It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!
Drum roll please…
MG Fantasy
Editor: Hannah VanVels Ausbury
When a lonely, grief-stricken girl accidentally wakes the village scarecrow, his friendship turns to jealousy and takes on a life of its own. She must find a way to stop him before he destroys the only family she has left.
YA Romance
Editor: Joel Brigham
Goofy theater geek Jorie loves playing small comedic parts, but when her boyfriend Travis glows up and dumps her, she must land the lead role at theater camp to prove she’s his equal and win back his heart.
Adult Urban Fantasy
Editor: Jeni Chappelle
A journalist discovers he’s the reincarnation of an emperor who sold his soul to a demon, and he and his estranged childhood friend must stop shadowy forces from ripping apart his soul and freeing the demon.
Adult Mystery/Thriller
Editor: Miranda Darrow
A novel told in reverse follows a CIA agent who helps the FBI identify a mole while she avoids giving away her own treason in the process.
Adult Fantasy
Editor: Natasha Hanova
A girl must work with the devil to escape a hell dimension on the brink of collapse—but when she develops feelings for him, she’ll soon have to choose between the life she left behind, or saving the place that’s starting to feel like home.
Adult Fantasy
Editor: Carly Hayward
In an inescapable bookshop where words make wishes the truth, an ill journo and a depressed art thief might get everything they want--but it may come at the cost of losing their loved ones.
Adult Romance
Editor: Bethany Hensel
A Midwestern B&B owner and a stuck-up New York food critic clash over what good food really is, road-tripping through through the country's Heartland, ignoring their own sizzling chemistry.
YA Mystery
Editor: Katie McCoach
16yo goth loner Beth gets the shock of her life when the dead girl in her stepdad’s morgue speaks to her and begs Beth to investigate the circumstances of her death. But Beth isn’t so sure she wants to help the bully who nicknamed her Beth Death. Until Beth learns the dead girl’s sister—who Beth outwardly hates but secretly has a crush on—might be next.
YA Romance
Editor: Kyra Nelson
To restore her online guild to its former glory, the game’s top healer recruits the number one assassin by marrying him in-game, only to discover he is her childhood friend turned rival.
YA Romance
Editor:...
]]>It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!
Drum roll please…
MG Fantasy
Editor: Hannah VanVels Ausbury
When a trickster god kidnaps their little sister, two young boys must find the trickster spider’s missing stories before their sister becomes food in his web.
Adult Fantasy
Editor: Elizabeth Buege
A mute faery must forge an alliance with a healer from a neutral nation to save himself and protect others from his cruel ex-master.
Adult Fantasy
Editor: Jeni Chappelle
Latine GIDEON x NIGHT CIRCUS Mo has kept her brujería secret from those who would use her power, but when her twin brother disappears into a casino that trades in memories, she must risk her secret--and her freedom--to save him.
YA Science Fiction/Speculative
Editor: Miranda Darrow
Sixteen-year-old Amber attempts to bend time and space to prevent her parents’ murder – but what if it means sacrificing her only friends and first love?
Adult Romance
Editor: Natasha Hanova
To survive being the “best man” at her ex-boyfriend’s wedding, an aspiring playwright enters a fake engagement with the hot, no-nonsense grump her parents want her to marry.
Adult Fantasy Comedy
Editor: Carly Hayward
When homicidal minions kidnap a princess/child bride, a young horticulturist inserts herself into an Epic QuestTM to rescue her before the minions #CancelHappilyEverAfter.
Adult Romance
Editor: Bethany Hensel
An emotionally-repressed, headstrong young woman seeks her smothering, judgemental family’s approval of her boyfriend but concocts a scheme based on her favorite Bollywood movie rather than confront her trauma.
Adult Southern Gothic
Editor: Felice Laverne
When creeping shadows in the family farmhouse take solid form, Roberta Jo calls a local demonologist for help. It turns out he's a fake, but the family demons are all too real.
YA Speculative
Editor: Megan Manzano
Upon moving to a small town, Callan decides to help his grieving housemate Hugo solve a string of drowning mysteries, all while hiding his real connection to the water.
YA Fantasy
Editor: Kyra Nelson
Seventeen-year-old witch Velicia has a plan: finish her hex-cleaning internship, become a special agent and avoid atomizing anyone with her uncontainable magic. Easy. If only a zealot wasn’t making her the symbol of his revolution by turning her into a bomb.
