I haven’t been as active here as I once was, but since I’ve been learning from and sharing with this sub since before I even queried agents, I wanted to share some of the lessons I learned from my debut with you. Everything here comes from my own experience and from watching the journeys of my author friends, specifically in the US publishing market.

However, while I hope everything here is interesting and useful, one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that everyone’s publishing experience is so different that it can be difficult to apply their advice to your own journey. The only universal truth in publishing is that anyone who tells you that a rule always applies, is wrong.

Details of my book for context:

My book is a YA fantasy that sold at auction in a two-book, six-figure deal to an imprint of Simon & Schuster. We sold world rights, and the publisher later sold translation rights to Spain and the Czech Republic.

Despite it having very favorable trade reviews and positive early reception, my book ultimately did not get much marketing support, and it did not sell well. I was told that the lackluster sales are mostly due to the limited buy-in from Barnes & Noble. This was an issue for a lot of YA hardcovers that came out around the same time as mine due to B&N’s decision to significantly reduce their stock of hardcovers in favor of paperbacks. (More on this later.)

Because my publisher still believes in the book’s potential, for the upcoming paperback release, it is getting a new cover and a new title (changing from THE ART OF EXILE to ACADEMY OF MUSES). The hope is that this repackage will get Barnes & Noble and other booksellers more enthusiastic to stock it so that it can finally find its audience.

Now, on to some of what I learned.

Advance size does not predict publisher investment.

The idea that the size of an advance directly correlates to publisher support is often presented as a basic fact of publishing, but it is only sometimes true. My book getting a relatively high advance with very little support is an extreme example, but I know plenty of authors who got advances half the size of mine and received tremendous support from their publishers, with books that performed quite well.

From what I've observed, publisher support seems to depend much more on how much excitement a book generates early on than on the size of the advance. If a book has a great cover, a concept that resonates at the right moment, and gets booksellers and the industry excited, publishers often choose to invest more heavily in it.

It's true that paying a large advance means the publisher has more incentive to help generate that initial hype, but it's far from guaranteed. Once you're in high "significant" and "major deal" territory, support becomes increasingly likely. But for books in the five-figure and low-six-figure deal zone, which is where the vast majority of deals land, you can't reliably predict publisher investment from advance size alone.

Thoughts on "If a book isn't going to get marketing support from the publisher anyway, you may as well self-publish."

As someone who got very little publisher support and whose book didn't sell particularly well, I don't believe this is true. (There are plenty of other valid reasons to choose self-publishing—I just don't think this is one of them.)

First, I got paid well. Self-publishing would almost certainly have made me less money. Regardless of how poorly my book sells, I keep the advance, and I didn't have to pay a cent toward the publication process.

Second, "flopping" in traditional publishing means something very different than flopping in self-publishing. My publisher has never indicated that my book is a flop, but from my own digging into average sales numbers for my genre, I know it can be viewed that way. Even so, it's sold well over 4,000 copies. (I don't know the exact total because I've only received royalty statements covering the first four months of sales.) Had I self-published, I might have had more control over decisions that could have helped me sell more books to particular audiences. But I also wouldn't have had the distribution that got my book into bookstores or into places like libraries that are responsible for thousands of my sales. If I'd flopped in self-publishing, we'd likely be talking about fewer than 1,000 copies sold, and I would have had to have done far more of the work myself.

Writing to market isn't the only way to break in.

I used to be a strong advocate for writing to market. I deliberately tweaked my own manuscript to better fit audience expectations, and I still think that mindset helped me land my agent and book deal. But after going through the debut process and watching so many other authors' journeys, my opinion on the importance of this has shifted.

The market changes constantly, and what’s considered commercial or not when you start writing won’t be the same by the time your book hits shelves. I watched genres that were considered completely dead when I was querying blow up again around the time of my book’s release, and publishers heavily promoted the few books they had acquired that fit those trends over those that had seemed to be on the rise only a few months before.

When it comes down to it, a book being really good and/or high concept matters much more than checking a list of commercial boxes. Publishers release countless "commercial" books every season, and being one more of those just makes you one more strand of spaghetti thrown at the wall. I observed multiple books I would have assumed were far too weird and niche to be commercial end up with huge deals and major book club and book box support. A book that's more niche may be harder to sell initially, but if it does break through, that originality can become its biggest strength.

So I'm not saying to ignore the market, but I do think it's a mistake to avoid writing a book you genuinely believe is great just because you've been told it isn't commercial enough.

One of the most important variables for success is a good agent.

We all (hopefully) know that a bad agent is worse than no agent. But I've also come to believe that a mediocre—or even merely good—agent may be able to get you a book deal, yet not be able to set you up for a successful career. A great agent will often help you sell faster, create stronger competition, and negotiate better terms. But the deal is only the beginning. There are many stages between signing a contract and seeing a book succeed on shelves, and for books that aren’t top priorities at their publishers, an agent’s involvement during those stages can be crucial. The challenge is that many agents won’t push for more unless their authors know to ask. But debut authors don’t know what’s standard, what’s negotiable, or what’s important. A great agent knows before any prompting exactly when and what pressure can make a real difference. And when things inevitably go wrong, having the right support makes all the difference not only for the book, but in making the emotional roller coaster of debuting far less stressful for the author.

I specifically wanted to bring this up because I know many writers here get to a point where they consider querying mediocre agents after exhausting their better options. But having been through the process, I'd honestly recommend writing another book and using it to find a stronger agent rather than signing with someone out of desperation. And if that first book was genuinely publishable, there's a good chance an agent you get with a different book will be willing to represent it too, so you're not necessarily abandoning it. I promise that having a lackluster debut due to a mediocre agent is much more painful than having to wait longer to debut with an agent who can make it a better experience.

