Pitch the Editor
**This event is open to paying members of Writing Away Refuge only**
Saturday, March 21st, 2026
Join us for a day of pitching to editors from major publishing houses.
(And as an added bonus, we will have a drawing with 10 winners
who will have their written query letter reviewed by an editor from TOR.)
Each editor pitch slot is 7 minutes and can be purchased individually for $30. Every member who purchases a pitch will be entered into the drawing for a query letter review from Oliver Dougherty of TOR. Ten winners will be drawn.
Please carefully review each editor's wishlist to choose the editors who are
best for your work. Not a member of Writing Away Refuge and would like to be?
You can find our membership page here.
Meet the Editors
Editor, Harpercollins
Ezra Kupor
Ezra Kupor acquires and edits a diverse list of titles across the Harper Perennial and Harper Books imprints. He’s always on the lookout for fiction and nonfiction that investigate the contradictions of identity and explore places and communities of belonging. This means he’s inherently more attuned to queer and underrepresented voices and/or drawn to stories in which the strangeness of the world adds pressure to what is already pressurized. This longing for meaning brings him across genres, and he’s always eager to meet readers where they’re at—and then push them a bit further. More than anything, he loves a read that leaves you feeling more tender and full of wonder than when you began. Ezra also runs Galley Brag, a newsletter featuring interviews with critics, creators, booksellers, sales reps, journalists, and others across the publishing ecosystem.
Editor, St. Martin's Press
Vanessa Aguirre
Vanessa Aguirre is a fiction editor at St. Martin’s Press and a co-director of Latinx in Publishing's Writers Mentorship Program. Prior to landing at SMP, she was a fiction editor at Hugo-nominated magazine Strange Horizons. She hails from Texas and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she originally studied clinical psychology before realizing she could follow her passion for stories (and the people who create them) into a career. Her background in psychology and speculative fiction informs her taste in books: above all else, she loves to be transported, whether that’s to a cozy magical tavern or the dark, twisty interior world of a character who fascinates. In editing, she always strives to make sure an author’s work reflects their best self. English was her second language, and she recognizes the beautiful power of words as vehicles for connection—for the author, for the editor, and for the reader!
Editor, TOR
Matt Rusin
I’ve been with the Tor Publishing Group since 2019. I acquire books for Tor, Nightfire, and Tordotcom. I am open to novels as well as novellas longer than 20,000 words. I do not buy poetry, graphic novels, non-fiction, or romance/romantasy.
When considering a manuscript for acquisition, the following stylistic considerations are most important to me:
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A compelling narrative voice.
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A character-driven structure.
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Consistent pacing.
I am most excited by relatable settings, often in the form of worlds, landscapes, and situations that exhibit a slight, subtle, surreal, and unexplainable “otherness” as is seen in Starling House by Alix E. Harrow and Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. I’m also interested in writing with a strong emotional core as is found in the works of Isaac Fellman, China Miéville, Anthony Doer, and Karen Russell.
Specific qualities I look for include:
Grounded Sci-Fi / Contemporary Fantasy: I love stories that feel like they are set only five minutes in the future, especially if they take place on a recognizable earth. I’m especially interested in worlds that seem to have only one or two speculative elements, as is seen in the TV show Severance, the work of Kelly Link, and the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Recognizable Characters: I’m interested in diverse and relatable characters who may even feel mundane at first, but whose deeper complexity is exposed to the reader through emerging situations of the fantastic, the uncanny, the surreal (a big one), or the terrifying. Examples include Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea, and Nathan Ballingrud’s The Strange.
Everything Weird: I am looking for all things weird fiction, especially if there is a psychological element. Examples include VanderMeer’s Ambergris Cycle, George Saunders’ “Escape from Spiderhead,” The West Passage by Jared Pechaček, and Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado.
Unreliable Narrators: I love books that make readers wonder: Is this world actually magical? Is he actually in danger? Wait, has she been dead this whole time? These stories can be humorous or horrifying, and everything in between.
Epic Fantasy: I am only interested in epic fantasy that places character above setting/magic system/battle sequences. Examples include The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman, The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, and Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames.
CEO & Editor, Rising Action Publishing
Alexandria Brown
While Alex will accept books from most fiction genres, she has examples of different things she’s looking for in her top genres. She is interested in: Romantic Comedies/Book Club Fiction (think The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary or The Matchmaker’s List by Sonya Lalli). She also is seeking Thrillers/Mysteries/Horror that delves from usual tropes and has an ending that will leave the reader gobsmacked. She is also interested in nonfiction true crime stories. Alex looks for main characters that are under-represented in fiction, such as, but not limited to, plus-sized, LGBTQAI+, and/or persons of color.
Editor-at-Large, Dafina/Kensington Books
Leticia Gomez
Leticia Gomez is an Editor-at-Large for Dafina Books, an imprint of Kensington Publishing Corp., which focuses on high-quality fiction and non-fiction that centers on race, identity, and its impact on our experiences. She is also the founder and principal agent of Savvy Literary Services, a Texas-based literary agency that specializes in bringing culturally diverse voices to the forefront. She has helped her clients secure deals with the largest publishers in the world and has seen several of her projects successfully optioned for TV and film adaptation.
Leticia is actively seeking to acquire fiction and nonfiction in all genres as well as stories for marginalized communities with a focus on voices of color.
Commercial
Literary
Upmarket Women's Fiction
Book Club Fiction
Historical
Romance
Romantasy
Romantic Suspense
Mystery
Psychological Thrillers
Horror
Fantasy
Narrative Nonfiction
Biography
Memoir
True Crime
Pop Culture
Prescriptive Self-Help
Politics & Current Affairs
Editor, TOR
Oliver Dougherty
I’ve been with Tor Publishing Group for over five years, and I’m delighted to continue expanding my list with ambitious, imaginative fiction for adult readers. I acquire in fantasy, science fiction, romance that’s otherwise speculative in some way, and horror. I’m especially drawn to secondary world and character-focused stories.
(Oliver is not taking pitches, but he will be reviewing the query letters of our 10 drawing winners.)