YA Contemporary
Editor: Leah Pierre
Devil’s Up began as a game but led to arson. Fires baffle the town & truth or dare becomes truth or scare, as a...
]]>It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!
Drum roll please…
MG Horror
Editor: Adah Beatrice @theadahbeatrice
Saving trapped ghosts isn’t Rilee’s idea of fun. She’d rather not die. Again. Unfortunately, her new BFF disagrees. The Revived Girls are on the case.
YA Fantasy
Editor: Carly -Bornstein-Hayward @fromcarly
Three powerful queens want 17yo Jansen—one wants answers, one to hang his corpse in her capital, & the third to leverage his newfound magic against her land’s demonic, never-ending night.
Adult Magic Realism
Editor: Elizabeth Buege @ekbuege
Aspiring chef Stella hates conflict almost as much as she hates the sous-chef bullying her. When she starts hearing recipes instead of people yelling, it seems like the perfect gift—until it spirals out of control, leaving her no option but to face her conflict head-on.
YA Science Fantasy
Editor: Jeni Chappelle @jenichappelle
A corset won't stop 16yo Mina from investigating her father's murder, tackling a thief off a roof, or learning to wield deadly electrical science magic.
Adult Mystery/Suspense
Editor: Miranda Darrow @Miranda_Darrow
During a hurricane, strangers gather at Seema and Vipul’s house, which loses power and all connection with the world outside. And then the murders start.
YA Contemporary
Editor: Tiffany Grimes @theqtiffany
When she realizes the elite ranks of Ivy League society are not so receptive to biracial girls from the ‘burbs, Harvard freshman Cara co-founds a club dedicated to getting back at Greek life.
YA Sci-Fi
Editor: Natasha Hanova @NatashaHanova
A sassy villain struggles with handing over her flirty, badass competition to be tortured.
MG Contemporary
Editor: Bethany Hensel @bethanyhensel13
Emma Grant is on the case to find her missing senator father. There's clues, a cute boy, and the Demon Cat of Capitol Hill.
Adult Upmarket
Editor: Felice Laverne @bookgurufelice
Daughter of a recently deceased sex worker pieces together her mother's past in a Georgia small town to find the identity of birth father.
YA Contemporary
Editor: Katie McCoach @katiemccoach
When Laurette discovers her dad is dating her rival's mom, she must decide whose happiness she values most: hers or her dad's.
YA Contemporary
Editor: Kyra Nelson @kyramnelson
Spending a summer competing in a Victorian literature competition and staying at a historic English estate is a dream for socially anxious bookworm Luna, but with a major scholarship on the line, her fellow competitors are willing to do whatever...
]]>It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!
Drum roll please…
Adult Science Fantasy
Editor: Carly -Bornstein-Hayward @fromcarly
Ecologist Jàden wields starship fuel like magic, marking her as a dangerous weapon. When she wakes from 4000 years of hypersleep on a terraformed moon, she’s determined to find her reincarnated lover and escape to the stars.
Adult Science Fiction
Editor: Elizabeth Buege @ekbuege
Ex-sniper Ryoko sees her asteroid-mining ship as the perfect place to raise her young daughter and their sentient AIs in peace. But when aliens kidnap her and her crew, imprisoning them in a deadly militia research lab, she'll have to pick up her rifle and face the trauma of her past if any of them are to have a future.
Adult Horror
Editor: Jeni Chappelle @jenichappelle
When murder upends Penny's life, she takes refuge with a pair of tragic cousins in the mysterious Gallagher House, where a lurking evil threatens to devour her. 1922 Crimson Peak X Carmilla.
Adult Dystopian/Thriller
Editor: Tera Cuskaden @TeraCus
When Keisha was offered a criminal rehab diversion program on a private island rather than an extended stay in prison, she knew there would be "strings" attached. But even she was surprised by the sadist predilections of Sesian, her program sponsor with more power than god. When an advocacy group contacts her for help, Keisha must choose between relative safety with a monster, or fighting against him for justice.
Adult Romantic Suspense
Editor: Miranda Darrow @Miranda_Darrow
Claims adjuster investigating a fatal house fire hires a sexy Italian art conservator to authenticate the charred remains of a million-dollar painting. Or was it a forgery? Secrets, murder, and passions catch fire in this romantic suspense.
YA Contemporary
Editor: Tiffany Grimes @theqtiffany
Growing up faithless and Asian American in the South is hard enough, but 17yo Melanie also has to deal with her parents' constant fighting. When a stranger's promise of escape spirals into abuse, Melanie must choose between saving her first love and saving herself.
