Lori Perkins
| Lori Perkins | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 8, 1959 White Plains, New York, United States |
| Residence | The Bronx, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation |
Literary agent President, L. Perkins Agency Book publisher Owner, Riverdale Avenue Books in Riverdale, Bronx Partner, RomanceBeat.com |
Lori Perkins (born April 8, 1959 in White Plains, New York) is an American literary agent and book publisher. In 2012, she founded Riverdale Avenue Books, an e-book publishing company, in Riverdale, Bronx.[1][2]
Early life and education
Perkins grew up in [Upper Manhattan], New York where she went to Barnard School for Girls and graduated from The Bronx High School of Science in 1977. She graduated in three years from New York University in 1980.
Career
In 1982, she founded The Uptown Weekly News, a bi-monthly neighborhood newspaper that covered Manhattan's Washington Heights and Inwood sections of Manhattan. In 1982, she began teaching journalism at NYU in the undergraduate program.
Literary agent
In 1987, Perkins embarked on a career as a literary agent and apprenticed with Barabara Lowenstein of Lowenstein Associates where she represented ghost buster authors Ed and Lorraine Warren and horror novelists Christopher Golden and Ray Garton. She founded her own agency the L. Perkins Agency in 1990, which has gone on to have 7 books on the New York Times Best Seller List including How to Make Love Like a Porn Star by Jenna Jameson, J.K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Marc Shapiro and The Hunger Games Companion by Lois Gresh.
The New York Chapter of Romance Writers of America named her Agent of the Year in 2010,[3] and she received An Outstanding Achievement Award from the Romantic Times Book Club in 2004.
Perkins continues to be the President of the L. Perkins Agency, which has 5 agents on staff and has foreign agents in 11 countries.[4]
Ravenous Romance
In 2007, she co-founded[5] the e-publishing company Ravenous Romance and was the Editorial Director from 2008 to 2012. The Story of L by Debra Hyde won a Lambda Literary Award in 2012 under Perkins' direction.[6]
Riverdale Avenue Books
In 2012,[7] she founded Riverdale Avenue Books[8] located in Riverdale, Bronx, where she is President and Publisher. Riverdale publishes e-books and print on demand (POD) books sold on many e-vendor websites such as Amazon, Kobo, Nook, AllRomance Books and iBooks. Riverdale Avenue Books has 9 imprints: Pop a pop culture imprint; Riverdale/Magnus the award-winning imprint of LGBT titles; Verve, a lifestyle imprint, HSF, a horror, science fiction, fantasy line; Truth, an erotic memoir line; Desire, an erotica/erotic romance imprint; Dagger, a mystery thriller imprint; and Sports and Gaming featuring sports and gaming titles. Riverdale publishes e-books and print on demand (POD) books sold on many e-vendor websites such as Amazon, Kobo, Nook, AllRomance Books and iBooks. Riverdale Avenue Books has 9 imprints: Pop a pop culture imprint; Riverdale/Magnus the award-winning imprint of LGBT titles; Verve, a lifestyle imprint, HSF, a horror, science fiction, fantasy line; Truth, an erotic memoir line; Desire, an erotica/erotic romance imprint; Dagger, a mystery thriller imprint; and Sports and Gaming featuring sports and gaming titles.
In 2014, Riverdale was named the BiSexual Publisher of the Year from the Bi-Writer's Association. Riverdale's authors include NY Times Best Selling Author[9] Marc Shapiro, Cecilia Tan and Lois Gresh. Riverdale publishes between 50 - 75 books a year.
Between the Covers is Riverdale Avenue Books' branded erotica and erotic romance reading series. The Downtown Series is held at People Lounge in New York City on the first Friday of every month and the Uptown Series is held at An Beal Bocht in Riverdale, Bronx, on the second Monday of every month. Riverdale is the only publisher in New York City with its own reading series open to all authors of erotica and erotic romance.
Author
She is the author of The Cheapskate's Guide To Entertainment; How to Throw Fabulous Parties on a Budget, The Insider's Guide To Getting A Literary Agent, The Everything Family Guide to Washington, D.C., The Everything Family Guide To New York and Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades Of Grey (BenBella Books).
She has blogged about feminism for the Women's Media Center.[10]
Editor
Perkins has edited more than twenty erotica anthologies, including Hungry For Your Love, a zombie romance anthology, which was published by St. Martin's Press.[11]
Personal life
She lives in the Bronx, and regularly speaks on panels and conferences[12][13] on publishing and the value of female-centered erotica.
References
- ↑ Lori Perkins. "FIFTY WRITERS ON FIFTY SHADES OF GREY". Kirkus Reviews.
- ↑ "Nonfiction Book Review: Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey by Edited by Lori Perkins. BenBella/Smart Pop (Perseus, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-937856-42-7". PublishersWeekly.com.
- ↑ "GOLDEN APPLE AWARDS HONOREES 1996-2014". Rwanyc.com. Retrieved January 2015.
- ↑ "L. Perkins Agency - The AGENTS:". Lperkinsagency.com. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ↑ "THE REVOLVING DOOR". Mediabistro.com. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ↑ "24TH ANNUAL LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALISTS AND WINNERS". Lambda Literary. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
- ↑ "New E-book House, Riverdale Avenue Books, to Launch in December". Publishers Weekly. December 7, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
- ↑ "Home - RiverdaleAveBooks.com". riverdaleavebooks.com.
- ↑ http://us.macmillan.com/author/marcshapiro
- ↑ "Plunging Necklines, Helen Gurley Brown, and Me". Womensmediacenter.com. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ↑ Bexte, Matina. "Hungry For Your Love: An Anthology of Zombie Romance edited by Lori Perkins". Book Loons Reviews.
- ↑ "Key Note Speaker". shadesofromancecon.com.
- ↑ "Lori Perkins". Gke2014.sched.org. Retrieved 3 January 2015.