Introducing RWA's Romance Author Mentorship Program

RWA is thrilled to unveil our new Romance Author Mentorship Program, or RAMP! 

RAMP connects experienced author mentors with unpublished or under-published mentees for a 3-month period in which they work closely together to revise the mentee's full manuscript. 

While modeled after the highly successful Pitch Wars, and with input from Pitch Wars founder Brenda Drake, RAMP was designed specifically with romance authors and the romance market in mind. The program is open only for RWA members with romance manuscripts and focuses on both traditional and indie publishing. 

Culminating in two events, a Traditional Showcase that features both agents and editors and an Indie Master Class, RAMP is here to help you achieve your writing goals no matter the publishing path you decide to pursue!

Read on to find out more about this new program or visit the RAMP home page. Have questions? Visit our FAQ page or contact [email protected]. 


How RAMP Works

The program officially kicks off January 2, 2020, when mentor applications open. Once mentors are selected by RWA Staff, mentee applicants will be able to view the mentor bios and wish lists and submit a complete manuscript to up to four mentors, who will then choose the mentees with whom they’d like to work! 

The goal at the end of the program is for the mentee to have a manuscript and a synopsis, pitch, and/or back cover blurb that are ready to submit to an editor or agent, or ready to go to a copy editor before self-publication. 

Click to learn more about the process for mentors and for mentees. 


Building Community

One of our biggest aims with RAMP is to create a robust community for writers to learn from and support each other as they work to achieve their publishing dreams. Once selected, mentees will be eligible to join RWA’s The Golden Network chapter, and each mentee class will have their own forum to share advice and encouragement.

But mentees don’t get to have all the fun! The RWA Discussions forum, accessible to RWA members, will play host to related educational programming and discussions during the months the program is live. 


2020 Schedule

January 2: Mentor apps open
January 16: Mentor apps close 
January 30: Mentors announced
February 12: Mentor wishlists posted
February 18: Mentee submissions open
March 3: Mentee submissions close 
April 7: Mentees announced
July 13-20: Online showcase for editors/agents
July 29-August 1: RWA2020 in San Francisco, Indie Master Class times TBA