How I Got My Agent

It’s a bit bizarre to me that I’m sitting down to write this post. Like many writers in the trenches, I’ve voraciously consumed every HIGMA post I could find. In hindsight, I can see now I was looking for some hope, chasing a belief that if this person could do it, perhaps I could too.

Many times, I got what I needed! I’d leave feeling a bit buoyed. Yeah, the trenches aren’t easy, but there were people out there who’d struggled—just like I was struggling—who’d achieved the thing I so desperately wanted. Other times, I left feeling a lot worse. Not because those posts or their authors ever did anything wrong, but because of my own personal triggers, and what made me feel hopeful vs. hopeless.

So before I dive in, I want to share some data from my journey. Not query stats (besides my total queries sent), though if you would like to see more info on my queries and request rates, you can skip to the end. Personally, the way I reacted to a HIGMA post often depended on the factors I’ve included below, so I want to be up front about them. Hopefully, having that info can help you make an informed decision on whether or not you wish to read this post, based on how it may impact you.

My writing data:

• Total years spent writing books: ~7

• Total books drafted (excluding partials): 10

• Total books I received feedback on, revised heavily, and queried: 3

• Time in the trenches: ~2.5 years

• Age when I started writing: 21

• Age when I began querying: 26

• Age when I got my offer: 28

• Total queries sent (across 3 books): 134

Hopefully that’s helpful! While there’s no normal or average journey when it comes to querying, mine feels middle-ish to me. I’m definitely not a unicorn, but I also know a lot of journeys take longer than mine did, often for no reason other than their luck hasn't turned yet. (And the incredible amount of luck it took for me to get here is not lost on me!)

Ok! Now that that’s out of the way, I’ve split this post into sections to make it easier to navigate. Each section contains a TLDR (too long didn’t read) at the end, for those who prefer to skim. The sections are:

• Books 1-6: The Ones I Didn’t Query

• Book 7: Entering the Trenches

• Book 9: AMM & Querying A Second Time

• Book 10: Querying Take Three & Signing With My Agent

• Query Stats

Books 1-6: The Ones I Didn’t Query

I began writing when I was in college. I had a dream I can no longer remember (something with a sword?? And lots of golden light??), but at the time it inspired me to write my first book. It was early 2016 at that point, and I was still pretty into dystopia, so naturally, I chose to write a YA dystopian set in the future.

Even then, I was a pretty intense plotter, and I planned the entire thing out before I began drafting. To be honest, I didn’t expect to finish it. Every week as the word count grew, I surprised myself. Somehow, I was still at it. But I wrote and wrote until eventually I had a finished novel, and I was so proud of it! It was trash and I knew it—but I’d done it. I’d drafted a whole damn book.

Around that time, I did some research on how to get published, which was when I learned about literary agents. I knew my book wasn’t good enough for that stage, but tbh, I wasn’t looking to get published back then. Writing made me happy, and I was content to do it in my little blanket cave, without any prying eyes. I happily drafted two more books in that series (the third of which was somehow 173,000 words???? How??????), but other than my mom’s book club (who I would like to issue a sincere and formal apology to) no one read it, and I was fine with that.

At that point, I didn’t know how to write a good book, but I’d learned something important: I could write a book. And I was happy with that! Most people don’t get that far.

So I drafted three books in a new series! It was so much better than the first series, but the bar was super low (I’m talking unrelated prologue + two straight chapters of info-dumps low), so if I’m being honest with myself, it was still horrible.

You know how some people start writing, and they’re just like, great from the get-go? Yeah, that wasn’t me. I sucked for a long time, and for a lot of books. That said, I knew this series was better than the first, so this one I actually considered querying. But after some research, I quickly learned my book wouldn’t do well in the trenches. Why? To put it simply: I couldn’t narrow down the genre, it was too long, and it was intended to be part of a four book series (which wasn’t an impossible sell, but would make it much harder).

Because of those reasons, I decided to skip querying, which I’m glad for. I figured I’d learned a lot, not just about writing, but about querying, so perhaps I’d try with my next book. And I did!

TLDR: I wrote six books across two series between 2016-2018. They were VERY bad (like truly atrocious) but I learned that I could write a full length novel! Luckily, I didn’t query them.

