The opportunity to have personal appointments with editors and agents is a valuable highlight of the conference. These provide a great way to learn first-hand about the writing industry, to pitch your manuscript or work-in-progress, and to brainstorm ideas, get encouragement, and benefit from industry professionals.
Editor and Agent Appointments will be scheduled by the Conference Appointment Scheduler, Wanda Dyson. You will select FOUR choices for both an editor and an agent appointment when you register for the conference. You will receive a form in your conference check-in packet with the confirmation and times of the appointments. Wanda will be on-hand throughout the conference for assistance.
Participation of an individual presenter, agent, editor, or publisher in the ACFW conference does not constitute endorsement by ACFW. Members are advised to use due diligence and take personal responsibility when choosing industry professionals with whom to schedule appointments or enter into agreement.
ACFW reserves the right to refuse conference registration if deemed in the best interest of the corporation and its membership.
Beth Adams works on fiction for Guideposts' direct mail and trade publishing programs. She started her career at Random House, and has been at Guideposts for three years. She lives in Brooklyn. Guideposts is interested in well-written inspirational fiction in most categories as long as there is a strong hook that sets it apart from others in the genre. We are not interested in science fiction, fantasy, or YA.
Jacque Alberta is an acquisitions editor at Zondervan, primarily responsible for young adult fiction.
She is currently acquiring young adult fiction that tells a compelling story with a Christian worldview, hoping to find books that teens enjoy reading foremost, which happen to have a Christian message woven naturally into the story. The goal is to provide books that can compete with secular offerings for readers’ attention. The genres she is currently looking for include fiction for girls, fiction for boys, teen "romance" (cute boys a plus), fantasy (excluding direct biblical allegories), historical fiction, multicultural fiction, and literary fiction for teens. She is also willing to consider select nonfiction titles, dealing with topics that could be of interest to teenagers, such as dating, real-life experiences of teens, advice, and self-help. Note, however, that she is primarily looking for fiction at this time.
Name: Stephanie Broene Title: Acquisitions Editor, Fiction Organization: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Web Site:http://www.tyndale.com Guidelines
Stephanie has been a fiction acquisitions editor at Tyndale for nearly four years and considers it a privilege to work with a variety of creative, talented authors. Before moving to Chicago, she worked as a managing editor in the magazine industry. Stephanie is an avid reader of both inspirational and mainstream fiction and is passionate about stories that illustrate the power of God's grace and redemption at work in our world.
She is interested in meeting with authors who have already been published or have a completed manuscript, though Tyndale currently has a limited number of slots available for first-time authors. Stephanie is not looking for fantasy or science fiction but is interested in contemporary stories-especially romance, women's fiction, and suspense-as well as historicals and historical romance.
Sue Brower is Executive Editor for Fiction at Zondervan. It is a pleasure to work with such bestselling authors as Karen Kingsbury, Terri Blackstock, Robin Jones Gunn, Brandilyn Collins, and many others. Prior to taking on this role, she was Sr. Director of Marketing for Fiction and Inspirational product for over thirteen years. Fiction is business as well as pleasure for Sue as she is an avid reader of both inspirational and mainstream novels. Early in her career with Zondervan, Sue's focus was on book and Bible research and store research for Family Christian Stores.
Sue is on the Advisory Board for the Christy Awards and a member of ACE (Academy of Christian Editors. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with husband, Todd, and "kidz", Pepper and Shep.
She is acquiring in the Historical, Historical Romance, and Contemporary genres, but does not have openings for books releasing before Fall, 2011 (mss due Fall, 2010).
Tina Colombo has been with Harlequin Enterprises for fourteen years. She joined the company in 1995 as an editorial assistant. In her current position as Senior Editor for Steeple Hill Books, she manages the Love Inspired Historical and Love Inspired Suspense lines. She is actively acquiring for the Steeple Hill imprint and looking for stories in a variety of genres including heartwarming inspirational romance, inspirational romantic suspense and inspirational historical romance.
Susan Downs recently joined the Summerside Press editorial team in order to supervise the launch of a trade-length, romantic-suspense line. Her editorial career began at age 10, when her newspaper-publisher father paid her a nickel for every error she could find while proofreading copy. As a multi-published author with experience as an acquisitions editor for another CBA publisher, she brings a well-rounded perspective to her new assignment.
Guidelines and publishing specifics for Summerside’s new romantic-suspense line are still in the development stage but will be available at the conference.
