How I got My Agent
Three manuscripts. 320 total queries. 156 total rejections. 51 requests.
But I finally lured in my agent.
My absolute favorite holiday is New Years. I love the optimism and ambition and sparkle that accompanies the turnover from December to January, and I always set goals. In previous years I made goals about learning how to do my makeup, inserting heels into my wardrobe, and kicking ass in a workout regimen. In 2020, I chose to get back into reading as an adult. I read 60+ books. It was my recommitment to reading that awakened my passion for writing. I have always done the November writing challenges, but I never finished anything. It was always a couple of chapters of vibes and fun disruptions and Mary Sues, but nothing more than that. So I decided 2021 was going to be the year I not only finished a book but got an agent.
[insert laugh track]
BOOK ONE: My first finished novel with a shadow-turned-fog-mommy-with-no-thoughts-in-her-head and the cinnamon-roll-with-no-chemistry
I dove into craft books and writing Twitter and YouTube videos while parenting my two-year-old twins. I wrote 186k words of a romantic fantasy titled SELECT—but not within the year. I finished my first draft in the summer of 2022. I started and stopped revisions over the fall and winter, but it wasn’t clicking. I didn’t think I was making anything better. Then came WriteTeam Mentor Program 2023. I wanted a mentorship. I wanted someone to tell me I was on the right track and what my weaknesses were, so I could fix them.
So, I buckled down and cut the manuscript down to 119k. I submitted to WTMP and waited. Impatiently. That’s also where I met my second CP, a perfect addition to my tight, trusted trio.
And I stalked the mentors. And when Janice tweeted this:
I knew I was hers. And it was the best thing that has happened to me in my writing journey.
We revised over the back half of the year, and I sent my first query on January 18, 2024. I sent 10 queries and got 3 requests. So, then I sent more throughout the rest of the winter, spring, and into the summer. I ended up with 10 full requests, an R&R from the Entangled acquisitions staff (which I chose not to pursue) but no offers. It was more than I could have hoped for. I had a talent for this!
But a book without an offer is still a book without an offer. I still had a lot more to learn with pacing and immersion.
Stats for SELECT (adult fantasy |110k)
Total Queries: 108
Requests from socials: 0
Full Requests: 10
BOOK TWO: The self-indulgent Hunger Games meets Slasher book that taught me propulsion and the quiet claiming of my identity as asexual
I queried SELECT while I was starting and stopping new projects— mostly other romantic fantasies, but they weren’t holding my attention. I’d never had another idea while writing SELECT, so the imposter syndrome was in full force. I knew I wanted to write something with more murder. Higher personal stakes. Hookier. I was learning the industry and the trends (both macro and micro), but I didn’t want to write another romantic fantasy. That’s where PULL THE THREAD, my YA dystopian, bloomed. I was obsessed with Squid Game and Ready or Not, and I wanted to spend time in those worlds. So, I did… just in time for several experienced authors to announce their own dystopias (including Sunrise on the Reaping).
I wrote and revised this book between April and September. It flew out of my fingers. I loved the main character. I loved the games. I loved the deaths and the slow re-humanization of the character cast in the villain role for the show. I LOVED the antagonist. But more than the fun I had writing it, this book taught me how to pitch. I got 9 agent likes over several pitch events as well as on my agent guide before I even started querying—including an agent knocking down the door to my DMs.
I sent my first query for PULL THE THREAD on September 29th. I received 14 fulls as well as a very serious R&R from an agent I still dream about. But in the end, no offers.
Then came YAllfest 2024.
Stats for PULL THE THREAD
Total Queries: 108
Requests from socials: 9
Full Requests: 14
BOOK THREE: MURDER NIGHT AT HOTEL ADAIR
My CPs and I went to YAllfest together for the first time (though two of us also went the year before). They were both agented. Both writing fantasy. Both absolute perfect complements of each other. They wanted to go see panels about the debut year. I wanted to see panels on horror. They wanted to meet the book box teams. I wanted to get arcs. There wasn’t a lot of overlap. None of it was intentional, but it did leave me feeling a bit left out, which got me thinking about how that tends to happen as you grow into your adulthood. I wanted to play with that.
So, my main character Cody in MURDER NIGHT AT HOTEL ADAIR was created to fill one half of a toxic friendship (very different from the relationship I have with my CPs). Cody is the personification of that feeling of trying to do too much and not enough at the same time. I wanted to continue with the high stakes and slasher vibes from my dystopian, and the horror genre was perfect to tackle that emotional vulnerability. It also gave me the opportunity to play with gore and subversion (spoiler alert) of the final girl trope. Ultimately, MNAHA became the perfect container for my own fears of being left out, or worse, outgrown.
I started to draft MNAHA directly after YAllfest (while I was still sending queries for PTT). I wanted to put more of myself into this manuscript: my identities, my love for platonic friendships, my admiration of A24 elevation of horror… I wanted the entirety of the Scream franchise, the new and old NOES and F13, and seasons 1 and 4 of AHS. And I read. Before this book, I read horror very sparingly, and I don’t know why. But as soon as I picked up my first few horrors, I fell in love with the genre all over again.
