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conferences :: 2012 editors & agents

Editors & agents

Brenda Chin, Senior Editor
Harlequin Blaze
Website: Harlequin Blaze
Bio: Brenda Chin has been with Harlequin for twenty-three years. During that time, she's had the opportunity to work on several of Harlequin's series, including Superromance, Romance & Presents, Temptation and even Regency Romance. Now though, she's the Senior Editor for Blaze, and is always looking for talented new authors. In her spare time, she enjoys all sorts of outdoor adventures...including luring unsuspecting authors into joining her on kayaking expeditions. On the positive side, she hasn't lost one yet. Brenda lives near Toronto, in Ontario cottage country, with her husband and a houseful of pets.
Acquiring: TBA

Workshops: Everything I Wanted to Know About Writing I learned in Series Romance

Jill Corcoran, Agent
Herman Agency, Inc.
Website: Herman Agency

Bio: With an English degree from Stanford University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago, Jill has marketed everything from sneakers to cereal at Leo Burnett Advertising, LA Gear, Mattel, and at her own consulting company, LAUNCH! New Product Marketing. Jill is also a children’s book author and poet.
Acquiring: YA, Middle Grade, and Chapter Books

Deni Dietz, Senior Editor

Five Star
Website: Five Star and www.denisedietz.com

Bio:Deni Dietz has been in the publishing business for over 20 years, and has been reading romantic fiction for longer than that. When she was in grade school she tried to hide her mom's hardcover Gone With the Wind inside her Dick and Jane reader. She got caught, learned her lesson, and hid her mom's paperbacks instead. Deni still feeels the same sense of joy and discovery when she reads a non-clichéd, well-written, character-driven novel. She says she wants to BE THERE, in the scene. For example, she doesn't want to know that General Santa Anna was captured in 1836. She prefers to know that he was naked except for his underpants. Published in crime fiction, women's fiction and historical romance, Deni's novels include the bestselling Ellie Bernstein/Lt. Peter Miller "diet club" mystery series. Deni's The Landlord’s Black-Eyed Daughter, written as Mary Ellen Dennis, was selected as one of Booklist's Top Ten books of the year. As an author, she has "been there, done that," so she tries to respond to queries within two weeks, submissions within 8 to 10 weeks. Deni's long list of authors include Kate Flora, Maggie Sefton, John Lamb, Gabriella Anderson, Jonnie Jacobs, and Nancy Cohen. Deni says when she offers a first-book author a contract she does a Snoopy dance.

Acquiring: Romantic Suspense and all Mystery sub-genres, including but not limited to Cozy, Hard-boiled, P.I., Traditional, Historical, and Paranormal.

Workshops: Email Queries That Are Written Like Tweets Won’t Fly: How To Submit Electronically

Michelle Grajkowski, Agent
3 Seas Literary Agency
Website: 3 Seas Literary
Bio: From the moment Michelle Grajkowski first opened the doors to the 3 Seas Literary Agency in August of 2000, she has been living her dream. (What could be better than surrounding yourself with amazing authors and their exciting and imaginative books?) Since then, she’s successfully sold more than 400 projects into all the major publishing houses. Currently she represents 35 authors, including New York Times Bestselling Authors Katie MacAlister, Kerrelyn Sparks and C.L. Wilson. Michelle primarily represents romance, women’s fiction, young adult and middle grade fiction. She is currently looking for fantastic writers with a voice of their own. When not curled up with a great manuscript, Michelle loves to spend time with her husband, children and her two crazy puppies, who refuse to grow up, Libby and Gizmo. Michelle has been bitten by that Twitter bug where she tweets all things publishing, basketball, chocolate and any other impractical thoughts that strike her fancy! Please follow her at www.twitter.com/threeseaslit.
Acquiring: Romance, women’s fiction, YA, and middle grade
Workshop: The Write Fit – An Insider’s Look at Forming an Effective Author-Agent Team (with author Winnie Griggs)

Rose Hilliard, Editor
St. Martin’s Press
Website: St. Martin's Press
Bio: Rose Hilliard is an editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she handles romance, women’s fiction, young adult and humor. She’s worked at both Time Warner Book Group and Penguin’s New American Library before moving to St. Martin’s Press in 2006.
Acquiring: Romance, Women’s fiction, YA, and humor.