(To be clear, none of this is to say that I blame my agent for the snags in my debut. My agent is incredible, and she was able to improve a lot of things for me and made what could have been a very painful debut experience manageable.)

Bookseller buy-in is extremely important.

Despite how many books are bought online these days, Barnes & Noble remains one of the most influential forces in determining which books take off in the US. Low B&N buy-in will often be an indicator of low performance in general, especially as many publishers only put their marketing resources toward the books that B&N and other major booksellers are excited to champion. With this in mind, anything that makes your book more likely to excite B&N is incredibly valuable. A lot of that comes down to whether your publisher's sales team has chosen to prioritize your book. But the package itself—the cover, title, pitch, and overall presentation—can do a lot of heavy lifting. It can be valuable to pay close attention to what debuts in your genre are getting strong placement at B&N so you can use that intel to know what might be worth requesting and pushing for from your publisher.

If you don’t have the sense that you're a high priority to your publisher, I think the window of time where the priority level of your book has the most potential to shift is when booksellers are deciding which books from your season they are choosing to hype. Getting a surge of preorders to B&N before they put in the orders for your season can make a difference. To be clear, it’s very hard for debuts to get preorders, and it’s unlikely that anything you do will get you that surge, but if you’re trying to choose one specific time to concentrate your efforts, that’s the window I’d aim for.

If you don't feel like your publisher is doing much to get bookseller attention, I’d also recommend reaching out to local bookstores before release, introducing yourself and offering to sign copies. That can be enough to prompt them to order copies when they wouldn’t otherwise, and while it’s unlikely to make a meaningful difference to your book’s overall performance, it will at least help prevent the unfortunately common disappointment of being unable to find copies of your book in your local stores.

There are real downsides to how much influence B&N has over the industry. As an example, during my debut process, B&N began shifting away from stocking many YA hardcover releases in favor of paperbacks. This was a major change that YA publishers were not prepared for, and it was a significant factor in my own debut’s performance. Something similar happened in adult fantasy a few years earlier, which is part of why publishers like Tor have increasingly moved toward paperback-first releases. Paperback-first releases come with tradeoffs, but most authors I know who had paperback-first releases sold far more copies than hardcover releases that failed to get strong B&N enthusiasm. Understanding this kind of thing can help you advocate for strategies that can help your book; however, the unfortunate truth is that these kinds of things often change so suddenly that you can't prepare for them. And even when you do know about them in time, the decesions may be out of your hands.

B&N’s lack of excitement for my hardcover is why I requested a cover change for the paperback release. My editor agreed it was a good idea, and it was her idea to also change the title. I do believe the new cover and title do a lot more to indicate the book’s audience, and I hope that will translate to meaningful bookstore buy-in that will finally allow it to find its audience. (ETA: There’s an update on this at the end of the post.)

You can ask for more than you may realize.

Do not be afraid to ask for things from your publisher. The worst that can happen is that they’ll say no. Here are some of the things that would not have happened for my book if I hadn't pushed for them:

• I wanted illustrated guild emblems included in the opening pages of my book. When I realized that probably wasn't going to happen, I commissioned artwork (that I planned to use for stickers and other materials anyway) and sent it to my publisher, and they were happy to add the emblems to the book itself. (I was lucky that my publisher wanted my book to have a map, but I know other authors who were declined maps who commissioned their own, and their publishers were willing to include them.)

• I had a strong feeling that my book would appeal to librarians and educatiors, but I could tell my publisher wasn't initially positioning it that way. My agent helped me push for more of an ed/library focus, building a pitch that explained why the book would appeal to that market, and my publisher listened. Libraries ultimately became my biggest market.

• I asked whether, if I paid for an influencer campaign myself, my publisher would be willing to provide ARCs to the influencers. They said that they didn’t have enough ARCs, but they agreed to provide finished copies of the books and take care of shipping them to the influencers, and they didn't charge me for the books.

• Even if your publisher doesn't do it for you, you can pitch yourself to events, even larger events like BookCon and Comic Con. I was lucky enough to get on a panel at New York Comic Con with no help from my publisher. I did request that my publisher send me to ALA. I knew I wasn’t an event priority for them, so I only picked one big ask that I felt was the best fit for me. And since ALA that year was within driving distance of my home, I pointed out that they wouldn’t need to pay for my flight and hotel, which I’m sure was a contributing factor in them agreeing.

What self-marketing efforts were worth it?

• Preorder campaigns and swag: I'm glad I did a preorder campaigne because I loved having the stickers and pins for myself, but it didn’t make any meaningful difference to sales, and it was a lot of work. My advice is to only spend money on art and swag if it's something you would want anyway. (And please do not overspend on it. You can get great art, stickers, pins, and bookmarks at reasonable prices. I've watched too many authors spend literal thousands that never lead to a return on investment.) Also, know whether the logistics of packaging, mailing, and organizing everything are the kinds of thing you don't mind doing and have the time for, because it can be very stressful.

• Influencer campaign: As mentioned above, I paid for an influencer book tour. I'm glad I did it because I got to see people posting about my book around release. Since my book did not receive much organic hype, I would have been sad if release week came and I saw no one talking about it. That said, the campaign itself did not have much of an impact on sales. It was a fairly expensive tour with a company well known for helping self pub authors have a lot of success, yet many of the influencers didn’t actually read the book, and many of the posts received very little engagement. There was maybe one influencer who gave a great review and continued recommending my book afterward. Influencer marketing can be very effective, but it works best when it is highly targeted. I sent one book to an influencer who I knew would love the book based on her taste and whose audience was a strong match for mine. It cost a lot to ship internationally, but that one individual mailing ended up creating more meaningful engagement than the posts from the paid campaign.

