Our Team
Koehler Books is staffed by writers and authors just like you.
Our staff of writers, editors, designers and technicians are totally devoted to serving authors. Our goal is the same as yours: to craft the highest caliber of book possible and to sell lots of copies. Our two key words are quality and collaboration. We lift the author up to the big leagues of publishing and literature, and show them the way so that together we can make the author and book the best it can be.
- John KoehlerPresident and PublisherJohn is the company founder and runs its day-to-day operations. He is an award-winning graphics designer, and the author of seven books. He was awarded the lifetime achievement Silver Medal by the Advertising Federation of Hampton Roads in 2016. He earned a BFA in Communications Arts and Design from Virginia Commonwealth University and attended graduate studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. John’s professional career includes being senior art director of a major advertising agency and running a design studio. John lives in Virginia Beach, VA and is active in his church. He has helped run a ministry dedicated to helping children with disabilities, a cause he is still very much dedicated to. John made an international splash in 1991 by winning the Boomerang World Championship in Perth, Australia and was a member of the Foster’s Boomerang 2000 Team, a touring troop that taught professional athletes, and others, the gospel of boomerangs.
- Joe CoccaroVice President and Executive EditorJoe is in charge of editing and evaluating submissions. He joined the company after nearly three decades as reporter, columnist, editor and senior newsroom manager at several major newspapers, including Virginia’s largest and most widely circulated daily, The Virginian-Pilot. Joe holds an MA in writing from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University, where he also studied as an undergraduate. Joe has won dozens of individual writing awards and has edited work that has been nationally recognized. His 2017 debut novel, Woo-Woo, won first place in the National Indie Excellence Awards. Joe has ghostwritten and co-written several titles and has coached hundreds of award-winning and best-selling authors. He has taught at two Virginia universities and has been a featured speaker at writing conferences. Joe is a runner and road cyclist and lives in his remote hometown of Cape Charles, VA, on the Chesapeake Bay.
- Danielle KoehlerDesign DirectorDanielle Koehler is a designer, illustrator, web programmer, and author. She graduated from James Madison University with a degree in Media Arts & Design. She has worked on websites, book covers, logos, as well as traditional-media watercolor and colored pencil illustrations for clients around the world. She currently lives in southern Chile with her husband, dogs, and cat. Yes, she is John's daughter!
- Hannah WoodlanSenior EditorHannah Woodlan is a senior editor. She graduated the University of Virginia with a BA in English, and she holds an MFA in creative writing from Old Dominion University. She interned at Port Folio Weekly in Norfolk, Virginia, and Albemarle Magazine in Charlottesville. She has an immense love for literature and film and currently resides in Fredericksburg with her fiancé and two cats, Lego and Poe.
- Becky HillikerSenior EditorBecky learned the power of words at the age of six, when she slid a note under her sister's door that said “I don’t love you. I don’t even like you.” That declaration moved her sister, who never tattled again. Becky coauthored the 2015 novel Sisters of Shiloh with that same ratfink sister. Her work has appeared in USA Today, Huffington Post, the Houston Chronicle, Military Spouse Magazine and on Ancestry.com. Becky approaches editing with the belief that all stories have an emotional heart, regardless of genre, and she enjoys helping authors build from that guiding light. After bouncing around the country for the past few decades courtesy of the US Navy, she has recently landed in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, four children, three dogs, two guinea pigs, and numerous dust bunnies.
- Miranda DillonAssociate Editor & AcquisitionsMiranda Faye Dillon was born and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York with a BFA in creative writing and a minor in cinema studies. She aspires to write screenplays and direct television shows and movies. A short fiction piece of hers, called “Leaves," was published by the Saturday Evening Post. She loves nutrition, healthy supplements, making delicious smoothies, and traveling the world. She joined the Koehler team as an executive assistant with hopes to get more into the editing game.Miranda DillonAssociate Editor & Acquisitions
- Lauren SheldonGraphic DesignerLauren Sheldon is a graphic designer from Savannah, GA. She attended Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in graphic design. When not pursuing her passion for book design, Lauren can be found spending time with her dogs, Bucky and Sadie, and catching up on her book club. In her free time, she also rebinds old well loved books for her friends and family. She loves to travel and New Zealand is next on her list for far away places to explore.Lauren SheldonGraphic Designer
- Christine KettnerGraphic DesignerChristine Kettner is a designer with a long career in book publishing, working for major book companies such as Disney, HarperCollins, Little Brown and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She has a love for typography and design; the font Bodoni Classic Text Light is a favorite. Collaborating with authors to bring their stories to the world makes her happy. Christine loves film, long walks, and Scrabble as well as reading fiction and nonfiction—especially biographies about first ladies.
- Greg FieldsSenior Acquisitions Manager & EditorGreg Fields is a literary Senior Acquisitions Manager & Editor. He is the author of Arc of the Comet, published by Koehler Books and nominated for the Cabell First Novel Award and the Kindle Book of the Year in Literary Fiction. His second novel, To the Waters and the Wild, is scheduled for release in spring, 2019. He is also the co-author with Maya Ajmera of Invisible Children: Reimagining International Development from the Grassroots, a nonfiction work released by Palgrave Macmillan in 2016. With a passion for great writing, baseball and good wine, Greg holds degrees from Rutgers and Notre Dame. He and his wife Lynn live in Manassas, Virginia.
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Pocket Guide to Publishing: 100 Things Authors Should Know
“A clever and candid look under the hood of today’s publishing vehicle.” —Shari Stauch, CEO and creator of Where Writers Win “I wish Pocket Guide had been available when I started out.” —Betsy Ashton, author of The Mad Max Mysteries, president of the Virginia Writers Club “A real no nonsense guide for authors that cuts to the chase about publishing.” —William Hazelgrove, bestselling author of The Pitcher and twelve other books Ooh, I need this!