Rochelle Stephens is the editor and publisher at Wombat Books and has repetitively chosen manuscripts from the CYA conference for publication. She is passionate about great books with the motto of Stories you will want to share. The focus is on any books for children through to YA and new adult. We are looking for early readers, junior fiction, middle fiction, young adult and the conservative end of new adult/adult. Wombat Books has taken on picture books from pitches every year for the last few years, and Rochelle is keen to keep supporting CYA attendees.
Rochelle is excited to work with authors and help them on their journey, and often encourages repeat submissions.
Wombat Books has national and international distribution of all new titles and is focusing on including audiobooks with each new novel release.
Rochelle is also an author in both educational writing and her Riz Chester series, with The Fingerprint Code having been shortlisted in the 2024 Speech Pathology awards. She has completed her Masters in Editing and Publishing with a thesis exploring middle fiction and what children want to read.
Rochelle is interested in assessing a range of stories from fast-paced stories across all age groups and genres. She likes plot-driven stories that excite busy readers of all ages. She is also interested in expanding the adult fiction on the cleaner end of adult fiction.
Rochelle is also doing assessments online on 4 & 5 July, and in-person on 11 July.
Rochelle Stephens Bootcamp
Important
Please note that Bootcamps are non-refundable unless we can resell the session.
About the bootcamps
The Bootcamp is a day spent with an editor where you will receive feedback on your work in small group sessions, time to work on your manuscripts followed by a progress session where they will give you further feedback, there is also a discussion panel and a Q&A session.
Places for the Bootcamp are strictly limited to four people per group, with each editor working with two groups.
Groups will be divided into
- Chapter Books, including Young Adult Novels
- Picture Books
You do not need to be coming to the conference to join a bootcamp.
Payment plans
If you want to set up a fortnightly payment plan, use the code CYA26 at checkout. A 15% non-refundable deposit is required upfront for payment plans, with full payment due before your session.
Please note that payment plans aren’t available for early-bird tickets, and each attendee may have one payment plan.