• Bookstore events: If you have the personality and bandwidth for them, I think they’re very worthwhile. They may not sell huge numbers of copies in the moment, but they allow you to build relationships with bookstores who may continue stocking your books after. And beyond the sales, there is something rewarding about interacting directly with readers that makes the effort feel worthwhile.

Information that can help set expectations:

I watched many friends get completely blindsided after release because they had expectations for their debut that simply did not match reality. I was much more prepared for my own book to have a quiet release because I stayed on top of how it was performing in advance. For some authors, too much information can become overwhelming and damaging to their mental health, so this advice won’t be for everyone, but these are a few things that might be worth asking about as it gets closer to release. Your publisher is unlikely to proactively give you these numbers, but many are willing to share them if you ask.

-Your actual print run: Not just the announced print run, which is just a marketing number, but knowing the final actual print run can give you a clearer sense of expectations. My announced print run was 50,000 copies, but my actual print run ended up being 7,500, which is very small for a Big 5 debut. Once I learned that, I had a much more realistic understanding of what my release was likely to look like.

-Bookseller orders: From that 7,500 print run, only 3,460 were initially shipped to bookstores at the time of launch. Knowing that number prevented me from being surprised when I didn't see my book in most bookstores.

-B&N order: In particular, I think it is worth asking how many copies Barnes & Noble has ordered. I knew before my release that B&N had ordered 270 copies total of my book. Since they have more than 600 stores across the country, that gave me a pretty clear picture of how limited the in-store availability was likely to be.

Well...that was a lot. I hope some of it was useful. I’m happy to answer any questions!

ETA a month after the original post: I know almost no one will see this, but as incoming comments have demonstrated that people do occasionally still find this post, I thought I’d provide an update for the few of you who do stumble across it. I’ve been informed that, despite the new cover and title, B&N will not be stocking my paperback at all. They claim this is because they didn’t sell enough copies of the hardcover, which was inevitable since they hardly stocked it to begin with. And since it now has an entirely different cover, title, and blurb, those previous sales shouldn’t be relevant to this repositioned book at a lower price point. But as I’ve learned over and over, logic can’t be relied on for decision making in this industry. This news is obviously pretty devastating for me, as it likely means B&N won’t carry my sequel either. And without B&N’s support, my publisher has no reason to put any support toward the launch of my paperback or my sequel. This also makes the risk of changing my title feel like a mistake, as now, most of the readers who did enjoy the first book will probably be unable to discover the sequel as its cover and title are so different from the first book. This is also likely to confuse libraries who had been my biggest audience for book 1. The loss of some of my original audience would have been worth the risk if the title change had led to a much wider new audience, but without that, it will likely prove to be more detrimental than beneficial.

I’ve chosen to share this info here for a few reasons. Firstly, I think it’s interesting to see how the fate of an entire book series can be established so early on in the process. My paperback isn’t out for 3 more months and my sequel isn’t set to publish for close to a year, and yet, even before hardly anyone had the chance to read this series that originally excited publishers enough to sell for 6 figures at auction, the industry has established it’s a failure in a way that basically ensures that it is dead. I also think it’s important to consider the bigger picture risks of something like a title change. It felt like such a great new chance for the book at the time, but it’s the kind of thing that really may not be worth the risk if you can’t get some kind of guarantee from your publisher that they are going to be doing something to help make that risk worth it. Lastly, I hope this is valuable so that you can get a better sense of the B&N ecosystem. This certainly makes me believe that in certain cases, PB first might actually be more valuable than HC. B&N is well known for supporting PBs better than HCs, but if the reality is that they won’t even consider stocking PB releases of HCs that don’t sell well enough, that’s a very important data point that means a PB release won’t necessarily be a second chance for an HC-first title. (Probably worth noting that some of this may be due to my publisher. It could be that other publishers have different methods for pushing their books to get stocked that could make a difference when weighing these equations.)

My next step at this stage is having my agent push the publisher as much as she can for anything they can do to hopefully reverse B&N’s decision. And I can only hope that if consumers find a reason to get excited about my book and raise the preorder numbers, it can still have a chance. Otherwise, I still absolutely love the sequel I have written, even it ends up having hardly any readers. And I’ll do my best to write more and better books that will hopefully bring new readers to my backlist and give this debut series a fresh chance in the future…

If you found the contents of this post helpful and want to throw some support my way, preordering the paperback of Academy of Muses could definitely help make a difference. 🖤

Hello, friends.

As is the trend everywhere on the internet, we’re seeing an uptick in the use of generative AI content in both posts and comments. However, use or endorsement of these kinds of tools is in violation of Rules 8 and 10. 

Per the full text of our rules:

Publishing does not accept AI-written works, and neither does our subreddit. All AI-generated content is strictly prohibited; posts and comments using AI are subject to instant removal. Use of AI or promotion of AI tools may result in a permanent ban.

We have this stance for industry reasons as well as ethical ones. AI-generated content can’t be copyrighted, which means it can’t be safely acquired and distributed by publishers. Many agents and editors are vocal about not wanting AI-generated content, or content guided, edited, or otherwise informed by LLMs, in their inboxes. It is best if you avoid these kinds of tools altogether throughout every step of the process. In addition, LLMs are by and large trained via plagiarized content; leveraging the stolen material these platforms use challenges the very nature of creative integrity.

