paranormal, and horror novels with just the right amount of creepiness. These can range in audience from young adult through to, and including, adult. In particular, we’d love to see books with the following or that include the following themes:
- A protagonist with a ghost sidekick or love interest
- Dark academia with a mystery element that can compare at least a little to Nancy Drew or Riverdale
- A story featuring mermaids or sirens as main characters
- Contemporary thrillers that take place in small towns
- Brooding, seemingly ageless love interests like Geralt in The Witcher
- Anything #ownvoices
- LGBTQIA+ stories, in particular ones that explore asexuality
- Books that are set outside of the USA. We’d love to see something set in a snowy climate!
- New adult / college stories that explore tough topics surrounding growing up and / or moving away
- Dual POV
About Sword and Silk Books:
Sword and Silk Books is a small traditional publishing company, celebrating womxn of all walks of life. The publishing business can be a lonely place where everyone feels like they are competing against each other. S&S seeks to be a place of support, learning, and growth.
At Sword and Silk, we work with our authors every step of the way on their literary journey, helping to bring out the most from their work. From editing, to marketing and publication, Sword and Silk helps our authors produce high quality, interesting and entertaining books.
Learn more about Sword and Silk Books!
Jean L. Cooper, Changeling Press
Currently looking for:
- Reverse Harem
- Sci-Fi/Futuristic
- Dark and Urban Fantasy
- Paranormal
- Action Adventure
- BDSM
- Guilty Pleasures (Contemporary Erotic Romance)
- Women's Erotic Romance. (We do not publish Erotica.)
- Please see the complete list here
While there should be both highly erotic and romantic elements to the book, relationships and endings should be plot driven. We don't demand your characters trot off to get married at the end of the book, though we do ask for a HEA(Happy Ever After) or, in the case of serials, a HFN(Happy For Now).
We've only got one heat level -- over-the-top hot! We can handle anything you send us as long as it meets our guidelines (Content must be legal for an over 21 audience and geared toward a primarily female readership). We do not accept simultaneous submissions (An author should not send the same book to several publishers at the same time). We do accept multiple submissions (An author may send us several books at the same time).
Length: We accept submissions from 20 to 40 thousand words for single titles. Serials from unsigned authors must be submitted as a completed set (open-ended series need to include the first three finished books).
About Jean:
I am a professional librarian who has worked for more than 10 years as a freelance editor and proofreader, particularly in electronic format. My experience as a cataloger has been useful in developing excellent proofreading skills and attention to detail. I have written and published several reference books. I am an insatiable reader and have wide-ranging tastes in literature. My experience at Changeling Press includes primarily contemporary, science fiction and fantasy romances, although I've worked on all genres. Looking for all information as listed above with an emphasis on science fiction romance.
Melinda Collins, Editor Owl City Press
Currently looking for: Accepting queries for the Mystic Owl imprint
I’m looking for Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy. Not only am I looking for a strong romance thread, but I’d love to have true-to-life emotions, vivid world-building, flawed but lovable/redeemable heroines/heroes, and a HEA or HEA-for-now ending.
I'm looking for exciting, well-paced plots with strong but flawed characters. No stand-alone novellas. I'm particularly looking for series, or potential series, as we are interested in developing an author's career.
About Melinda:
Melinda Collins is an award-winning author who brings in over a decade of experience in the industry that includes being a multi-time graduate of Lawson’s Writing Academy and an uber dedicated critique partner. Her strengths lie in deep editing and infusing strong, visceral emotion, body language, and the use of rhetorical devices to deepen the psychological connection for the reader. She absolutely loves paranormal and fantasy stories, though they must have strong plots, vivid worldbuilding, relatable characters, and romance—the higher the tension and steam factor, the better.
Theresa Cole, Editor, Owl City Press
Currently looking for: Accepting queries for both City Owl Press and Mystic Owl
I'm especially looking for new adult and adult paranormal romance, urban/dark fantasy, and sci-fi romance, but I'm open to looking at other romance sub-genres, as well. (All paranormal species welcome, but I'm not a huge fan of ghosts or zombies.)
*Please keep in mind that contemporary isn't my top choice, so to win me over to one, the writing and voice need to be exceptional.
I'm looking for exciting, well-paced plots with strong but flawed characters. No stand-alone novellas. I'm particularly looking for series, or potential series, as we are interested in developing an author's career.
About Theresa:
THERESA COLE has been working in the publishing industry since 2009. She’s edited across many genres and worked with several award-winning authors. Theresa specializes in paranormal romance and urban fantasy, but any story with compelling characters and an interesting plot will definitely grab her attention. Her true love will always be gritty, dark, sink-your-teeth-in paranormal romance with the old-school feel of JR Ward or Lara Adrian, but don’t let that stop you from sending her your paranormal romcom. (She’s been hunting for a paranormal Hart of Dixie since she watched the television series ten years ago.) If you can make her laugh, cry, or sit on the edge of her seat while taking her on an escape from the ordinary, send it her way. Theresa was born and raised in Michigan’s “tip of the mitt”, where she still resides. Wife to the best husband ever and mom to five fab men, she loves sunshine, coffee, camping, and motorcycle riding. Find her and her wish list on Twitter at @TheresaMCole.