The Team

Gretel is ecstatic to be a part of a publishing process that empowers talented authors and directly rewards hard work and marketability. As such, she’s active in all editorial and marketing aspects of the book production process, often working with authors from conception to the production of their published product. She’s additionally responsible for identifying new talent and evaluating projects for their marketplace viability.

Gretel’s background is heavily rooted in media (print, online, and TV production), marketing and audience generation. Some combination of her varied life experiences, relentless curiosity, and passion for connecting with audiences led her to be an early adopter of social media and the creator and writer of two must-read blogs. She introduced San Diego to its first literary magazine in 2003, as well as worked in positions across the board at Chicago magazine, Dynamic magazine, the Custom Publishing Council, The Rosen Group Public Relations, and, yes, The Jerry Spring Show.

As co-publisher, Kate works directly with authors at every step of the publishing process, from reading and editing manuscripts to creating strategic marketing plans. She works directly with authors as a liaison between our creative and marketing teams, as well as our various distribution partners. Kate is also a talented copyeditor and proofreader.

Kate graduated with a BA in English from Brown University, and she holds an MA in English from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to launching her career in marketing and publishing, she taught English at the university and high school levels, most recently at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights.

These days, Kate lives in Brooklyn and travels to exotic locales whenever she can find time (which, alas, is not very often).

With a focus on marketability, Genna oversees the first round of edits on each manuscript and shows up again at the end when it’s time to promote the finished product. Genna’s editorial feedback and recommendations are shared directly with our authors before they move onto what we like to call the “heavy lifting” stage. Her focus is overall structure, audience suitability, and cohesiveness.

Genna’s honed her skills for crafting audience-specific editorial content from her work with marketing clients at Channel V Media, as well as her dual degree in Communications and Psychology from Syracuse University. Her previous experience in the television industry working for companies like Warner Bros. and CBS has additionally given her an eye for a great story and a good sense of what an audience wants to hear (or read).

When she’s not at work, Genna reads (for fun!) and takes in all that New York City has to offer.

Scott Kellum has six years of web design experience and runs Channel V Media’s evolving apps and mobile development programs. He handcrafts websites and other web applications using a combination of XHTML, CSS, jQuery, and a number of other scripts. He enjoys living on the cutting edge of technology and the new challenges it brings. Notably, Scott’s a pioneer in the evolving web fonts space, having recently introduced his Webfnt Method to the development world. Scott prides himself on his classical design training in printmaking and typeface design. Scott can’t stand writing about Scott (especially in the third person).

Cesar is Channel V Books’ trusty creative director and quiet voice of reason. Because he’s supernaturally talented (really), he oversees every single piece of work that comes out of Channel V Books and its sister company Channel V Media. Cesar has extensive experience in text layout and typography — both of which are often overlooked in an increasingly online world. His keen eye for formatting and readability make him an invaluable asset to Channel V Books and its authors.

In his past life Cesar worked as a designer for Chicago magazine and The Green magazine, and co-founded California-based magazine numberII. He has been commissioned by clients such as Levi’s, USA Weekend magazine, New York University, The National Museum of Mexican Art, Congressional Research Service, Custom Publishing Council, ENS Development and Properties, M-real, and Ruth Cansfield Dance.