Jeff Gerke has been called the de facto gatekeeper of Christian speculative fiction. After writing his own speculative fiction and spearheading the launch of a fiction imprint dedicated to Christian speculative fiction at a major Christian publishing company, Jeff branched out on his own to launch Marcher Lord Press (www.marcherlordpress.com), an Indie publishing house billing itself as the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction.
Marcher Lord Press is seeking completed fiction manuscripts of 65,000 or greater words for Christian adults and older teens. Genres accepted include anything under the speculative fiction rubric: SF, fantasy, time travel, supernatural thriller, vampire, end times, spiritual warfare, post-apocalyptic, chiller, alternate history, etc.
Rebecca Germany is the senior editor of fiction Barbour Publishing who has been with the company for 15 years. In 2004, she was honored as the Golden Scroll fiction editor of the year by ASWA. Over 100 novels and story collections go through her department yearly, but she has found time to have five of her own novellas, numerous small gift books, and a cookbook series published in the Barbour Books line. She blogs with a fellow editor at http://editcafe.blogspot.com/.
I'm primarily interested in full-length romances and other emotional topics appealing to a female audience. I don't want to look at spiritual warfare/end times books or fantasy. I'm not acquiring children's books. I also don't want dated settings between 1950 and present day.
BIO: Julie Gwinn has been a professional in the public relations, advertising industry for more than 20 years for organizations such as The American Red Cross, the YWCA and Dye, Van Mol and Lawrence public relations and advertising agencies in Nashville. She joined B&H Publishing Group in January 07, in the trade marketing and publicity department and is responsible for marketing their fiction line.
B&H Fiction is interested in acquiring fiction in the following genres:
Shannon Marchese is Senior Editor, Fiction for the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group, a division of Random House. She has been in publishing for twelve years, serving in publicity and marketing roles before moving into editorial. She's acquired and edited acclaimed nonfiction and award-winning, best-selling fiction since 2002. She and her husband live in Colorado Springs.
Looking for: Romance that will make me laugh or cry. Women's dramatic fiction that will make me laugh or cry. Historical fiction set in a place or time that we don't already publish about can find our publishing lists on our web site. Edge-of-the-seat scary novels.
As a fiction editor for Summerside Press, Rachel is currently working on the newly launched Love Finds YouT inspirational romance series. Prior to joining Summerside in 2007, she worked as an editor and writer for both the Christian and general markets. She has an MA in English Literature and spent two years teaching college writing classes.
Rachel is currently accepting submissions only for Love Finds You; please refer to Summerside's guidelines for more specific information about this series of full-length regional romance novels.
Andy Meisenheimer is in his seventh year at Zondervan, his tenth year of marriage, his third year of fatherhood, and his first year playing in the band Group Dancing for Dutch People, an accordion duo cover band he co-founded with band member Jim Kast-Keat. While at Zondervan, he has worked with important, influential and talented authors writing in many different impressive genres. One author writes, "Andy is the nerdy yet paternal editor you always wanted," though Andy was quick to edit that sentence down to its essence: "Andy's super cool." However, better than all of that, Andy lives with his best-friend-and-muse Mandy and their three-year-old cutest-little-boy-in-the-world Ralphie near Grand Rapids, MI. They are the best part of his life.
Currently looking for: Science fiction. I say that with much fear and trembling. Other fiction, including but not limited to high concept thrillers, quirky postmodern metafiction, horror (the real kind), based-on-a-true-stories that aren't, and any sort of fiction that blends genres (I'm not talking romantic suspense here) and causes most everyone else to say "what the heck is that?!"
Becky Monds is the Editorial Assistant for Thomas Nelson Fiction. She joined the company in October of 2007 after working as the events coordinator at an independent bookstore in Nashville. She loves spending time with her husband, knitting, and, of course, reading great fiction.
Harvest House Publishers is a conservative family-owned publishing company in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The core values of the company state that Jesus Christ is the answer to every human need. The staff endeavors to put that message of hope in every book published. Kim Moore has been with Harvest House since 1996. She has a passion for fiction and loves to interact with writers.
Charlene Patterson has worked in almost every Editorial Dept. job found at a book publishing company, and even so, she still likes to read outside of work! Currently, she is managing editor of fiction at Bethany House. She would like to meet with authors who have a completed manuscript in the following genres: historical, contemporary romance, women's fiction, and romantic suspense.