YA Sci-Fi
Editor: Natasha Hanova @NatashaHanova
Timber fails his Coming of Age ceremony and is sent back in time where another failure could mean the annihilation of a planet and his crew.
YA Fantasy
Editor: Bethany Hensel @bethanyhensel13
Some destinies can't be denied. Others need rewritten entirely. This ain't your grandmother's damsel. asexuality + satire + island of misfit toys. Princess Bride if Buttercup saved the day.
Adult Romantic Suspense
Editor: Holly Ingraham @holly_ingraham
When P.I. Jake Hardington and Detective Larkin Hardroe are forced to work together, unwanted sparks between them risk Larkin’s job and possibly Jake’s life. Together they’ll have...
]]>It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!
Drum roll please…
Adult Alternate History
Editor: Sione Aeschliman @writelearndream
In 2011, Kalki Kamal led Indian rebels to freedom from the British Occupation. Now she wants to be Prime Minister. But when a series of interviews forces her to revisit the past, she must decide if repression and silence will be the price she pays for position.
Adult Paranormal Romance
Editor: Carly Hayward @fromcarly
A Jewish witch and the punk-turned-clergy of her dreams must heal her broken magic to help a golem become human, because as her parents said, he was “bumming everyone out in the Afterlife.” As their awkward flirting increases, they must decide if their newfound relationship is worth sacrificing the lives they’ve each fought to build.
YA Contemporary Romance
Editor: Editor Cassandra @OnlyCassandra
Contemporary retelling of Much Ado About Nothing
YA Science Fiction
Editor: Elizabeth Buege @ekbuege
Starship captain Tethys escapes a corrupt revolution in search of her missing uncle. When she instead discovers an exiled prince, she must work with him to uncover the truth behind her uncle's disappearance and stop a plot to colonize the galaxy.
Adult Upmarket Suspense
Editor: r.r. campbell @iamrrcampbell
In a sailboat off a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, a woman with amnesia finds a note warning her to leave the past alone. She must decide whether to investigate her memory wipe or begin life anew, ignorant of the self—and possible danger—she left behind.
Adult Contemporary Fantasy
Editor: Jeni Chappelle @jenichappelle
The Dresden Files meets The IT Crowd. Taryn spends her days troubleshooting wands & potions at MagiMart. When every magical product goes haywire, she must overcome her impostor syndrome and discover the cause before the city is destroyed. Or worse, she loses her job.
Adult Paranormal Romance
Editor: Tera Cuskaden @TeraCus
High-stakes romance on the high seas in this f/f mashup of Jurassic Park and Pirates of the Caribbean.
YA Fantasy
Editor: Kyle V. Hiller @KyleLiterally
Alexia Jacobs, a black teen activist, has electrocuted her father, and now she’s on the run from the political regime he built to police superhumans like her.
YA Contemporary Fantasy
Editor: Holly Ingraham @holly_ingraham
In a world where heartbreak manifests physically as heartfire, love could quite literally kill you.
YA Contemporary
Editor: Katie McCoach @katiemccoach
Irish Rockstar pretends he’s someone else when he meets Jenny, a highly capable blind girl. But as their romance grows, will Jenny be able to see past his betrayal?
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!
Drum roll please…
VOYA CALLING (YA Urban fantasy):
VOYA CALLING is an #ownvoices YA UF about a black witch living in Toronto, 2099 whose coming-of-age ritual goes terribly wrong. Now Voya must kill her first love before the eve of the Caribana festival, or her family will lose its magic forever.
THE DYING CITY (YA Fantasy):
Fire-wielding Livvy must join an underground gang to save their city of living metal from a magical contagion in this YA LGBT+ fantasy.
BAD PARTS (Adult Horror):
When self-absorbed rock guitarist Ash Hudson suffers a career-ending hand injury, she seeks out the only thing that can heal it—her hometown’s darkest secret.
CALL ME MOOSE GIRL (YA Contemporary):
Told in a snarky but sensitive voice reminiscent of DUMPLIN’ with the subtle flavor of (and blatant allusions to) MEAN GIRLS, CALL ME MOOSE GIRL is about sixteen-year-old Cecily Brewer, best known for her unyielding but hilarious blog, Call Me Moose Girl. The blog is not just her claim to fame at Littlefield High School; it’s how she found her voice as a loud, proud—fat girl.
