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Romance Author Mentorship Program

The Romance Author Mentorship Program (RAMP) will be back in January 2026!

RAMP is here to help you achieve your writing goals no matter the publishing path you decide to pursue! RAMP connects experienced published author mentors with unpublished mentees. Mentors and mentees work closely together to polish the mentee's full manuscript over a sixteen (16) week period and discuss the business of writing.

The program is open only to unpublished RWA members with completed romance manuscripts and focuses on both traditional and indie publishing. RAMP culminates with two events for mentees:
  • Exclusive Pitch Appointments at RWA 2026 Annual Conference - RAMP mentees are given preference when scheduling agent and editor pitch appointments at the annual conference.
  • Indie Author Weekend 2026 - free registration to the virtual 2-day mini conference featuring award winning and best-selling self-published authors, freelance experts, and more.

RAMP up your career with the Romance Author Mentorship Program!

 

About RAMP

RWA’s Romance Author Mentorship Program (RAMP), conceived in 2019 after initial consultation with Pitch Wars founder Brenda Drake, was designed specifically for published romance authors who want to give back to the community and unpublished authors who want the guidance and wisdom of an experienced publish author to help the on their path to publishing. Each one, teach one!

With RAMP, no matter what publishing path mentees are interested in pursuing, the program will help them along their journey.

Building Community

One of our biggest aims with RAMP is to create a robust community for writers to learn from and support each other. Once selected, mentees will be subscribed to a forum where they can share advice, resources and encouragement. After they complete the program, mentees are eligible to join RAMP Alumni forum where they can continue to share advice, resources, good news, and encouragement with others who have gone through RAMP. The RAMP Alumni forum is also a place where former mentees will learn of RAMP events that they are eligible to participate in.

But mentees don’t get to have all the fun! Mentors will have their own forum to share advice and resources during the mentoring process. Each mentor gets a spotlight in the digital RWR, one free registration to an RWA University webinar, mentor ribbon to attach to the RWA Annual Conference badge, and a guaranteed spot in the Swag Room at the RWA Annual Conference.

How does it work? 

Applicants must complete the application and upload the required submission materials. The submission material is carefully reviewed by the RAMP Committee and mentors for compliance with the guidelines. After the review period, applications moving forward in the selection process will be sorted into folders by genre. Each mentor will access the folders to select one or two mentees to work with on a full manuscript polish, a query letter or a synopsis or a back cover blurb, as well as answer questions about the business of writing and reaching publishing goals.

Who can participate? 

The RAMP program is only open to RWA members.

Mentors must be RWA members who are General PAN, PAN-Eligible, PAN-Provisional or PAN-Equivalent.

Mentees can be RWA General or Associate-Writer members, unpublished.

Agents must meet the qualifications to be considered "RWA-Eligible." Editors must work for a publishing company or imprint that meets the qualifications to be considered a "Qualifying Market.

If you have questions about RAMP, use the Contact Us form.