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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Exciting News In YA Publishing! Leap Books Is Shaking Things Up!

Three Young Adult Authors Walk into a Book Store...and Come Out Managing a Publishing House.




That's very nearly what recently happened to young adult authors Shannon DelanyJudith Graves, and Jen Murgia  except there was no book store and they don't live close enough to do much "in real life" together. "That's the great thing about technology and social media," Delany laughs. 

"This all began because I opened my mouth on Facebook and it earned me a phone call. I was toying with the idea of founding my own little publishing house and Judith Graves contacted me. After a few emails and one fateful phone call the ball was rolling!"

Graves, a longtime Leap author (and a respected script writer and author with additional houses) suggested she and Delany team up and take over the SHINE e-novella line she was building through established small publisher Leap Books LLC

When owner Laurie Edwards heard about it, she suggested they take on the entire company. Not long after, Delany found herself the owner and publisher of the well-loved house with Graves as her very capable co-publisher.

But the duo knew it would take even more people to give Leap's books and authors, both old and new, the attention they needed. Delany contacted author Jennifer Murgia and asked her to come aboard as Marketing Director. Jennifer Murgia says she's "excited to relaunch such a fabulous backlist of titles and is looking forward to the new list." No stranger to choreographing large scale book events (YAFest.org), Murgia and her team plan to reach outlets that will give Leap titles the recognition and attention they deserve. With the addition of William Gee as CFO and additional team members to bolster the services they provide authors, the new Leap management team feels certain they can each focus on the things they do best. 

Readers can look forward to edgy and memorable stories filled with characters who leap off the pages. Of special note is the new e-novella line, SHINE, headed up by Graves and specializing in YA and NA. 

What Leap Books has to say about this:
"We already have a backlist of strong stories thanks to the foundation Laurie Edwards built for Leap Books, but it seems like people have overlooked many of them while swimming in the sea of current YA and MG novels. We're going to changing that and building on the existing list with our upcoming SHINE list of edgy YA and NA e-novellas and a re-branding and re-launching of both our YA novel line SURGE and our middle grade novel line." 

Authors of all YA and NA genres can submit through their agents to any of Leap's lines. And, this year to celebrate Delany's birthday in mid-October, Leap will open its doors for unagented stories for a brief period. Go HERE for submission details.

What Leap Books has to say about this:
"Although Leap's SURGE line usually only accepts agented submissions, in mid-October we'll be opening our doors wide. If you have a well-polished YA or MG novel that grabs us and holds us, we may have aspot in our lineup for you. Watch the Leap Books blog--no, stalk the blog--to find out when to submit. And watch for special anthologies to submit to--we have some great ones coming up!"

For now Delany suggests readers and writers alike leap into the contest running until August 8th at http://leapbks.blogspot.ca  and if you're serious about writing for a publisher, first give a few of their books a read. The Rafflecopter contest is at the end of this post.

You can find Leap Books at: 

http://leapbks.net

https://mobile.twitter.com/Leapbks
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leap-Books/89935165678


I personally know Shannon Delany and Jennifer Murgia and I am excited to see what wonderful things these amazing women will bring to the world of YA, NA and MG. Below are books written by Shannon Delany, Judith Graves and Jennifer Murgia.


 




Enter the Rafflecopter contest to win three Leap e-books of your choice:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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