Acquisitions editor, Lauri Blasch of Black Opal Books will be taking three line pitches on the savvy blog on Wednesday July 11th from 9 a.m to midnight EST.

Lauri is looking for all romance genres, including paranormal and erotic, and YA. In addition, we’re accepting novels and novellas that aren't romances, but have strong romantic elements, such as women’s fiction, chick lit, etc. So if it has romance in it, it's a mystery, a thriller, or it’s YA, they want to see it. They are also accepting limited non-fiction. They hope to expand our fiction lines and publish additional genres soon. They accept unpublished works, as well as previously-published works—as long as the rights have reverted back to the author.

BLACK OPAL BOOKS is based in the Pacific Northwest. We were founded by authors who thought the publishing industry could do more for both authors and their readers. So they gave BLACK OPAL BOOKS a mission: produce high-quality, well-edited books for readers, while helping authors achieve their dreams, as well as a higher percentage of royalties.

Because we know how much hard work goes into writing a book, we feel the lion’s share of the profit from sales of the book should go to the author. Therefore, our royalties start at 45% for both eBook and print. Royalties increase as book sales increase, and once our initial investment in the book is recovered, royalties change to 70%.

Since we are aware of how involved the author wants to be in the care, feeding, and production of their book, we also grant our authors as much control over title and cover art as possible. What we strive for is a partnership with our authors, so that the book we produce and sell is the book the author envisioned.