— Meet the Editors & Agents —
Steven Hutson has worked as a literary agent for the past 12 years and now represents WordWise Media. His clients have been published by Hachette, Baker Books, Writer’s Digest Books, HarperCollins, Dutton, Potomac Books, Harlequin, Thomas Nelson, and others. Several clients have won prestigious awards, in both the Christian and general markets.
Steve can handle almost any genre except short stories, poetry, picture books, horror, or screenplays.
Vivian is excited to hear pitches for mainstream fiction, women's lit, adventure, action, science fiction, fantasy, romance, mystery, suspense, historical fiction, creative nonfiction, and nonfiction. Vivian is also on the lookout for submissions in any of the listed genres for 4RV’s Tenacious Imprint. For consideration, think adult level, but without graphic sex or violence.
Genres to avoid? 4RV is not looking for children's books at this time due to issues finding an illustrator. 4RV also doesn’t accept erotica.
Penders is Editor-in-Chief of The Wild Rose Press. She and her business partner, RJ Morris, opened their publishing house in 2006 and continue to be the sole owners today. Her role at TWRP is not only Editor-in-Chief and a variety of other hats but most important as an advocate for her authors. She will work with an author who is struggling and talk them “off the ledge” as she says.
Penders believes that authors, editors, and publishers are all part of the same team. A good relationship, solid communication and professionalism on all fronts is what it takes to bring a good product to market. She loves meeting writers and hearing about their lives and their books. The people connection is what she values most.
Ally Robertson has been an editor with The Wild Rose Press since they opened in 2006. She is also a writing coach, freelance editor, and author, under the name Alicia Dean, with more than twenty-five published titles. She’s partial to all things dark and creepy…the scarier the better. She loves meeting authors, discovering fabulous new stories and helping authors realize their dreams. She lives in Edmond Oklahoma where she enjoys editing, writing, reading, Elvis Presley, the MLB, the NFL, and watching her favorite television shows--which she calls 'research' so it doesn't seem as though she’s wasting time.
Ally is looking for any genre fiction and is currently most excited to hear about Romance in any genre.
What won’t be a connection? Children’s books and non-fiction. The word count range is a firm 15,000 to 100,000.
Bonnie Swanson is a literary agent at The Purcell Agency in Chicago representing a diverse group of authors that write picture books through adult manuscripts.
Bonnie is looking forward to hearing about adult psychological horror with/without speculative elements. She’s also open to pitches from authors with YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy work.
What’s not a fit this year for Bonnie? Picture books and middle grade are a miss.
Lisa Skaggs-Willis is a co-founder of Rose Rock wRiters and the Tenacious Imprint Editor at 4RV Publishing.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong is a senior literary agent at The Purcell Agency.
Cathie is interested in Romance (Adult Only), Fantasy Romance (YA or Adult), Mysteries (YA or Adult), Thrillers (YA or Adult), Neurodivergent, BIPOC, & LGBTQ+ authors/stories and is especially hungry for Native American stories/authors.
At this time, she’s not considering pitches for Women’s Fiction, YA (except genres listed above), Science Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, or Literary Fiction.
After freelance editing for several years, TwylaBeth began working with Fawkes Press in 2017 as acquisitions editor while continuing to freelance edit for select authors. She’s worked with aspiring and established authors, providing editing support across the continuum, from developmental to final dust-offs and copy proofs.
Twylabeth is most excited to find Cozy Mystery, Southern Noir, and LGBTQ+ fiction for Fawkes Press.
She’s also interested in new series in the following genres: Cozy Mystery, Middle Grade, and Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, with the caveat that the author will need at least one completed manuscript plus one or more in the works with the ability to complete the next in series within 6-9 months.
If an author doesn't write a series but has 2+ standalone books in the same genre, she’ll consider hearing pitches in these specific genres: Southern Noir, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Womens Fiction, Queer Fiction, Horror.
What’s a miss for Twlabeth? Fawkes Press does not accept submissions from these genres: Romance, Picture Books/Kids, Sci-Fi, Poetry, or Memoir.
Need editing instead? For authors preparing for their agent search or who are on a self-publishing journey, Twylabeth is open to new freelance editing clients, too.
— View the Schedule —
Please bear in mind that these schedules are updated manually as forms come in, so what you see here may not always be 100% accurate. We will make every effort to update frequently, but we do appreciate your patience!
— Pitch Room Rules —
Pitch sessions are 10 minutes long, with 5 minutes between each session. In order to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to pitch, we are limiting sign-ups to one per person at this time. You may sign up for additional sessions at the conference, if available. Please watch your
e-mail for confirmation that we received your request. If you haven’t received the confirmation within 24 hours, please check your junk and spam folders, then email the webmaster.
Before scheduling, please visit the Meet the Agents & Editors section to review the pitching criteria to ensure the best fit for your work.
Please report to the pitch room at least 5 minutes prior to the start of your session. You will not be permitted to enter a session late.
"No show" openings will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis immediately before the start of the session.
Sessions will not be permitted to go over the 10 minute allotted time. Notice will be given at 2 minutes and 1 minute in order to wrap up pitches.
Pitch sessions are not guaranteed. As in the real world, editors and agents sometimes get sick, flights get delayed, and any number of other things may happen. If you registered for a time slot, and that time slot is removed because the agent/editor cannot be present (for whatever reason), then your time slot is lost, and you must re-register for a new time slot. It is important to keep an eye on the schedule for this reason.
