We’re so excited to have the second year of yet another benefit to aspiring writers during ThrillerFest week called ConsultFest! ConsultFest will be available throughout CraftFest and ThrillerFest where attendees can meet for 15 minutes, one-on-one with an industry leading expert. Recruiting the top acquiring editors and agents for this opportunity, writers will get instant feedback on his or her query letter or first two pages of a manuscript. The writer will be assigned a time with the expert who will read the writer’s work, provide comments about first impressions, and offer feedback for improvements. The assignments for consults are randomly chosen with the following experts who’ve agreed to help us July 7th – 10th.
For 2020 – Virtual Consulting
We are so pleased to be able to offer Consulting Sessions virtually. What an opportunity! Talk about streams of light, the agents and editors are rearranging their schedules to meet with each of them through Zoom, a video conferencing platform.
Here’s how the events will work…
Consulting Sessions
Purpose: Writers not yet ready to “pitch” a completed manuscript will be paired with agents and editors who have great information and advice to share but don’t necessarily want to receive pitches. A Consulting Session allows new writers and emerging novelists access to industry expertise and receive advice on how to better prepare themselves for the presentation of their work—that ‘pitch’—and established authors to get advice on career path options and publishing from experts in the industry.
No pitching please.
Cost: $75/Virtual Session lasting 10-15 Minutes
Dates: Wednesday July 8th – Friday July 10th
Times (EST): 9:00-11:00 am 3:00–5:00 pm
Experts: Experts listed below will offer advice on where they think they can be most helpful to you after reading your submittal, whether that be how to improve your query, where you might want to work on your manuscript, or with your overall synopsis.
Preparation: Submit anytime after registering, by no later than June 1st to assure assignments:
- 7-pages in Word Document format titled with writer’s name (ie: “Jane Smith”) to include,
- 1-page Query Letter addressed to “Dear Agent/Editor:”, single space, letter format, 12-point font, 1” margins.
- First 5-pages of manuscript (NOTE: only two-page- critique guarantee), double-spaced, 12-point font, 1” margins, noting writer’s name at top and working book title, and
- 1-page Synopsis of novel or non-fiction work, double spaced, 12-point font, 1” margins.
Only 1 submittal is required for any number of consultations you choose to purchase.
Requests: This year, we will accept the top five preferences of experts you’d like to be paired with and we will do the best we can to accommodate those requests on a first-come, first-served basis, but we cannot make any guarantees. Please study who the experts are before signing up and listing your preference. We have one editor who is requesting only YA/Middle School writers, so let us know if you are specifically requesting that editor by typing “YA/Middle School Editor” at the top of your priority list. Again, we will do the best we can to pair you with the requested expert but no promises or guarantees.
Below is a list of agents and editors who will participate in ConsultFest at ThrillerFest XV.
PUBLISHER
Lou Aronica, The Story Plant
www.thestoryplant.com
Bio: Lou Aronica is President and Publisher of The Story Plant, an independent publisher focusing on fiction. Prior to that, Lou was Publisher of Avon Books and Deputy Publisher of Bantam Books. Lou is also a multiple New York Timesbestselling author and a past president of Novelists Inc.
EDITOR
Susan Chang, Tor Books
www.us.Macmillan.com/torforge/
Bio: Susan Chang is a senior editor at Tor Books, where she acquires and edits for the Starscape middle grade and Tor Teen young adult imprints. She does not acquire picture books, new adult, or adult titles. Like many editors, she has eclectic tastes, and is open to be queried about anything and everything, not limited to science fiction and fantasy. For chapter books she is looking for high concept books or series with an educational hook; for middle grade, action and high-stakes adventure; and in young adult, stories that are thought-provoking and emotionally truthful. She is also interested in nonfiction in the areas of popular science, archaeology, anthropology, biography, and history.
Authors she is currently working with: Kathleen Baldwin, Alan Gratz, Daryl Gregory, P. J. Hoover, David Lubar, Sarah Porter, and Brandon Sanderson.
EDITOR
Bob Gussin, Oceanview Publishing
www.OceanviewPub.com
Bio: Robert Gussin is the CEO of Oceanview Publishing and Oceanview Vineyards. Prior to that, he was Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Johnson and Johnson. Oceanview is a traditional publisher of thriller, mystery and suspense novels. Titles are published in all formats: hard cover, paper, digital, and audio.
Clients: Raymond Benson, Miles Corwin, Ward Larsen, Matt Coyle, and approximately one hundred others.
EDITOR
Stephanie Kelly, Dutton
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
Bio: Stephanie Kelly is an editor at Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, where she has worked since 2011. She acquires both fiction and nonfiction. She is interested in psychological thrillers, suspense, commercial fiction, women’s fiction, and fresh, platform driven narrative nonfiction, especially with a pop culture, humorous, millennial, or feminist bent.
Authors: Her authors include New York Times bestsellers Tami Hoag, Eric Jerome Dickey, and Hannah Shaw, and national bestseller Fiona Davis. Recent and forthcoming titles include Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie, Hush Little Baby by R.H. Herron, and Body of Stars by Laura Maylene Walter.
EDITOR
Jaime Levine, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
www.HMHBooks.com
Bio: Senior Editor, joined HMH in April 2018; she primarily acquires upmarket suspense, mysteries, and thrillers and she is the editor for the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien. Some of her recent and forthcoming titles include the first novel and last creative act by American legend Stan Lee, a spy thriller by Oliver Harris, a home-invasion thriller by Bracken MacLeod, and a debut horror novel by newcomer Jasper DeWitt. She previously worked at Thomas Dunne Books and Grand Central Publishing, where she edited the #1 best-selling duo Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, the estate of Robert Ludlum, and the writers Julianna Baggott, Eric van Lustbader, Octavia Butler, and Jacqueline Carey.