Carolyn McCray, Founder
Indie Book Collective
Website: Indie Book Collective
Bio: Carolyn McCray, founder of the Indie Book Collective, co-author of Dollars & Sense: The Definitive Guide to Self-publishing Success, and Kindle bestselling author, took a career from scratch and turned it into a six figure success story. Writing across the genres, she also shares industry advice on Publishing Perspectives, Digital Book World and worldwide at conferences and conventions. She makes her home in Seattle with an animal family full of characters all their own. Carolyn will be available during Desert Dreams to answer your questions about the independent publishing industry. See the registration area for available times.

Holly Root, Agent
Waxman Literary
Website: Waxman Literary

Bio: My favorite part of being an agent is the thrill of discovery. Being the first to experience a new world or a brand-new author simply never gets old. Couple that with the joy of sharing that wonderful book with editors and eventually readers and you’ve got the reason I truly love my job. I’m drawn to well-told commercial novels in a variety of genres. I’m much more likely to keep reading if I know from that perfectly-executed first page that this character (or author, in the case of nonfiction) is someone who interests me, someone whose story I’d like to get lost in for the next two hours. I know I’ve found a winner when I encounter writers whose skills on the page make me know beyond any doubt that I’m in excellent hands. Prior to joining the Waxman Literary Agency in 2007, Holly Root worked at the William Morris Agency and Trident Media Group.

Acquiring: Middle Grade, YA, Womens's Fiction (commercial and upmarket), urban fantasy, romance, and select nonfiction projects

Jennifer Schober, Literary Agent
Spencerhill Associates, Ltd.
Website: Spencerhill Associates
Bio: Prior to joining Spencerhill in 2006, Jennifer received a B.A. in Religious Studies from Ithaca College and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University. Trained as a psychotherapist, Jennifer enjoys using her clinical skills as an agent, coaching clients on issues surrounding increasing creativity and balancing the demands of work and life. Actively acquiring since 2006, Jennifer has sold more than 150 books with recent sales to Mills & Boon, Harlequin, Kensington, Dorchester, Sourcebooks, HarperCollins, Ballantine and Berkley. She is looking for books with an emotional hook, fantastic storytelling and dynamic characters that leap off the page. She is accepting submissions from published and unpublished authors in women’s fiction including literary fiction, category, contemporary, historical, historical romance, erotic and paranormal romance, romantic suspense, as well as urban fantasy. She is accepting YA but does not accept Children’s work or Sci Fi at this time. Jennifer often marvels at how all her many jobs and degrees once felt at odds with each other until she became an agent—when all her experience seemed to converge perfectly. Jennifer lives on a working farm in upstate NY and when she doesn’t have her head in a book, she can be found hiking the hills with her Pitbull Maude or weeding her vegetable garden.
Acquiring: Women’s fiction, category, contemporary, historical, historical romance, erotic, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and YA.
Workshops: Staying Sane & Optimizing Creativity in the Digital Age of Publishing

Rebecca Strauss, Literary Agent
McIntosh & Otis, Inc.
Website: McIntosh & Otis
Bio: Rebecca Strauss is an agent and director of subsidiary rights at McIntosh & Otis, Inc. Rebecca has been at M&O since 2005 and represents writers in a variety of genres, including Wall Street Journal bestsellers and Indie Next Picks. Before joining M&O, Rebecca was a foreign rights associate at Trident Media Group, a book scout and development assistant at Sony Pictures, and an Account Associate at Ketchum PR. Rebecca earned her degree in English Literature from Duke University.
Acquiring: Non-fiction, literary and commercial fiction, women's fiction, romance, urban fantasy, steampunk, mystery, YA and pop culture.

Cherry Weiner - Literary Agent

Cherry Weiner Literary

Bio: Cherry Weiner has been agenting since 1977. She started out by handling science fiction, fantasy, and horror and she now handles all genres. Some nonfiction has even crept into the mix but no poetry, childrens or YA. She represents a good number of well-known authors including Lauren Nichols, Tamara Hogan, Deborah LeBlanc, and Desert Rose's own Gini Koch.

Acquiring: TBA

Workshops: Ask Anything You Want to Know About Publishing

** Additional editors and agents will be attending; all conference attendees will be given a chance to select editor/agent choices and change those choices as soon as all editors/agents are confirmed, based on date of registration. Editors, agents and speakers subject to change.