THE DEATH OF NAKAMURA MORIMASA (Adult Fantasy):
Dakotashi Bennet, the king's bastard brother, believes he'll finally earn the king's esteem if he solves a high society murder, but to find the killer, he must work with the man who abused him for years.
MARK OF THE KISMET (YA Fantasy):
After inheriting the ability to control fate itself, outlaw storyteller Alena must evade the Tsar's imperial army or risk imprisonment at his hands.
THE DARK SUN OF A NEW ERA (YA Dark Fantasy):
17-year-old Afro-Brazilian Sasha’s veins are filled with gold, which she uses to save her friends from slavery—until an Orixa (a god) threatens to harvest her blood for its magic.
THE JELLO PROJECT (MG Contemporary):
Nora strikes it big when her blog about jello recipes becomes famous. Will her coveted writing career come crashing down when the world discovers she's not the old woman they think she is?
DANCE, DANCE, DIE! (YA Paranormal):
As Annora battles against her own body and dyspraxia, she's anonymously sent shoes that transform her from uncoordinated klutz to graceful swan. Annora investigates the shoes' origins and learns that a vengeful ghost is gradually possessing her.
THE MAGICAL LEMON TREE RECIPE BOOK (MG Urban Fantasy):
When life hands twelve-year-old Magenta a magical lemon tree, she finds the companion recipe book that may include the perfect formula to win the town competition and secure her spot at her dream summer baking...
]]>Whether you're just hearing about the Revise & Resub (#RevPit) Contest for the first time in 2018 or joined us last year, this post is meant to help you decide whether you'll be ready to submit on April 21st and, if so, what you should do to prepare.
But before I launch into it, it's worth mentioning this: You don't need to be a contestant in order to benefit from the amazingly supportive and enthusiastic RevPit community. Even if you decide not to submit this April, you can still join the party: ask questions, favorite, retweet, shake your pom-poms for your friends, find a critique partner, and learn from the editors' #AskEditor and #tenqueries tweets by following @ReviseResub and tuning in to the #RevPit hashtag on Twitter.
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the author-editor pair announcement!
Drum roll please…
ZEN AND THE ART OF DYING (A/UF):
SANDMAN SLIM meets DHARMA PUNX when a homeless veteran is made immortal through a botched experiment and has to break back into the lab to undo his condition.
TREADING WATER (NA/C)
Twenty year-old Chloe Hayes is fine, at least that's what she tells herself when her boyfriend leaves for the summer and she finds herself falling for another boy. Maybe fine isn't enough.
THE GARBAGE SELLER'S GOD (A/C)
A young man from Pakistan is out for blood after his playboy, rich and gambling best friend seduces his mother.
HARBINGER (YA/F)
Kyra Mavros “lost her foot” (a polite way of saying that a dragon swallowed it whole), and now the elite Huntresses won’t let her defend against the dragons, until she proves them wrong.
LOST (MG/SF)
When Kate finds an alien creature in the woods, she must keep it safe from her mad scientist uncle while helping it find its way back home.
PARADISOLA FOUND (YA)
After crashing on a deserted island, a nerd must use more than book smarts to win over her crush, defeat bullies & survive.
PARAGON (YA/UF)
Randi Johnson is a kind-but-cowardly doormat when the mark of the Paragon appears on her ribs, identifying her as one of seven legendary heroes. Unless she’s willing to let the world fall, her only option is to live up to her title before time catches up.
HORNS OF THE GODDESS (A/HR)
MISTS OF AVALON meets OUTLANDER when Asta must placate her Bronze Age Goddess to keep her people safe and save the man she can’t live without.
RED AND THE WOLF (YA/F Retelling)
The First Daughter is for the throne. The Second Daughter is for the Wolf.
THE POACHER’S CODE (A/Upmarket)
Sadie Kessler, a passionate forestry researcher, races to halt a wildfire, but when fire crews unearth a long-buried body in the woods, she must confront the murder she covered up as a child before an innocent man is convicted—or worse, deported—for the crime.
GIRL(DOT)COM (A/C)
Can a nice Jewish Girl get her geekboy & save start-up company from Hollywood heavies while fending off parental dismay?
RIPPED (YA/C)
The only thing more violent than tornado season in Kansas is sixteen-year-olds’ Sloane and Lucas’ distaste for one another.
THE PARIS TWIN (A/Psychological Thriller)
GONE GIRL meets MY SISTER'S KEEPER in this Psychological Thriller...
