Pitch Sessions
**Pitch sessions are filling quickly. We currently still have a few pitch sessions available with Lindsey Faber (editor with Samhain Publishing). If you are interested in a pitch slot, please send an email to info@gccrwa.com for more details.**
Conference attendees may sign up for two pitch appointments. The appointments will be assigned on a first registered, first served basis. Individuals signing up for editor or agent appointments should have a completed manuscript that they are ready to pitch. Each pitch session will last approximately 8 minutes.
The following editors will be accepting pitch appointments:
Megan Records, Assistant Editor at Kensington Publishing
Megan Records, Assistant Editor at Kensington Publishing Corp, has a Bachelor’s degree in English and a Master’s in Publishing. Megan has been at Kensington for 2 1/2 years, and before that worked at an educational publishing house. At Kensington she feels she’s finally found a job that pays her to read the books she was already reading in her spare time.
Ms. Records is hoping to acquire: “paranormal and historical for Zebra, all genres for Brava, and urban fantasy” while at the Silken Sands Conference.
Patience Smith, Senior Editor for Silhouette Romantic Suspense
Patience Smith is the Senior Editor for Silhouette Romantic Suspense. She has been with Harlequin/Silhouette Books since December 1997. Originally from the Northeast, she has lived in France, Connecticut, Ohio and New Mexico and now resides in New York City. She has her master’s degree in French literature, which hasn’t really helped with her work as an editor, and taught French and Latin at Sandia Preparatory School before moving into publishing.
Full guidelines for the Silhouette Romantic Suspense line may be found on the eHarlequin site.
Lindsey Faber, Managing Editor at Samhain Publishing
A lifetime love of reading and a master’s in literature taught Lindsey Faber that she enjoys nothing more than reading great books—and then analyzing the heck out of them. Now she puts these skills to use as Managing Editor for Samhain Publishing, helping talented authors achieve their vision and make their books even better. She’s thrilled to be a part of Samhain, where she’s able to combine her love of great stories with her passion for technology.
Lindsey resides in Cincinnati, but her laptop and a love of travel keep her on the go: to quiet corners of coffeehouses, industry conferences and—when she really needs to get away—Paris, France.
In terms of submissions…Samhain is open to submissions of all genres of romance and erotica, as well as fantasy, urban fantasy and science fiction with strong romantic elements. More information about submissions may be found on the Samhain Submission Page.
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The following agents will be accepting pitch appointments:
Elaine Spencer of the Knight Agency
Elaine Spencer joined The Knight Agency in 2005 after graduating from the University of Georgia with a degree in Literature and Economics. Originally acting as assistant to agency president Deidre Knight, and as TKA’s submissions coordinator, Elaine went on to begin building her own dynamic client list in the summer of 2006. Elaine now represents a diverse list of adult and young adult authors, and handles all of the sub-rights’ licensing for the Knight Agency’s 150+ client list. Her strong background in both literature and economics make her well qualified to juggle both the artistic and the contractual sides of the business, and she prides herself on the one-on-one attention and personal relationships that she is able to develop with each of her clients.
As an avid reader, Elaine is willing to try any author once. Regardless of genre, she is most interested in a unique voice that captivates readers in the opening pages. Elaine is most actively acquiring young adult and middle grade fiction, women’s fiction, romance (all subgenres), engaging commercial fiction and narrative non-fiction.
Elaine is not interested in children’s or picture books, horror, poetry, screenplays, short story collections, history, westerns, straight fantasy or science-fiction.
Elaine lives in Athens, Georgia. In her spare time, she can most likely be found curled up poolside with a good book and her beloved Westie, Claude. To learn more about Elaine and the Knight Agency, visit www.knightagency.net.
Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency
Laura Bradford has fifteen years of professional experience as a literary agent, editor, writer and bookseller. Laura began her career as a literary agent at Manus and Associates Literary Agency and formed Bradford Literary Agency in 2001. She considers herself an editorial-focused agent and takes a hands-on approach to developing proposals and manuscripts with her authors for the most appropriate markets. The mission of Bradford Literary Agency is to form true partnerships with their clients and build long-term relationships that extend from writing the first draft through the length of the author’s career. Her recent sales include books placed with Berkley, Grand Central, Harlequin/Silhouette, Kensington, Spice Books, Pocket, Virgin Books, Avon, Dorchester, Hyperion, NAL, Eos, and Mira Books. She continues to actively build her client list and is currently seeking work in the following genres: Romance (historical, romantic suspense, paranormal, category, contemporary, erotic), urban fantasy, women’s fiction, mystery, thrillers and young adult as well as some select non-fiction.
She is a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR) and Romance Writers of America and she is an RWA-recognized agent.
Joyce Holland of the D4EO Literary Agency
Joyce Holland recently became an associate agent with Bob Diforio and D4EO Literary Agency (www.d4eo.com). She is attending Silken Sands scouting for new authors. Her interests include romance, science fiction, mystery, horror, YA, and nonfiction of all kinds. She was a newspaper columnist for several years and is a published author of three books and over two dozen short stories. Joyce knows what it feels like to be on the other side of the pitching table.
Because she is new to the agenting world, she’s open to just about anything, and she has a different approach to finding new authors. The best way to interest her, outside of a killer log line, is to bring a one page synopsis and the first three pages of your manuscript to your session. Joyce was a reader for FUTURES MAGAZINE for two years, so it doesn’t take her long to recognize talent when she sees it. Of the hundreds of manuscripts she has read since joining D4EO she has found only one that took her breath away. She’s hungry for that jewel in the slush pile. Like all agents, she is looking for a one or two sentence “high concept” pitch that will knock her socks off. In lieu of that, she wants to meet passionate characters with believable conflicts.
Joyce is past president and current conference coordinator for Emerald Coast Writers in Florida. She and her husband, Tony, live on a small barrier island, but spend much of their time traveling the rivers of America on their trawler, Code One.