Barbara Scott, Senior Acquisitions Editor for Fiction at Abingdon Press, has more than 30 years experience in newspaper, magazine, and book publishing, including adult, youth, and children's fiction. She also has published two bestselling novels for Thomas Nelson, as well as numerous gift books. Currently, she is actively acquiring new voices, as well as published authors, in the genres of contemporary women's fiction, contemporary romance, historical romance, historical fiction, mystery, action/adventure, suspense/thrillers, biblical, and African-American. More than half of the Abingdon Press list will be comprised of contemporary romance and contemporary women's novels. Abingdon does not publish speculative, science fiction, supernatural, apocalyptic, futuristic, or literary fiction.
JoAnne Simmons is a fiction acquisitions editor for Barbour Publishing. JoAnne has been working with Barbour since 2003, first as a freelance copyeditor, then as an assistant managing editor, and now as manager of the Heartsong Present series. JoAnne has had a wide variety of writing and editing experience but loves Christian fiction the most. She is delighted to be in a career that she has dreamed of since childhood. She was born and raised in northeast Ohio and still makes her home there, now with her husband, Doug, and daughter, Jodilyn.
Editorial Needs - Heartsong publishes sweet inspirational romance novels, both contemporary and historical, that stick to our detailed guidelines. I'll continue to look for strong geographical flavor and setting-driven stories. I'm always looking for creative elements-unique settings, occupations, little known landmarks and history-to put a new twist on the traditional romance story.
Sandra began her career in the industry in the eighties, when a friend noticed her abilities with words and encouraged her to attend a writers' conference. That's where she first realized writing could be more than a dream, but a real — and respectable — profession worth pursuing. After a few years learning the craft, pitching article ideas to magazine editors, and meeting deadlines, Sandra began to map out a career in publishing.
It wasn't long before a door opened at Multnomah Press, and Sandra landed a job in the marketing department. Sandra remembers when the Christian fiction section fit on one shelf of the local Christian bookstore. Obviously, much has changed in the industry since then, but over the years, Sandra has continued to make her living as a writer, navigate the ever-changing tides of publishing, and keep her eye open for opportunities.
Sandra's longevity in the industry, commitment to professionalism in her freelance career, and creative resourcefulness made her a welcome addition to MacGregor Literary. When Chip invited Sandra to join him as an agent, it was a natural next step.
Her background in writing, her extensive experience in marketing, and her familiarity with publishing has prepared Sandra to work with authors who desire to create books that make a difference.
Terry is a native Texan living in Amarillo, Texas. With the agency for the last two years he has a substantial list of clients, a growing list of credits, and a reputation for presenting to conferences all over the country. Before coming to Hartline, he represented businesses for more than twenty-five years, making deals and doing promotion. As a writer, he has six novels in print, work in a dozen short story collections, four non-fiction books and numerous articles and short stories. A graduate of West Texas State he did post grad work at Southern Methodist University.Terry plans to continue writing inspirational fiction as well as working with Hartline.
The Hartline Literary Agency offers expert representation for authors writing both fiction and non-fiction for the inspirational and mainstream markets. Our authors write primarily from a Christian World View.
Rachelle Gardner is an agent with WordServe Literary and works with both fiction and non-fiction authors. In the last two years she’s sold books to Zondervan, Bethany House, Baker Books, David C. Cook, Guideposts, Harvest House and others. Prior to being an agent, she was an editor and writer. She lives in Colorado with her firefighter husband, two daughters, and lovable yellow lab.
What’s she looking for? First and foremost, Rachelle is looking for writers who are ready for publication. This means your novel is not only complete but edited and polished. She enjoys working with both first-time and previously published authors.
Specifically, Rachelle is looking at full-length fiction (75,000 to 110,000 words) in all genres except fantasy and sci-fi. If you don’t have anything ready to pitch, Rachelle is happy to answer questions and give feedback about the publishing industry or your personal writing journey. To get to know Rachelle, visit her blog: http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com.
Tamela Hancock Murray feels privileged to be a part of CBA. She graduated from Lynchburg College with honors in Journalism. During that time she served as a Congressional intern and as an intern with the U.S. Department of State, where her duties included writing daily news briefs for the Secretary of State. She has been writing Christian fiction and nonfiction since 1994, earning recognition such as RWA's Inspirational Readers Choice Award.
Tamela has been a literary agent since 2001 with the Hartline Literary Agency. The authors she represents appreciate her writing experience, professionalism, and warmth. Tamela is honored to be friends with many editors and to represent a number of successful authors. This agent is passionate about edifying other Christians through CBA books.