Book 7: Entering The Trenches

The next book I wrote was a YA fantasy, which was my first experience writing the genre, though I’d read quite widely in it. From the conception of this idea, I didn’t think it would do well in the trenches. It involved elemental magic, and because so many books existed with similar magic systems, I didn’t expect my premise to be fresh enough. That said, there was a slightly unique twist with the magic, I was excited about the idea, and I figured I wasn’t good enough to get an agent anyways, so why not write what compelled me?

So I did! I had a lot of fun writing this one. At its core, it was a story about two sisters, something I loved because growing up with three brothers, I’d always wanted a sister. It had romance, magic, badassery, friendship, and also a really cute little bird sidekick! I loved my story, and when the first draft came in around 104k, I knew I wanted to query it. Surely I could cut 4k to reach an acceptable word count, right?

It turns out I could. A big part of this was feedback, and so for the first time, I sought out beta readers, which I found via goodreads and facebook. I participated in a lot of critique exchanges, which gave me the chance to read other books and provide feedback—an invaluable learning experience. Not only that, but I made my first writing community friend! (Shoutout to Marie!!).

In the end, I received two separate rounds of feedback, and I learned some really important lessons about trimming words (thank you writing youtube!). I cut about 10k words on a line level, though added some based on feedback, so my book came in right around 100k—an acceptable length! The absolute highest acceptable length, but still.

So I queried it. By that point I’d already written the sequel, as this was intended to be a duology, which wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t care because I wrote it to have fun. I actually had a really great mentality with this book? I didn’t expect it to go far, so I decided to treat it as a learning experience on how to query.

So yeah, numbers-wise, querying didn’t go well. Stats are at the end, but let’s just say I didn’t have a high request rate. Honestly though? I’m eternally grateful for everything I got from this book. Namely, a community. I joined twitter so I could participate in PitMad, and while I got no agent likes, the day after PitMad, I saw this tweet:

Alt text: Image shows a tweet by LJ Thomas. Tweet reads: Hey #WritingCommunity. I'm about to enter the #amquerying trenches, so I'm starting a #querysquad (aka twitter gc)! If you're an author of YA/NA/A SFF who started querying recently or plans to by the end of 2020, @SteelHester & I would love you in our "plague year query squad"

Somehow, I summoned the courage to respond, and suddenly I was in a group of the most amazing writers supporting each other through the trenches. (Hi wenches!!). If it weren’t for them, I honestly don’t know if I’d still be writing, and I’m certain I wouldn’t be where I am today. They’ve taught me a lot about writing and querying. They helped me get ready for the trenches, and while my book didn’t do great, I was mostly ok. I’d have more chances, and I had a community by my side now.

TLDR: I wrote my first YA fantasy in 2018 (and its sequel not long after), and entered the trenches with it in September 2020, after seeking feedback and doing real revisions for the first time. Querying didn’t go well, but I made a lot of writing friends I’m truly grateful for. ♥️

Book 9: AMM & Querying A Second Time

I remember being so excited for this book, which I’ll call Executioner Book (EB). When I had the idea, I was about 30k deep into book one of a trilogy I’ll simply call Poly Pirates. I still really like Poly Pirates because, I mean…polyamorous pirates, but what made EB standout to me was the fact it was a standalone project, with a single POV. Something that would make it much easier to query. I’d never had a standalone idea before, and so for possibly the first time, I made a strategic decision to help me get an agent. I set aside Poly Pirates and focused all my energy on EB, an enemies to lovers adult romantic fantasy.

Y’all. I have never drafted a book so fast. I will probably never draft a book that fast again. At that point, we were deep in COVID, and a global pandemic + a move to a different state meant I was unemployed. Suddenly, I had all this time on my hands, and nothing to do but write (and bake. That was also the year I got really into baking, which was awesome).

So when I sat down and drafted this book, I flew through it. I’m talking 110k in a month + a few days. That’s not normal for me! But you can only bake so many cakes before you simply do not need another cake in your house, so what else was I supposed to do?

I finished the first draft in early November 2020, and did a quick read through + some light revisions in about a month. At that point, AMM was creeping up, so when the application window opened, I sent mine in, expecting nothing. The day after mentor inboxes opened, my jaw dropped. Somehow, I’d gotten a full request.

At this point, I’d received nothing but form rejections from the trenches, so this request was a shock to me. I emailed AMM back, expressing my gratitude and thanking the mentor for their request. Later, I reread the email and found a glaring typo. Whoops.

