We are Chapter 90 of the Romance Writers of America ®,
with over 170 members in the San Francisco Bay area.
The mission of our chapter is to raise
and maintain a high level of quality in romance writing in all genres,
to increase public appreciation for the art of writing, and to secure
respect and improved recognition for the romance writer and the romance
publishing industry as a whole.
Mary Louise Schwartz-Agent from the The Belfrey Literary Agency, Inc. Saturday, July 12, 2008
Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery and Restaurant
Mary Louise Schwartz
Mary Louise is currently looking to represent
established authors or strong new voices in both category and single title. She is interested in books that are visual and would translate to film. Romantic comedies are especially wanted. She is not seeking historical or horror. Mary Louise will focus on the market, what the publishers are looking for, what's hot and what's not as well as what agents do to help plan a career, how agents choose where to send manuscripts and why they choose to represent one author over another. There will be agent apts raffled after the meeting.
This quarter’s mentor is Nyree Belleville aka Bella Andre! Here's a little bit about this best selling author:
After a decade in the music industry as a performer and songwriter, Nyree Belleville aka Bella Andre, attended her first San Francisco RWA meeting in January 2003. Based on a tip from another member about a new company called Ellora's Cave, she submitted 3 chapters of a brand new book to them the Sunday after the meeting. By the next week, she had her first contract with EC and published a total of four erotic novellas with them as Bella Andre. By summer of 2004 her critique partners, Jami Alden and Monica McCarty, told her to get an agent and try for New York. Jessica Faust from BookEnds Literary Agency took on her next project and sold it in three weeks to Pocket Books. Bella has sold 5 contemporary erotic romances to Pocket Books and her Bad Boys of Football series debuts June 2008 and October 2008 in trade paperback. This month she had another dream come true when her Hotshots: Men of Fire proposal went up for auction. The sexy contemporary trilogy will be her first foray into mass market paperback from Bantam Books.
Nyree's mentor contribution will be as follows:
Reading and critiquing a partial (up to 50 pages) -- no full manuscripts. If
the lucky winner has a completed manuscript, she will help them craft a
query letter and target agents. She'll answer any questions that may
arise. And basically, she is available for any email questions that may
arise. Oh, and if she doesn't have the answer (doubtful as that may be), she will
ferret it out.
A mentor is raffled off the first of each quarter. Each mentorship will last three months from the time of raffle. One must be present to win. Tickets will be available at the meeting and the winner announced after the speaker. Cost of ticket: $5 each or 5 for $20. This mentorship raffle is open to anyone who is present and buys a ticket.
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