Manuscript needs:
Historical romance, Amish, and contemporary romantic suspense are among Tamela's favorites, although writers with great stories in other categories will get her attention. Tamela enjoys long-term relationships with her authors, so be prepared to talk about your career goals and future projects with her. Tamela is well-versed in nonfiction so don't shy away from presenting her with your nonfiction ideas as well, especially if you can meet your intended audience through a platform.
If you're not sure you've reached the point in your career where you need an agent, Tamela would be happy simply to visit with you and give you her input regarding your writing life. Whether you're ready with several ideas to pitch or would just like to talk, Tamela looks forward to meeting you!
Greg Johnson has been a literary agent for 15 years and is the founder and president of WordServe Literary. He has represented more than 1,500 books to over sixty different publishing houses. His authors' achievements include more than 50 Gold Medallion nominees and 10 winners; 8 Christy Award nominees and 2 winners; and more than 200 CBA bestsellers. Greg is particularly interested in genres of adult fiction that appeal to both female and male readers, and enjoys novels with historical or military themes. However, he’ll look at any genre, adult or YA, with an eye toward strong writing, a compelling hook, and a fascinating story.
Natasha Kern has personally sold more than 900 books and has a strong commitment to discover and develop new talent in inspirational fiction as well as developing writers careers. Her list includes: mainstream women's fiction, romantic suspense and romantic comedies; mysteries and thrillers; contemporary and historical novels; and multicultural fiction. Her clients include several New York Times best-selling authors, USA Today Best Sellers; and RITA winners. She represents Christy winners Robin Lee Hatcher, Tamera Alexander and Michael Joens as well as Christy finalists Angela Benson and Harry Kraus and other popular CBA authors. Natasha regards herself as a steward of ideas and stories that inspire hope, faith, insight and action.
What I am looking for currently: I am taking on new clients who are part of God's plan for my life rather than my plan so I am open to submissions that are authentically from the heart and soul of the author. I haven't received a prescribed list so I can't give one out. Recent new clients run the gamut from historical comedy and Biblical historical novel to gritty contemporary suspense, a mystery series set in the 1920s, an African-American inspirational novel and a nonfiction book about evolution. Did I know before I read their work, I would be working with new writers in these categories? No!
Steve Laube, a literary agent and president of The Steve Laube Agency, has been in the book industry for over 28 years, first as a bookstore manager and book buyer for a major national chain. While manager, his store was named National Store of the Year by the Christian Bookstore Association (CBA) in 1989, out of 4,000 eligible stores. He spent 11 years with Bethany House Publishers, rising to the position of Editorial Director/Adult Nonfiction. In 2002 he was named the Editor of the Year by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. He has edited over 150 books, wrote one, produced numerous articles, and has agented over 500 new books. He has taught at writer's conferences in more than 50 cities. The agency represents accomplished novelists such as Cindy Woodsmall, Lisa Bergren, Tracey Bateman, Susan May Warren, Judith Pella, David Gregory, Michael Phillips, John Olson, Vicki Hinze, Ginny Aiken, Sara Mills, Margaret Daley, Julie Carobini, Tosca Lee, Deborah Raney, Kelly Hake, Tracy Higley, Meredith Efken, Karen Hancock, Michael Snyder, Erynn Mangum, Chuck Black, Karen Ball, Ronie Kendig, Stacy Hawkins Adams, Andrea Boeshaar, Pamela Ewen, Sharon Hinck, and many more. His office is in Phoenix, Arizona.
Chip MacGregor is president of MacGregor Literary. He made his living as a writer for years, then became an editor (serving as Senior Editor for two different CBA houses), before moving on to becoming a literary agent with Alive Communications. He then spent two years as a publisher at Time-Warner Book Group before starting his own agency. An Oregon native, these days he's keeping busy working with authors, running MacGregor Literary, and going on endlessly about his Scottish ancestry. You can find out more about Chip by checking out his website.
Currently, Chip is looking for romantic suspense, thrillers, and contemporary women's novels.
Mary Sue Seymour is a former teacher and still holds her permanent teaching certificate in New York State. She has been agenting since 1992. She is a member of the AAR, WGA, The Author's Guild and RWA. She enjoys traveling to conferences and has three different workshops she presents: Hooks, Books and Great Beginnings, Fast Talk: Speeding the Pace of Narrative through Dialogue and Killer Queries.