EDITOR
Katie McGuire, Pegasus Books
www.pegasusbooks.com
Bio: Katie McGuire is an editor at Pegasus Books, where she started her career in the summer of 2014. After graduating from Emerson College with a BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing, she returned to her native New York and is now happily settled in Queens with her cat, Miss Moneypenny. She is on the hunt for both fiction and nonfiction projects, and has a particular soft spot for crime fiction (almost every subgenre!), historical fiction, comic books, true crime, royalty, superheroes, and spies. You can find her on Twitter: @katiemickgee.
Current authors: William Boyle, Paul Vidich, S. J. Rozan, John Copenhaver, Jake Hinkson, John Woods, Casey Dunn, Jay Stringer, and Julie McElwain, among others.
EDITOR
Chantelle Aimee Osman, Agora Books
www.PolisBooks.com
Bio: Chantelle Aimée Osman is the editor of Agora, an imprint of Polis Books. The former Editor-in-Chief of RT Book Reviews Magazine and a freelance editor for over ten years, and she also co-hosts the Crime Friction podcast. She teaches writing internationally, including with the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, Authors at Large and LitReactor. Chantelle is the author of the non-fiction series on writing The Quick and Dirty Guides To… and has also published numerous works of short fiction. She was named a Left Coast Crime Guest of Honor in 2016. Find her on Twitter @SuspenseSiren.
Authors: John Vercher, Patricia Smith, Tori Eldridge, Gary Phillips , Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Gabino Inglesias
EDITOR
Alexandra Sehulster, St. Martin’s Group
www.stmartins.com
Bio: Alexandra started her career at Macmillan in the sales department, where she learned the beauty of an elevator pitch, how to position a book, and how to best reach the target audience. After three years in sales, she found her home at St. Martin’s Group as an editor, committed to championing dynamic authors and publishing books that shatter expectations.
Alexandra edits predominantly in fiction and looks for that “can’t-put-it-down” kind of read. She loves thriller/suspense/horror that subverts the current trend. She’s an avid reader of books centered around the Woman’s Journey, and all the ways that can manifest. Favorite hooks and tropes include sweeping love stories, novels that comment on the Millennial experience, horror elements that toe the line between the normal and the paranormal, enemies to lovers romance, and retellings of all kinds. In historical novels, she loves rich detail that blends seamlessly into the narrative, and while in the past, says a great deal about who we are today. Alexandra lives in Connecticut with a husband who avoids reading and a baby who can’t sit still long enough to read a picture book. She loves them very much in spite of this.
Clients: She’s had the pleasure of working with many incredible authors, including New York Times bestselling author Darynda Jones, award-winning author Alice Blanchard, New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley, and celebrated authors Jessica Strawser, Rea Frey, and Emma Lord, among others.
EDITOR
Gretchen Stelter, Cogitate Studios
www.CogitateStudios.com
Bio: Gretchen Stelter began her career in publishing while she was still finishing her master’s degree, helping launch the West Coast-based Baker’s Mark Literary Agency and later moving to editorial director. In 2010, she started editing and writing full-time and has worked on over 500 traditionally published books, doing everything from proofreading and copyediting to developmental editing and ghost writing, as well as working with select self-published authors. She’s a member of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild, Editorial Freelancers Association, and Sisters in Crime
Clients: ITW members Liv Constantine (sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine, The Last Mrs. Parrish), Paige Dearth, Glenn Dyer, and Jerri Williams; as well as publishing houses Sourcebooks (including books by Marieke Nijkamp, Natasha Preston, Charles Belfoure, Nic Joseph, and Randall Silvis), Albert Whitman (including books by YALSA-honored Linda Joy Singleton), and others.
AGENT
Jess Taylor
Revizion Editorial Services
www.revision.net
AGENT
Nikki Terpilowski, Holloway Literary
www.HollowayLiteraryAgency.com
Bio: Nikki established Holloway Literary in 2011 after working in marketing communications as a writer and editor. Nikki is the senior agent at Holloway Literary and also handles all negotiations for the agency’s film deals. She loves all types of fiction, but is particularly interested in finding interesting mysteries, fresh Southern voices, ethnically and culturally diverse fiction and culinary non-fiction. When she’s not working or wrangling her three sons, she enjoys traveling to the beach, mountains and all historical sites in between.
AGENT
Terrie Wolf, AKA Literary Management
www.akalm.net
Bio: Terrie is CEO of AKA Literary LLC, a Colorado-based agency established in 2010. A full member of AAR (Association of Authors’ Representatives), she has sold rights in more than 40 countries and represents an exciting group of authors who are at all stages of the writing journey, and an eclectic and unforgettable list of commercial fiction and nonfiction. With a background that spans nearly 30 years in publishing, international media, and large-scale events, this Emmy award-winning former broadcast special projects producer is also an accomplished speaker and frequent conference attendee.
Clients: Terrie’s clients include Margaret Mizushima, C.C. Harrison, Jeff Nesbit, Maria Shriver, Toni Brattin, Bill Coors, and Celine Jacobson, among others. Please visit AKALM.net for more information.
Check back soon for more editors and agents participating in ConsultFest 2020.
ConsultFest sessions will be scheduled throughout CraftFest and ThrillerFest during which attendees can invest $75 to meet for fifteen minutes, one-on-one, with a top acquiring editor or agent to get instant feedback on his or her query letter OR first two pages of a manuscript. The writer will be assigned a time with the expert who will provide comments and offer feedback for improvements. Opportunities are limited; sessions will be confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis. Two sessions may be purchased. Questions? Contact Sandra Brannan, PitchFest Director.