Until my R&R for PTT.
My R&R took me about 6 weeks to complete, which isn’t a long time, but it totally threw me off my drafting game. So between February 2025 and April 2025, I didn’t touch MNAHA. The R&R derailed everything. Six weeks of intensive revision, followed by six weeks of waiting—and suddenly I didn’t know which version of myself was writing. YA me? Horror me?
When that R&R ultimately died, something in me snapped back into place. MNAHA was the book. It had always been the book.
During this time, I was participating in RevPit events and Pitch events and I had 15 pitch likes…. including the agent who had slid into my DMs for my second book. But she wasn’t the only one. Most of the agents who had my second book were also interested in my third. I was creating a brand. I was becoming a name that might have meant something in the slush pile! And with this came confidence. I can’t even explain the kind of confidence I had in this book. It was wild. Especially as someone without an agent.
On July 31st, 2025, I sent my first queries (though they were automatic fulls) for MNAHA to agents who had my second book and requested this one. I didn’t batch. I went on vibes. I had interest. I had consultations over the summer from major agents who greenlit my package. I had confidence. So, I sent most of my queries over the first two months, with some trickling until my last query sent on December 1st.
During this time, I’d gotten big editor interest, 25+ requests, and a shiny new idea or two. The email for my first offer came through on a Sunday afternoon—123 days later. I was grungy, doing laundry, and watching an A24 movie that would become a comp to my newest project. The subject was OFFER OF REPRESENTATION: MURDER NIGHT AT HOTEL ADAIR. I cried before I even saw who the email was from. (It was from the agent who slid into my DMs for book 2 and also requested book 3 in a pitch event.)
MURDER NIGHT AT HOTEL ADAIR Pre-Offer Stats:
Total Queries: 104
Requests from socials: 15
Full Requests: 26
**THE CALL + THE 19 DAY WAIT**
The call with the offering agent took place on December 3, 2025. It was awkward but somehow really comforting. My main concern was her editorial vision. Did she want to polish? Did she want to elevate? It turns out she loved my ending which was a huge relief. Her main notes seemed to be clarification, quickening the front of the book, and deepening the characters.
My second offer came while I was nudging everyone with my deadline. I was shocked. I had gotten a rejection from an agent (who had also recently rejected my YA dystopian) because she didn’t have capacity to take me on. 8 minutes later, she responded again, saying her intern had just been promoted and wanted to throw her hat in the ring for MNAHA because she had loved it so much while she was reading it. I scheduled the second call for that Friday.
She was warm, sharp, and incredibly easy to speak with. She was even excited about my identity rep! Conversation flowed, and I was much less nervous than my first call. There were some answers she gave that made me feel a bit misaligned (i.e. submission strategy), but ultimately, she was confident and lovely! She wanted to do an edit that touched on some minor clarity things and then go into a line edit. Her timeline was much quicker than the first agent but not as aggressive.
The next several weeks passed in relative silence. The Saturday before my decision date (the following Monday), I still had six fulls out with agents who swore up and down they’d get back to me. Most turned into ghosts.
MURDER NIGHT AT HOTEL ADAIR Post-Offer Stats:
requests: 28
offers: 2
ghosts (I’m only counting ghosts from those who said they would read and never got back to me): 3
Then on Monday, December 22nd, I signed with my dream agent, Alex Land of Mad Woman Literary Agency. So, the final math on my 2021 New Year’s resolution looks like this: three manuscripts, five years, 320 queries, 156 rejections, two offers, and one agent. It turns out my actual talent wasn't 'vibes' or 'shadow-mommy' romantic fantasy—it was a terrifying level of persistence and a sudden, sharp pivot into murdering fictional people.
I finally checked the box. I’m walking into 2026 with an agent who gets the darkness and toxic platonic love, a manuscript that doesn't pull its punches, and the absolute certainty that I’ll stick around to find the right 'yes.'
To the people still waiting: I'm not going to tell you it’s worth it or that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. You need to decide that for yourself. Most of this process is just sitting in the silence and realizing that no one is coming to save your book but you. It isn’t up to your CPs or an agent to do the work for you. Decide to do the work. Don't be "nice." Don't be patient. Be the most difficult thing in the inbox to ignore: a fucking good book.
TIMELINE OF MY QUERYING JOURNEY
Jan. 18, 2024 - First query sent for SELECT
Feb. 8, 2024 - R&R from publisher
Sept. 29, 2024 - First query sent for PTT
Jan. 30, 2025 - R&R from agent
July 31, 2025 - First query sent for MNAHA
Aug. 8, 2025 - Query + Full sent to first offering agent
Nov. 30, 2025 - Offer Email Received
Dec. 3, 2025 - 1st Offer Call
Dec. 5, 2025 - 2nd Offer Call
Dec. 22, 2025 - Decision Deadline
until next time…
