Leslie Wainger's career in publishing began over thirty years ago, when she joined Silhouette Books, then a division of Simon & Schuster, as an editorial assistant. She was part of the editorial team that launched the company's first series, Silhouette Romance, which debuted in May 1980. She continued in series romance publishing and was actively involved in the development of seven other series: Silhouette Special Edition, Silhouette Desire, Silhouette Intimate Moments, Harlequin Historicals, Silhouette Shadows, Silhouette Bombshell and Silhouette Nocturne, both at Simon & Schuster and at Harlequin Enterprises, which purchased the Silhouette imprint in 1984.
While rising to the position of executive editor, she expanded her expertise into single-title fiction and now has extensive experience not only in series and single-title romance, but in general women's fiction, historicals, paranormal, horror, thriller, romantic suspense, fantasy and mystery. She has won awards for her editing, including the Romance Writers of America Industry Award; numerous books she's edited have been featured on noted bestseller lists, including the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly; and many of the books she's edited are award winners.
In her years as an editor, she has worked - and continues to work - with numerous well-known authors, including Linda Howard, Heather Graham, Sharon Sala, Maggie Shayne, Candace Camp, Kathleen Eagle, Emilie Richards, Susan Krinard, Beverly Barton and Rachel Lee.
Leslie is also the author of WRITING A ROMANCE NOVEL FOR DUMMIES (Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2004), which serves not only as a guide to writing romance but to writing strong, salable popular fiction, no matter what the genre.
Retired in 2016 after 37 years in publishing, most recently as editor-at-large for MIRA Books.