I landed a literary agent and am officially represented!
- The Book
- The querying process
- The call
- Multiple Offers
- The Decision
- Stats
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Somebody pinch me—this is surreal.
Crazy.
Something I’ve only ever dream about.
After querying my current novel for nearly a year, I am officially represented by Sara Shandler of The Book Group. It is an absolute dream come true, and I’m so excited for these next steps. After working toward traditional publication for nearly 20 years and querying three different novels, it feels unreal to reach this point.
For this post, I decided to share the story behind the process, but stay tuned for an upcoming post on the steps I took that I believe helped me land a literary agents (and even have a pick of three amazing agents! but more on that later…)
The Book
I finished (formerly titled) All the Spheres in Motion at the end of 2023 and began querying it in early 2024. This was the book of my heart and I poured everything into. I remember telling my husband that this was the best thing I’ve ever written and if this didn’t get picked up, I had planned to self publish it. I believed so strongly in the book that I KNEW it was different.
I wrote multiple drafts of a query letter, researched agents till my eyes went blurry, and in a great leap of faith, sent out queries. I may as well have been sending out pieces of my heart along with it.
The querying process
With the first novel I queried back in 2021, I received one full request, which I thought was amazing! This was huge! But it went nowhere. With my second novel (queried in 2023), I received a total of 2 full requests. I recognized the improvement and the positive trajectory of the process, but still, it ended with no offers of representation.
Want the exact Google spreadsheet I used to keep track of my queries? Click below and I’ll send it directly to your inbox!
When I sent out ATSIM, I began receiving the study stream of form rejections, some even including positive feedback. But then something strange happened…
I had a request. Then another. And another. This was different, and I could feel it. Even though I was still getting rejections, I was also getting some personal responses with positive feedback. And even though many of the full requests ended in passes, the feedback from the agents was positive and uplifting.
And still…
The call
Then, after about a year of querying the manuscript, I got the email that every author dreams about: an agent wanted to have a call to talk about the manuscript! I freaked out. This was everything I had dreamed about and work toward for so long! A total dream come true moment, and I was so excited.
I spoke with the agent and she was absolutely wonderful. She raved about the book and how much she love it. We discussed potential submission plans and next steps, and she put me in contact with some of her other clients. All wonderful good things— if you have a call with an agent, I hope you get to experience the same level of enthusiasm.
Of course, I was thrilled and thanked her for her time, but asked for time to contact the other agents with my full or my query and inform them of the offer and do my due diligence.
Multiple Offers
The next two weeks were unbelievably exciting and stressful. After informing multiple agents, I received interest from other agents as well! I never thought that I would be in this situation and while it was wonderful and exciting, it was also stressful and nerve-racking. I spoke to two other agents who also gushed about the book and what they loved about it. We talked about potential revisions and target submission goals.
I was shocked. This was incredible! And having the privilege to choose between three AMAZING agents was such a wonderful opportunity, and I’m so grateful for each of them taking the time to read my manuscript and speaking with me.
The Decision
It was a very difficult decision to make, and honestly, I don’t think I could have made a wrong decision. Ultimately, I chose Sara because of her experience working on some of my favorite books, and her enthusiasm for the project. She was amazing to talk to and I’m so thrilled and optimistic about the future. (Be sure to stay tuned for more updates about the book formerly known as All the Spheres in Motion!)
Stats
One thing I realized this querying round was taking into account probability. This may seem obvious, but I realzed the more I queried the “right” agents, the greater my chances are at getting full requests, which increase my chances of getting that much-desired yes. And I think the project stats prove that:
Project Fire and Thorn
- Queries: 28
- Full requests: 1
- Offers: 0
Project Loud Like Love
- Queries: 111
- Full requests: 2
- Offers: 0
Project All the Spheres in Motion:
- Queries: 200
- Full requests: 16
- Offers: 3
Everyone’s publishing journey is going to be different, but I hope this inspires you a little bit and gives some insight into how the querying process works. Are you interested in the things I did that I believe made a difference this time around? Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see that post.
Of course, not everything can be predicted (market, trends, etc.), but I think there were a couple changes I made that greatly increased my success. Let me know in the comments what you think!
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