Further, we assume everyone engaging here is doing so in good faith. This sub has no participation requirements; commenters are volunteering their time and energy because they want to help other writers succeed with no expectation of anything in return. As such, it’s very disrespectful to seek critique on work that you did not write yourself. Queries can be hard, but outsourcing them to AI is not the solution.

It’s also disrespectful to use AI to critique others’ work, including using AI detectors on queries or first pages. We know AI-generated critique is an escalating issue in subs that have crit-for-crit policies, but that is not an expectation here. Should you choose to comment on someone else's post, please use your human brain.

It's fine to call out content that reads as AI-generated as this can be helpful info for an OP to have regardless as agents may see (and consequently insta-reject) the same things. But in the spirit of avoiding witch hunts or pile-ons, please also report posts and comments to the mod team so we can assess. 

We’re not open to debate on this topic, so if you’re in favor of using AI in creative work, there are better subs out there for your needs. If anyone has any questions on our rules, please feel free to send modmail.

Thank you all for being such an amazing community! And thank you in advance for helping us fight the good fight against AI nonsense.

Hi friends, I’m back with an exciting update (and a new username): I got a book deal! I can’t say this enough, but this sub has been so helpful to me, so I love sharing anything that might be helpful to others!

This has been a wild ride! I signed with my agent at the beginning of December 2023 and we went through a few rounds of edits before feeling like we were almost there. At this point, I got two final betas, one from our queen Alanna and one from my dear friend PuzzledTea - both to whom I am forever indebted! We had a few final tweaks from their brilliant feedback and we went on sub on February 1.

We subbed on a Thursday and started getting bites over the weekend. That next week I had 8 calls with editors and we went to auction the following Monday. WILD!! I am incredibly, incredibly fortunate to have an agent who, when she sends submissions, editors read and respond very quickly.

For those curious, this is not my first, second, or even third book. I queried my first book, a romantic comedy, to nary a single full request before self-publishing on Amazon. I then decided to shift gears to thrillers (my favorite genre to read) and queried my second manuscript, only to work with a pair of agents who were amazing, but ultimately, after about two years, decided they didn’t want to take it on sub (we never signed a contract). I queried the revised manuscript and landed an agent fairly quickly but unfortunately the agent wasn’t, ahem, great. We took the manuscript on sub, where it sat for well over a year, passes trickling in (though I don’t blame her for this!). While on sub, I wrote a third manuscript that my agent ripped to shreds (like completely pulverized). Shortly thereafter, we parted ways and I queried that book. I had a few full requests but no offers of rep. So I trudged on! I spent the next two years writing and revising this manuscript and well, here we are! All this to say: keep at it!! I have worked really hard, but I know a lot of us have. I’m extraordinarily lucky that my hard work has paid off and I sincerely hope yours does too!!

Again, thanks upon thanks to Alanna whose insight and wit cannot be overstated and PuzzleTea for their generous support and kindness, as well as all of you who have offered your encouragement to me. This sub is like gold!

Here’s a recap of my querying:

STATS:

• Total queries: 89

• Full Requests: 20 (9 of those requests came after I’d received the first offer of rep and I had another 3 requests (of the 20) that came in after I’d already made a decision)

• Offers: 4

• Shortest response to query: Under 30 min

• Longest response: 3 months (she’d been on maternity leave)

Letter:

Dear X:

Sloane Caraway is a liar. White lies, mostly, to make her boring life more interesting, herself more likeable. It’s harmless, just a bad habit, like nail biting or hair twirling, done without thinking. So when Sloane sees a young girl in tears at a park one afternoon, she can’t help herself – she tells the girl’s dad she’s a nurse and helps him pull a bee stinger from the girl’s foot. As a former preschool teacher, Sloane does have some first-aid skills, so it’s not that much of a stretch, okay? She hadn’t planned to get involved, but the little girl was so cute, and the dad looked so helpless. And, well, here’s the truth: he was cute, too.

It turns out that Jay Lockhart – the girl’s dad – isn’t just cute. He’s friendly and charming, his smile electric. Sloane is smitten. Unfortunately, Jay’s wife, Violet, is just as attractive as he is. Sloane’s ready to hate her, but to her surprise, the two hit it off, and, grateful for Sloane’s help with her daughter, Violet insists she joins them for dinner.

When Sloane tells Violet that she's taking a break from nursing (a convenient backpedal), and that she used to be a teacher, Violet offers her a nannying position. As Sloane becomes enmeshed with the seemingly perfect Lockhart family, she begins to wonder – what would it be like if she was the one married to Jay, if he looked at her the way he looks at Violet?

At first, little things: buying the same hat as Violet, then the same sweater. And what if Sloane dyed her hair the same color? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? What’s weird is that Violet seems to enjoy it - encourages it even. And is it Sloane’s imagination or while she’s starting to look more like Violet, is Violet starting to look more like her?

Soon, it’s clear that Sloane isn’t the only one with secrets. Everyone seems to be hiding something, but Sloane can’t figure out what. The question is: has Sloane lied her way into the Lockharts’ lives or have they lied their way into hers?

I WISH IT WERE TRUE is a slow burn domestic thriller, complete at 90,000 words. With a nod to The Talented Mr. Ripley, the manuscript is a suspenseful, multi-perspective narrative that will appeal to fans of Lisa Jewell’s None Of This Is True or Elizabeth Day’s Magpie.

Below please find the first X pages for your review. Thank you for your consideration!

Best, Me

Book Announcement!

