Our Team
"It's amazing what we can do if we simply refuse to give up."
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Octavia E. Butler
Megan Chance
Book of the Year Selection Committee
Megan Chance is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. Her books have been picks for Amazon Book of the Month, IndieNext, and the Historical Novel Society Editors’ Choice. Booklist calls her writing “provocative and haunting.”Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest.
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Author of so many amazing titles such as Glamorous Notions,
A Dangerous Education, A Splendid Ruin, A Drop of Ink, The Visitant, Inamorata, Bone River, City of Ash, Prima Donna, The Spiritualist, An Inconvenient Wife, and many more!
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On Sale Now:
The Vermillion Sea
Lori Nelson Spielman
Book of the Year Selection Committee
Lori Nelson Spielman is a Michigan native, born and raised in Grand Ledge. Her first book, THE LIFE LIST, became a #1 international bestseller. It has been translated into over 30 languages and, in 2025, was adapted into a Netflix film where it remained on the Global Netflix Top Ten for six consecutive weeks. Her second novel, SWEET FORGIVENESS, was also an international bestseller. Her third novel, THE STAR-CROSSED SISTERS OF TUSCANY was an Indie Next pick and a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Lori and her husband live in Petoskey with their shaggy pup. When she's not hosting guests and enjoying the beauty of Northern Michigan, you'll find her writing.
Naomi Williams
Book of the Year Selection Committee
Naomi Williams is the author of the novel Landfalls (FSG 2015) and the forthcoming story collection Strange Trouble (Curbstone 2027). Her short fiction and essays have appeared most recently in Virginia Quarterly Review, LitHub, Bourbon Penn, and the Sacramento Noir anthology. Honors include a Pushcart Prize, honorable mentions in Best American Short Stories and Best Horror of the Year, and residencies at Hedgebrook, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for Creative Arts, among others. She has taught creative writing both privately and in the classroom, including at UC Davis and Saint Mary's College. A biracial Japanese-American, Naomi was born in Japan and spoke no English until she came to the U.S. at age five. Today she splits her time between San Francisco and Sacramento, where she co-directs the literary nonprofit CapLit. (Photo credit: Jesse Egner)
Book of the Year Editorial Team
Our brilliant, talented editors who will evaluate the top ten, select the final three, and polish the ONE selected as Book of the Year.
Developmental Editor
Caitlin Landuyt
Caitlin is a fiction editor with experience working at big-five publishing houses in the US and the UK - Penguin Random House and Hachette, respectively.
Worked on A Land so Wide by Erin A. Craig.
Acquisitions Editor
Jordan Kippe
Jordan started out in publishing at HarperCollins, earned an MFA from Ashland University, spent ten very successful years in sales, and returned to the literary scene to join The Third Coast Literary Press. Jordan is an avid reader, a writer, a wife to the goofiest guy, and a dog-mom to two golden retrievers.
Proofreader
Arianne Cruz
Arianne worked with Entangled Publishing as a proofreader. Since then, she has polished several books, including fan favorites like Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry.
Our Readers.
Every manuscript submitted for the Book of the Year goes through a rigorous vetting process. These are our professional readers & editors.
Professional Editor
Ela Brooks
Author & Marketing Strategist
Terin Larkin
Professional Writer and Editor
Kelli Diffenderfer
MFA & Acquisitions Editor
Jordan Kippe
MFA & Professor of Creative Writing
M.L. Feather
Writer, Editor, and Outreach Coordinator
M.L. Feather
Author, English teacher, writing professor
Angela K. Berent