I spent my time between that request and announcements anxiously waiting and obsessively checking AMM teasers. Of the four mentors I’d submitted to, there was one in particular I had a feeling about. But honestly, there was no way I was getting in. Right? Right?!?!

Lol wrong. My memories around that announcement drop are fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure I burst into tears the second I saw my name. One of the mentors—Brittney—had loved my book and selected me as her mentee. For the first time, I actually had some hope. Perhaps if Brittney could love my book this much, an agent could too.

(Brittney, if you’re reading this please know you’re the absolute best mentor ever, and I’m eternally grateful for you and everything you’ve done for me).

I had no idea how lucky I’d truly gotten. Brittney is everything a person could want in a mentor and more. She wrote me an edit letter I 100% agreed with that required me to rewrite half the novel. As an overwriter, I’d been so terrified of a large word-count I chose a weaker story path, because I knew it would be shorter. It was time to roll up my sleeves and fix that, along with a host of other issues, but I was R E A D Y.

I’ll spare you the details of my revisions, but they were a lot. I think I cut 60k and added 80k. I re-outlined and wrote a detailed revision plan and got super into it. I’m not going to pretend it was all fun, but there were a lot of parts I enjoyed, because the feedback was great and the story was improving.

During this time, I also made the choice to stop querying Book 7. By this point, while I was still proud of what I’d learned, I’d become aware of some issues with it. I discussed it with Brittney, and ultimately decided to set that book aside. I’d always known Book 7 wouldn’t get me my agent—but maybe EB would.

In addition to Brittney, several wonderful betas read my book. After two rounds of revisions on EB (one of which was truly gargantuan), I was finally ready to enter the trenches with it, and I did so in September 2021, about a year after I began querying my first book.

Right away, my experience was different from the last time, and within a few days I heard back on my first query: It was a partial request! I immediately teared up and messaged my mentor, thanking her for everything. And then I began to hope in earnest. What if this book was the one?????

It wasn’t. 😭

Honestly, that book held its own in the trenches, with a decent request rate. I did get a bit of feedback off some fulls, though most of it was either vague, or complimented my writing and explained they were rejecting based on fit more than anything.

One thing I’ll say about the trenches: at least they kill your hope slowly? I’m not sure if that’s better or worse, but I’m glad I had some time to process my sadness before that book truly died. Regardless, shelfing EB taught me a lot about grief, writing, and my own personal experiences with it. It also helped that I’d been writing the next thing, which brings me to…

The book that got me my agent!

TLDR: I wrote an adult romantic fantasy and got into AMM with it! I did a lot of revisions and was super proud of it. I was even lucky to get some requests in the trenches, but ultimately, this book wasn’t the one. Which was tough 😭

Book 10: Querying Take Three & Signing With My Agent

From the start, I thought this book (Thread Book) could be *the one* to land me an agent. Nothing in publishing is ever guaranteed, but the concept felt hooky and solid, with the caveat being I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. If I could though, Thread Book felt like something that might stand out in the trenches, even though YA Fantasy is so crowded these days.

So I gave it a whirl. I’d begun to learn about story structure while revising EB, but this time around, I did a lot of research on it before drafting the story, which made a big difference. I used what I learned to write a stronger outline, which I sat on for a while, as I was still working on EB at the time. By December 2021 though, EB was solidly in the trenches, and I turned my attention to Thread Book. It was time to draft the thing!

I’ll try not to bore you with the details. I wrote the book, received feedback, implemented it, rinse, repeat, you get it. I will say this was the cleanest first draft I’ve ever written, mostly because I didn’t just plan, but I did so strategically, instead of just sitting down and asking myself, “ok what should happen next???” (to be clear, I’m not knocking that process! I just found something that worked better for me). And the result was, while I had a lot of revisions, none of them were major, and could be revised mostly with tinkering as opposed to burning everything down and starting from the ground up.

By the time January 2023 rolled around, I was ready to do the thing. Again. Instead of doing batches though, I yeeted my query out to every agent on my list I possibly could, mostly because response times are so much slower these days, batches no longer make sense (imo). After my initial large batch, I’d send a new query here and there as I received rejections, or agents opened up.