Hi Pubtips, just wanted to return to say how thankful I am (and have been) for the incredibly positive reception I got here three years ago for my query, THE EYES ARE THE BEST PART. That post changed my life in a lot of ways, and it's insane to think that EYES has been out in the world for a year and a half now. Since then, it's made the Sunday Times bestseller list, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel, was featured in TIME & the NYT, nominated for two Goodreads Choice awards, and has now reached over 50k (!!!!) ratings on GR. To think that it all started in this wonderful and incredibly supportive group... crazy! Sometimes, when it all feels a bit too surreal, I come back and read that post :)

Wanted to come back and share that I've sold my next two novels to Putnam!

A little bit about the experience: Toward the end of 2024, I amicably parted ways with my agent, something that scared me half to death but I knew I had to do. My former agent was located in the UK, and as an overly anxious person, the time difference was pretty difficult to handle. I was lucky in that my wonderful film agent stepped up and offered to connect me with some literary agents based in the US, and I ended up moving to UTA.

At the time, I had been working on a novel--which I'd completed, but decided to put it on pause because of an idea that struck me at the last minute. I pitched it to my new agent as CRAZY RICH ASIANS with vampires. She was on board, and I spent the next ~6 months feverishly writing a draft, and then we went on sub late last year.

Going on sub is nerve-wracking, no matter what position you're in as an author. This was my first time going back on sub in two years, and I didn't sleep at all and was totally convinced nobody wanted anything to do with me, lol. Luckily, we had interest within a few days, and the auction was scheduled a few weeks later, with seven (!!!!) houses participating. In the end, we had a tie between two houses who offered the biggest bids and I ended up going with Putnam.

I want to note that I had a wonderful experience at my previous imprint and editor, and I'm sad to leave, but at the same time, excited at the prospect of new beginnings. I will say this: I was fearful throughout the process but always tried to choose the thing that scared me the most, and it always, always worked out. I was scared to go wide on sub. I was scared to think that I had wasted so much time writing a different novel and pivoting to something new. The list goes on. If you are in the same situation, just know that you aren't alone, and that things can and will work out for you, too! It's okay to change your mind, to want different and new experiences, and to dream big.

Overall, it's been an incredible ride, and throughout it all I've never forgotten the kindness you all showed me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You all are the best, and I'm happy to answer any questions about the experience X

Hi PubTips. I'm back. You might remember me from my query (2 years ago now!) for WHEN THE SEA BURNS RED, which was the book that got me agented (this agented success story was deleted when the book went on sub, but you can see the first version of my query here). You might also know me from this query for a literary horror book that is still in my drafts.

I came back to share my story here with this community because posts like this one accompanied me through many long nights of spiraling while on sub. Please ask me anything that might be helpful in the comments. I will try to respond to everything I can.

TLDR: I didn't get agented until Book 2, and didn't get a book deal until Book 6 / WHITEFISH (which got interest on sub after 2 weeks and sold at auction in both the US and UK in a six figure deal).

THE LONG VERSION

After getting 46 full requests and 6 offers of rep, WHEN THE SEA BURNS RED (Book 2, fantasy romance) ended up dying on sub after three months—we did get a Canadian offer and a contingent UK offer, but ultimately I turned down this interest given my desire to debut in the US.

We then went out with a second book (Book 3, horror fantasy), which also died a quick death.

A couple things to note that made this timeline possible:

1. My agent subs wide. We do one round, and she gets relatively quick responses

2. I was lucky to be in grad school the last two years so I had a lot of free time to write

3. I kept drafting while on sub. I knew that even though it sucked (and it really sucked) the only thing I could do for my chances was to keep writing, so that once a project died, I would have something else ready to go

Because of this, we were in a unique situation where when Book 3 died, we had three books to choose from for next sub. Two fantasy, one horror.

WHITEFISH (the book that ended up getting me my offer) was the 6th book I'd written in the last 2.5 years, the 4th book I'd written after getting agented, and my 3rd book on sub. I had already finished writing it by the time Book 3 died on sub. In fact, several editors who passed on the horror fantasy mentioned wanting to see this one specifically since we included it as a potential pitch for a two-book deal (which admittedly was devasting and a huge blow to my pride at the time).

Because the premise was catchy—a Michelin-starred chef indebted to a wealthy New York family spirals into madness as he grows increasingly obsessed with the merman he is supposed to serve them—and "eat-the-rich" literary horror was having a moment, we decided to skip over Book 4 and Book 5 in favor of subbing the more "commercial" Book 6.

My agent sent WHITEFISH out to both US and UK editors (roughly 40 editors in each territory, or 80 total) on March 31, 2026. We received our first call request two weeks after, on April 14, 2026. Four calls with US imprints later, we had three offers and went into auction. A separate four-way auction in the UK followed in short order.

Now, a month or so later, we're here.

Put bluntly, I couldn't believe it when it happened. I still can't believe it now.

Since we closed on both sides of the Atlantic, I have had the privilege of announcing (much sooner than most get to), getting my edit letter, and receiving so many lovely messages from authors I admire and read obsessively about wanting to read my book. Honestly, I've been waking up at 5am every day waiting for the other shoe to drop. It hasn't yet.

Here is what I would say now that I've made it to the "other side:"

• Querying stats do not always translate into sub success (though they certainly can)

• Fast rejections on sub really are a good sign (the pitch is working), though they still hurt like hell

• Be it premise, craft, or what ever other superfluous reason have you, I’m still not sure why this one sold whereas my others didn’t. A pinch of luck maybe!

Traditional publishing really isn't for the weak. I wanted to give up so many times. The only thing that kept me going was a love for the act of writing itself and the incredible community I met through the act of putting myself out there and posting about my stories on various platforms—that and reading other people's stories of success after perseverance.

I have no idea how WHITEFISH will do when it releases, and I also have no idea if I'll ever sell Book 4 / 5 / or any other future books. But, for now, I am just incredibly grateful. Thank you for being a part of my journey.