]]>#RevPit is just around the corner, and unfortunately I’m unable to participate fully because my days, nights, and weekends are dedicated to getting my life ready for my first child—a baby boy—in May! However, I’ve finally figured out how I can pitch in! (Better late than never, right?)
To all runners-up the editors choose, I’m excited to be offering a free first-chapter critique on the work you’ve submitted to #RevPit to go along with Kyra Nelson’s query edit.
The runners-up will be paired with me after announcements and we’ll work out submission details. You can cash in this free service up to twelve months after #RevPit is over, so don’t feel pressured to do so right away. If you received feedback on your first five pages (or more) that you want to apply to your first chapter, please take the time to incorporate that before reaching out to me. (It’s not like I won’t have anything else to do in the meantime!)
Note: I’ll be on maternity leave between baby’s arrival and most likely end of July, so please give me a few days to get back to you before following up!
I’ll take a look at your full first chapter (we can talk more if you have a prologue) and give you two types of feedback:
1) a brief editorial letter focused on the more complicated “issues” or ideas
2) in-line edits via Track Changes on specific things I’ve noticed throughout
Every book is different, of course, but I tend to favor those in which I’m thrown right into the action, suspense, excitement, or problem. Try not to bog down the reader with backstory right at the start; save all that and sprinkle it in later.
Finally, one tip I’ve found useful: take a look at Chapter 2. Is it more exciting than Chapter 1? Should that, perhaps, be where you start your book?
I don’t envy the editors and the hard choices they have to make over the next few weeks, but I’m definitely excited to work with each of the runners-up on their first chapter critiques! Good luck!
Nicole is a senior editor at Skyhorse Publishing, a New York City–based independent publishing company with more than ten imprints. She works with both fiction and nonfiction—specifically cooking, lifestyle, and young adult. To find out more about the titles she’s acquired and edited, take a look here.
In addition to editing full time for Skyhorse, she offers freelance editorial services such as critiques, editing, and blurb support at nicolefrail.com and speaks about traditional publishing and careers in publishing at colleges and conferences. If Nicole is not reading, writing, editing, or talking about books, it's probably because she's eating. (Although she frequently multitasks.) You can buy her adoration with coffee, popcorn, and/or ice cream.
Before moving to New York City in 2012, Nicole was a...
]]>I’ve been teasing my involvement with Revise & Resub for a few days now, and I’m excited to announce the details of my participation.
For the inaugural #RevPit, each editor will choose a runner-up. I will be offering query critiques to all runners-up in order to get them ready for the query trenches. I’m so excited to see the queries I get to work with. As Captain (Query) Hook, I love helping authors with their queries. They're one of my favorite things to edit. In the meantime, I’d like a to share a few pointers to get you started on writing a really excellent query.
First things first, you’ll want to write a hook to grab your reader’s attention. This hook can be anything that will stand out to your character. Start by asking yourself, what is the number one most interesting thing in my book? Does your main character have a special ability? Do they have a tragic past? An intriguing inciting incident? These are the type of things that create a great hook.
As you move into the synopsis portion of your query, focus on conflict. You may have a lush world or powerful backstory for your characters. The query isn’t the place to talk about them. Sure, you may need to mention the world or the backstory for your query to make sense, but keep explanations to a minimum. You want your focus to be on all the challenges that the character must overcome. Conflict is where it’s at.
You’ll want to end the synopsis portion of your query with a bang. You can do this by including clear stakes. I suggest using the following formula: Character must do [insert really hard thing here] or else [insert really bad thing here] will happen. You don’t have to word your stakes exactly like that, but it should tell the reader exactly what the character needs to do and what happens if they fail. Strong stakes make a reader say, “I need more now!”
Don’t forget the nuts and bolts that go at the end of your query. This includes genre and audience, word count, comp titles (books that are similar to yours), and a short bio. This part should be short and to the point, but make sure you include it.
If you want more tips, check out our sample query or get involved with my #askeditor session. I can’t wait to see you on submission day!
Kyra Nelson is a YA author and freelance editor. She earned her BA in English language and Editing from Brigham Young University before completing her MA there in linguistics. She is now pursuing a degree in applied linguistics from Northern Arizona University. Before becoming a freelance editor, Kyra spent several years interning at a literary agency and working in house for various publications. She has also taught university courses in composition, grammar, and editing.
Kyra is...
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