Upcoming conferences are The Space Coast Writer's Guild in Cocoa Beach, Southwest Florida Writers in Naples, San Diego Writers, and she has conferences in Raleigh, NC, The Blue Ridge Mountains, RWA Nationals in Washington DC, WOW in Las Vegas; see Mary Sue's site for a complete list and guidelines.
Current sales are multi book deals to Harper San Francisco, Zondervan, Harvest House, Cook Communications Ministries and Thomas Nelson. Mary Sue has a positive working relationship with the editors at Adams Media Corp in Boston and sells them a lot of Everything books and also general nonfiction titles. She has also sold books to Bantam, Berkley, Warner Books, Harlequin and others.
Name: Karen Solem Title: Literary Agent/President Organization: Spencerhill Associates Ltd. Web Site:None Guidelines
Karen Solem is the President of Spencerhill Associates Ltd., a literary agency. She represents a broad range of commercial fiction including women's fiction, thrillers and mysteries and a small selection of non-fiction. A number of her clients have become NYT bestsellers and though it's wonderful to have that kind of recognition she still takes a lot of pleasure in discovering and working with new talent.
Among her inspirational clients are Colleen Coble, Catherine Palmer, Judy Baer, Annie Jones, and many others.
She was previously associated with Writers House where she worked for nearly seven years; Prior to her years as an agent Solem had 25 years of corporate publishing experience. She was most recently Associate Publisher and Editorial Director of Harper Paperbacks and, earlier, Editor in Chief of Silhouette Books.
I am only looking for published writers (not e-published) and only in the arena of adult fiction at this point.
Name: Les Stobbe Title: Literary Agent Organization: Leslie H. Stobbe Agency Web Site:None Guidelines
Les Stobbe has been a literary agent for 16 years. He wrote the majority of the non-fiction writing lessons for both the apprentice and journeyman courses of The Christian Writers Guild and serves enrollees as mentor. He was Journalist in Residence at Gordon College, Wenham, MA for the 2002-2003 college year. He is also volunteer director of International Christian Writers, an association of writers worldwide.
The founding editor of the Mennonite Observer in Winnipeg, Canada, Les Stobbe served as editor at Christian Life Publications (later absorbed by Strang Communications), editorial director of Cambridge Publishers (Canadian business magazines), Moody Press Books, Christian Herald Books and Book Clubs, and Here's Life Publishers Ltd., and managing editor of curriculum for Scripture Press, where he was also editor of the Christian Education Journal. For seven years he served as president of Here's Life Publishers. Les is author or co-author of 14 books and has written more than 700 published articles.
Looking For Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction
At this point most of Les's publishable proposals are coming via recommendation from clients, well-known authors, and editors, often at Christian writers' conferences-he gives priority to writers who have received encouragement from editors at Christian writers' conferences. He does not represent fantasy or Sci-Fi. While he is convinced that outstanding writing by fresh voices ought to be a priority consideration when a manuscript is evaluated, he is well aware that today's non-fiction writers typically need to have a national platform.
Growing up as the middle of five children (two older brothers and two younger sisters), Rachel has learned first hand how to be a mediator, peacemaker and confidant. Good relationships have always been important to her. She likes to stick by people. She believes that as long as two people are dedicated toward working together, the relationship can work, and they can accomplish the task at hand.
Rachel started at Books & Such as a summer intern while she was attending U.C. Davis and then, after graduating, worked part-time at the agency as an assistant. Her favorite part of the job was reading a manuscript and providing an author with feedback to help him or her to improve the project.
She graduated from Davis in three years with a bachelor's degree in English and minors in both religious studies and psychology.
Rachel has more than three years of experience and training working closely with Janet Kobobel Grant and Wendy Lawton, as well as part-time with author Robin Jones Gunn in creating marketing materials and promotional ideas to keep Robin connected with her readers. Through Rachel's work at the agency and with authors, she has gained an understanding of the publishing process, contract negotiation, and what it takes to successfully write and market a book.
Rachel specializes in working with twenty- to thirty-something fiction and non-fiction authors writing for their own age group. Rachel's goal is to develop strong relationships with her authors and to help them to develop lasting relationships with their editors and publishers.
What I'm Looking For
YA & Teen projects-
Allegorical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Contemporary, Historical, (No Spiritual Warfare)
Twentysomething projects- Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance, Allegorical Fantasy (No Spiritual Warfare)
Thirtysomething projects- Contemporary Fiction with marriage, family, or job orientation.
Contemporary Romance about thirtysomething singles.
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