Hi again! I am very, very excited to share that I recently signed a book deal with a dream publisher! I've been on PubTips since the first book I queried and I know I couldn't have done this without the advice from this forum.

Here's a brief overview of my (rather unusual) journey:

• August 2023 through ~April 2024: I query my first manuscript, a Regency mystery to 60+ agents with no offers.

• September 2023 through May 2024: When I'm not too stressed out by querying to think of words, I write the first draft for a new book, THE CLOAK AND DAGGER CLUB, an Agatha Christie-esque mystery inspired by the Detection Club.

• May 2024: Berkley hosts their Open Submission period. I am currently working on my second manuscript and it still needs a lot of editing, but querying is not going anywhere and I don't want to miss the opportunity, so I submit my Regency mystery to Berkley, not expecting much.

• October 2024: I am two weeks away from querying anew when I get a request from Berkley for the Regency mystery. I send it along and mention that I will soon be querying a new project.

• November 2024: I formally sign with my now agent after a whirlwind querying journey. I mention the Berkley submission to her and she says if they don't get back to me before we plan to go on sub in late January, we will either withdraw the Regency mystery or ask to do a swap.

• December 2024: I get an email from Berkley saying they are interested in the Regency mystery - aka, the one that 60+ agents did not want. I panic. Luckily, my agent is calm, cool, and collected and tells Berkley about my other manuscript. They say it sounds great and ask for an exclusive through early January. We agree.

• January 2025: Editor at Berkley says while she really liked the Regency manuscript (and would be open to editing it together someday), everybody loves THE CLOAK AND DAGGER CLUB even more and they would like to buy it and a sequel.

• January through April 2025: I sit on this very exciting news and lie to people's faces when they ask me how sub is going. (I was not on sub and, truthfully, never really had been.)

• May 2025: I sign my contract with Berkley and can now shout this news from the rooftops!

So, what can you take from this story? I mean, the most shocking part of all of this to me is that my first manuscript, the one that died in the query trenches, was good enough to get the attention of one of my dream publishers. Just because a book doesn't get an agent doesn't mean it's not good or that you're not good enough.

Also, please remember not to self-eliminate and that there's no harm in taking a shot, because even if you think you don't have a chance, you do! I submitted to the Open Submission having already been rejected and ghosted repeatedly. I didn't think anyone at this publisher would be interested in my work. I was shocked to get a request and even more shocked they were interested in offering. Send that query! Submit to that publisher! The worst they can do is say no!

So, now I'm off to copyedits, and I just want to extend my sincerest gratitude to everyone who has been kind enough to leave me feedback on this forum. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The mod team has discussed the recent call on Reddit for subs to ban links to the platforms X (formally known as Twitter) and Meta, and we stand with our fellow subreddits in banning links to these platforms.

While our stance about links has always been strict, given the current political environment we feel it's important to not support these companies and their new policies of disinformation in particular.

Our modmail is available for any questions!

Hi PubTips! I'm posting anonymously because publishing is a small world and I'm not allowed to be official about anything yet, but I wanted to share my path to finally getting a book deal, for anyone who’s feeling stuck, exhausted, or like this whole thing is taking way longer than you ever could have imagined. I hope this will be a little flicker of light in what is sometimes such a seemingly endless void.

tl;dr It took 17 years and 9 completed manuscripts to get from the first draft of my first novel to an offer from a big 5 publisher. Long version below.

The unglamorous timeline

2009: Started drafting my first serious novel. Also got pregnant that year, so the book mostly lived in my head while I grew a human. I wrote a little during baby nap-times and thought about the book constantly.

2011–2012: Kid started daycare at 1yo. I worked four days a week and forfeited 20% of my salary to write one day a week. Finished that first novel in about six months.

2012: Tried querying in the UK (I’m Europe-based) while drafting book 2. Hit brick walls everywhere. That was still the era of sending physical manuscripts and query letters in the UK, which was expensive and essentially fruitless for me. I then switched focus to the US market and got much better responses. Signed with my first agent. (Sorry, I don't have proper stats here, but I remember I had about a 25% request rate.)

2012–2013: While drafting books 2 & 3, my agent shopped book 1. It died on submission after ~18 months, slowly cascading down the tiers until I felt like self-publishing would have been more effective. We shelved it instead.

2014: I won a place at a YA writing workshop with book 3, with some fairly big names in attendance. This was genuinely perspective-shifting and hearing their stories and working with them gave me the courage to leave my agent, who was still fixated on my first book and didn't show much interest in the new ones. We parted ways later that year.

2015: Worked on books 3 and 4 simultaneously. Neither went anywhere. I wrote book 5 during NaNoWriMo 2014, queried it briefly, then canned it.

2016–2017: Attended another retreat with the first 25 pages of something new. My life was at a major crossroads, and this book was helping keep me afloat. I was strongly encouraged to query it, which I did. [ETA] Got about a 50% request rate on this one, resulting in two offers. Signed with my current agent, a former editor, who I’m still very happy with.

2018–2019: Worked through edits, hired a sensitivity reader, more edits. Book 6 went all the way to editorial board at PRH. They were concerned about some content and asked for changes. I did the changes, but they still passed due to concerns about content that could be misinterpreted.

2020: Never exactly "gave up," but definitely slowed down during covid. The world was too quiet during lockdown and writing felt too lonely. I started to worry I didn't have any more books in me. I also almost died from covid.

2021–2024: Two more books fizzled on submission. One came pretty close again, once in the States and once in Australia; the other we pulled after six months because I was getting into something new...

