3 Days Away: 3 Editors to Pitch To!

To me, pitching to editors and discovering they like your work is a double blessing. It’s like getting that card in Monopoly that tells you to advance to such and such a place and head on over directly past GO and collect!

The first is editors work with MOUNTAINS of manuscripts in your genre. They know what works and what doesn’t. Even if you get rejected, their insights are extremely valuable and could help improve your manuscript.

The second is that you have someone who works at a publishing house who is interested in your manuscript–it’s like bypassing the agent step altogether (you probably still SHOULD get an agent, but it will be MUCH easier once you have an editor and publishing house already interested).

That said, here are three editors who will be hearing pitches at SIWC:

MERCEDES FERNANDEZ

Mercedes Fernandez is an assistant editor at Kensington Publishing, where she acquires commercial women’s fiction, cozy mysteries, multicultural fiction, urban literature and contemporary romance.

EMILY OHANJANIANS

Emily Ohanjanians is an editor with Harlequin MIRA who continues to search for breakouts in all areas of commercial fiction. Now she continues to seek outstanding commercial women’s fiction that will appeal to a mainstream market. She has a slight obsession with story structure, and likes a fast-paced, poignant, emotional read with lots of tension as well as relatable and—for lack of a better term—messed-up characters.

ABBY RANGER

Abby Ranger is a senior editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Her current focus is middle grade fiction of all stripes: fresh and honest contemporary, smart epic fantasy, stories with elements of magical realism, and original takes on subjects of enduring interest. She also acquires select picture books and young adult novels.

What next? GO directly to SIWC a few short days from now. Pitch one of these heavy hitters and if you succeed, GO, GO, GO directly to the land of the published people!