I was doing…ok? My request rate hovered around 10%, which is decent, but I still became nervous. By now, I’d experienced the grim reality that full requests don’t equal offers, and because Thread Book felt like my hookiest, most unique idea, what happened if this one didn’t make it out of the trenches? Logically, I knew I'd have other books and new chances, but emotionally, it felt like this was my one shot. I prepared myself to grieve. If this one didn't make it out of the trenches, it was going to hit me hard.

Then, about three months into querying, I woke up to an email. The agent had read Thread Book and loved it, and wanted to talk more. There was no guarantee, but based on the phrasing of his response, I was pretty sure it was an offer.

I immediately woke up my husband, shoved my phone in his face, and said something along the lines of, “I think it’s actually happening.” At that point I was still in shock. The entire thing didn’t feel real. After alerting my writing friends, I reached out to the agent and we got to talking.

Right away, I was comfortable with this agent. I could tell he would be a passionate advocate for me and my work, and an outstanding person to have in my corner. We chatted on and off all day (we didn’t do a formal call, but instead talked via DMs), and by the end of it, I knew I’d be comfortable accepting an offer from him. So we discussed a two week time frame, and then I notified all the other agents with my query and full. The clock had just started ticking.

I’m going to be honest and say that those two weeks were really difficult for me. Of course, there was a lot of joy and excitement, especially as new requests rolled in, and agents assured me they’d read before my deadline. There was also a lot of anxiety. What if I got more offers? What if I didn’t? The rejection would hurt, but I also knew it would be tough if I got an offer from another agent I really liked.

In the end, I received two more offers of representation. One of the agents was kind, but based on some factors I won’t get into, wasn’t the best fit for me. The other though…was also such a great agent, and I could tell they’d be a wonderful fit! Our call went so well, and afterward I had so many kind things to say about them. All of which put me in an amazing—and difficult—position. I had two incredible options, and I could only choose one.

I absolutely agonized over my decision. It didn’t help that I still had a handful of fulls out as my deadline drew closer, and I wasn’t sure what would happen. On the day of my deadline, there was even a small hiccup. An agent asked for extra time to read, and when it looked like she might offer, I went into a small panic spiral. In the end, it worked out, she very kindly stepped aside, and I was a bit relieved my decision didn't become more complicated than it already was. I think sometimes we get so excited for the offer, that we forget those two weeks can be hard. Positive stress is still stress.

Luckily, I got through it, in large part due to the support of my incredible friends and mentor. I sent one of the most difficult emails of my life, turning down the initial offering agent. It was so hard because I knew he'd be great, and I felt so lethargic and heavy while writing it—which is how my sadness usually manifests. But afterwards? I got to send one of the best emails of my life, accepting the second agent's offer of representation—Sarah Fisk at the Tobias agency!

Which brings me to now. I’m so excited to start the next chapter of my journey with Sarah in my corner. It’s also very apparent to me how lucky I am to be here. Not just to be working with Sarah (who I can already tell will be an outstanding advocate), but to have an agent at all. I like to think my hard work helped, and I know my writing friends and their support did, but at the end of the day, it was a whole lot of luck that pushed me over this particular finish line.

TLDR: I wrote another YA fantasy, this one with a concept that felt pretty fresh and hooky! I revised it with the help of some AMAZING friends and betas, got super lucky querying, and landed with a fantastic agent—Sarah Fisk at the Tobias Literary Agency.

Query Stats

Book 7 (the first book I queried)

• First query sent: 9/22/20

• Last query sent: 1/26/21

• Total queries sent: 32

• Full requests: 1

• Partial requests: 0

• Query Rejections: 27

• CNRS: 4

• Request rate: 3%

• Offers: 0

Executioner Book

• First query sent: 9/15/2021

• Last query sent: 9/29/2022

• Total queries sent: 57

• Full requests: 9

• Partial requests: 5 (one of which turned into a full)

• Query Rejections: 30

• CNRS: 14

• Request rate: ~23%

• Offers: 0

Thread Book

• First query sent: 1/19/2023

• Last query sent: 3/13/23

• Total queries sent: 45

• Full requests: 12 (8 of which came in after my offer notification)

• Partial requests: 0

• Bonus requests: 2 (two agents who still had the EB full also requested my Thread Book full, one when I notified her in January that I’d begun querying Thread Book, the second when I got my offer)

• Query Rejections: 21

• CNRS: 6

• Request rate (with bonus requests excluded): ~27%

• Offers: 3