2025: I shelved an adult project I had just started on, because I just had to focus on this new YA idea that would simply not shut up. I had a strong feeling about it in a way I hadn’t before. And let me tell you, I hated that feeling because it gave me hope I was too bruised to entertain. That was book 9, and it went on submission in September 2025.

2026: As of yesterday, we’re negotiating terms with a big 5!! I haven’t signed the offer memo yet, so I can’t share details, but it’s real. It's finally happening.

Stats summary

• Years writing seriously: 17

• Finished manuscripts: 9 (a couple of chapters away from completing the 10th)

• Agents signed with: 2

• Books that died on sub: 4

• Books that came very close before this one: 2

• Moments I thought "this is it!" and it wasn't: too many

What I really want to say to those in the trenches

If you’re querying your second, third, fifth or tenth book; if you’ve had fulls and subs die quietly; if you’ve been doing this longer than feels sane or humane; if you’re watching other people debut while you stare at your inbox and begin to feel like your time will never come:

It's only over when you say it is. You're only done when you stop trying, working, and reaching for it. And if you’re still writing in the face of all the horrible odds, I’m rooting for you, because you're me before I got the one yes I needed.

Stick with it for as long as you love it and want it.

I'm happy to answer questions if you have any in the comments (within anonymity limits of course).

I can't scream about this yet, so I wanted to do it anonymously here. I've been on this subreddit for years over several accounts, have gotten feedback on multiple query letters, have asked countless questions, and gotten the best advice.

And finally. Finally. FINALLY. It's happening. Have just gotten multiple offers, one from PRH. I want to fling myself around the city rn.

Once it's official, I'll do a write up with specifics, but I just want to say: please, please hold on. I was on sub with this book for a long time. Had shelved multiple others. Had gotten to the point where I was going to put trad pub to the side, because I believed in this book so, so much and so if this didn't sell, then I must be way off the mark in what I think is a good pitch, a good book, wtf "high concept" even means.

It will happen, okay? Just keep telling yourself: "just one more book."

I finally get to make one of these posts! 🎉

I’m still in shock that I get to type this sentence: I have an agent. 🥹

I’m a 45-year-old mother of four who’s spent the past 21 years pouring my heart into raising my kids and being present in their lives. All the while, I kept coming back to my first love — writing stories. Over and over, I’d start a novel, only to set it aside because… life.

In 2021, I typed the very first sentence of the book that would change everything. For a long time, I wrote in fits and starts, stealing moments where I could, until last fall when I finally decided it was now or never. I finished the draft in April, spent months revising, editing, and obsessing over every detail. I shared queries here (and deleted them in a panic 😅), worked with a critique partner, and received feedback that shook me — I was told I’d “never make it as an upmarket writer without an MFA” and that my storytelling was far ahead of my craft.

I cried. I doubted myself. And then… I decided to try anyway.

And after 59 days, 48 queries, and 8 different versions of my letter 🫣, I found the perfect champion for my novel.

I’ve read so many success stories on this sub while I was querying, and they always gave me hope on the days when I wanted to quit. I’m hoping my stats and timeline can do the same for someone else.

The stats (for those who enjoy these like I do): • Total queries sent: 48 • Versions of my query letter: 8 (!!) • Full requests: 7 • Partial requests: 1 • Offer(s): 1 • Total querying time: 59 days

The timeline:

July 5, 2025 — Sent my first 3 queries to agents who’d requested during a pitch contest on bluesky.

Over the next 51 days, I sent 45 more queries in small, strategic batches. I rewrote my query 8 times before landing on the one that finally hooked the right agent. Got 2 full requests + 1 partial from those queries.

Then…

Aug 13 — Discovered the agent who I instantly felt could be a great fit and sent version #6 of my query to her. I continued querying a handful more agents (& changed my query twice more. 🫣) 3 days later — She requested my full manuscript with so much enthusiasm it made me cry. One week later — “THE CALL” email landed in my inbox. I panicked. Then I screamed. Then I panicked some more. Aug 26 — She offered representation! I gave the other agents two weeks to decide. 4 more full requests came in. Sept 7 — I said YES to my new agent. Today, I officially signed the contract!

I just want to say thank you to everyone here at r/PubTips. This community has been an incredible source of wisdom, encouragement, and hope during one of the most emotional journeys of my life. Every query critique, success post, and comment I read kept me going when I wanted to give up. If you’re still in the trenches right now, please hear me when I say this: don’t stop. Keep learning, keep tweaking, and keep believing in your story. It only takes one yes. 💛

I wanted to make this post because there’s been discussions on this sub before about the difficulty of querying for authors of color and whether or not agents are interested in working with us at all. I’m a Black woman, so I wanted to share my experience.

Apologies in advance for any typos. I’m writing this out on my phone. Also, I'm a longtime member of this sub, but I'd like to keep all my stuff separated, so I made this account for the purpose of this post.

Stats:

Queries sent: 57 (at least 25 of these were “panic” queries when I got stressed over being powerless in this situation. Not smart. Don’t recommend)

Full requests: 9 (1 post offer of rep nudge)

Rejections: 48

CNR: 8

Withdrawn: 5

Offers: 1

Started writing seriously (this book): August 2024

Finished writing: September 2025

Started querying: September 2025

Offer of rep: December 2025

I know this seems pretty quick (it honestly did not feel like it at the time tho, lol), but this whole thing was years in the making. See below.

My Journey:

So I decided in 2022 that I was seriously going to try to become a published author, and the first thing I did was research the process. Because I was taking this published author goal seriously, I took my research seriously, too. I found r/PubTips, read through all the resources here, and I did the same with the loads and loads query letters posted here. I went to Query Shark’s site and read every single query on there, too. Now, I’m not saying you have to do all that, but I can tell you that because of that, I have a real understanding of what a query is, what purpose it serves, and how to write (what I consider) a good one. I cannot stress how beneficial it is to absorb the feedback given here because it will make you a better query letter author.

While writing the book, I also took the opportunity to level up my craft, so reading tons of books by authors who “speak the same language” as me (as well as those who don’t), and reading feedback on other people’s work, too. I’ve learned a lot from reading the critiques on people’s first 300 words here, for example. I listened to podcasts. The Shit No One Tells You About Writing was useful for their query critiques (if you listen/read enough of them, it becomes so much easier to learn the process and avoid beginner mistakes) and their feedback on the first 5 pages. Just like with query letters, when you consume enough feedback on other people’s work, things really start to sink in. I also like Master Fiction Writing with Stuart Wakefield. The episodes are super short and good reminders for things I feel like I know, but wouldn’t kill me to think about a little deeper with more intention.

I listened to number of agent interviews too, which really drove home the point that at the end of the day, agents are just people. And different people have different likes/dislikes, so some things one agent might like to see in a query, another might not. This helped put a lot of the “rules” of query writing into perspective.

I spent a little over a year writing/re-writing/editing the book, and when I got close to being done, I started putting together my query list using info from QueryTracker and Publisher’s Marketplace. I started out with about 15 agents, felt like that might’ve been too small, so I boosted it up to about 30. Over time, I researched/added more agents because I kept worrying my list was too small. It was a habitual thing and very annoying.

Anyway, I did all that, finished the book and blasted my query out to each agent on my list. As I researched and added more agents, I sent it to them too. I didn’t do batches or anything because I’m impatient, and also because I believed my query/opening pages/story were in the shape it needed to be to get the right agent. Any rejection I got was just a mismatch in taste, that’s all (rejections on my query package were only ever forms and because I was getting requests too, I really believed I was right on this).

With all that being said, I 100% believe I pitched my story wrong!

Yes, I can write the letter. Yes, I can find good comps, but my story sits right on that delicate line between women’s fiction and romance (where the woman’s journey is the true story, but it is heavily romantic and the romance itself is also a huge part of her journey). Tia Williams and Kennedy Ryan are the best examples for what I write, but plenty of people argue they’re women’s fiction not “true romance” even though they are shelved as romance. Because they’re my biggest comps, I marketed my manuscript as romance too and you know what happened? Everyone who requested my full said some variation of “I wanted the romance to be more front and center”—except for the offering agent. She loved my voice and understood my vision for the story while recognizing it doesn’t hit traditional romance beats in the way some romance readers might require. This is something we’re discussing.

Anyway, I received all my full requests between October and December. The offering agent was actually one of the last agents I queried. She requested my full 2 days after I queried her, and reached out for a call a few days after that. She offered rep during the call! So I guess that panic adding of agents actually did pay off?

One of the things that’s been discussed here is whether or not it’s worth querying agents who say they want to rep diverse voices or whatever, and I believe every agent who requested my full had some kind of statement like that in their bio or on their websites (the offering agent definitely did). I also made it very clear in my query that my characters are Black and that I’m a Black woman, so there were no attempts to hide my identity. Funny thing is that I got rejections from all the Black agents I queried—which means absolutely nothing except they just weren’t interested—but I’m pointing it out to say there’s no point in hiding who you are, what you’re writing about or avoiding agents because they have some kind of diversity statement on their site because you truly never know who you might click with.

I didn't share my query because that wasn't really my point for making this post. I just wanted others to know that a Black woman writing stories about Black people that are not all about Black pain was able to get an agent.

This, of course, is only one of many hurdles as sub is a whole ‘nother beast, I’ve been told, but we’ll see what happens when we cross that bridge!

Firstly, I owe massive thanks to this community and everyone who helped me workshop my query here two years ago. My book deal announcement is here.

Here's the query I sent my agent:

Dear Brenna English-Loeb,
I am excited to offer for your consideration FOUL DAYS, a 102,000-word fantasy inspired by Slavic folklore in the vein of Naomi Novik’s SPINNING SILVER and Katherine Arden’s WINTERNIGHT trilogy.
As a witch, Kosara has plenty of practice taming rusalkas, fighting kikimoras, and brewing lycanthrope repellent. There’s only one monster she can’t defeat: her ex. He’s the Zmey—the tsar of monsters. She defied him one too many times, and now he’s hunting her. To escape his wrath, Kosara’s only hope is to trade her powers for passage across the Wall around her city: a magical barrier protecting the outside world from the monsters within.
Kosara sacrifices her magic and flees the city. She should finally be safe—except she quickly realises she’s traded a fast death at the hands of the Zmey for a slow one. A witch can’t live for long without her magic.
She tracks down the smuggler who helped her escape, planning to steal back the magic she traded, only to find him viciously murdered and her magic stolen. The clues make it obvious: one of the Zmey’s monsters has found a crack in the Wall. Kosara’s magic is now in the Zmey’s hands.
If she wants to live, Kosara needs to get her powers back. And to do that, she has to face the Zmey.
FOUL DAYS is my second novel. It was selected for the Author Mentor Match program, during which I completed extensive revisions under the guidance of a published author. My first novel was published in my native Bulgaria, where it was voted the best debut spec-fic of 2013 and won an encouragement award at the European Science Fiction Society Awards. Currently, I work as an archaeologist in Scotland.
Thank you for your time and consideration.

And here are some querying stats:

Agents queried: 61

Partial requests: 2

Full requests before offer: 8 (including upgrades from the 2 partials)

Full requests after offer: 3

No time to read materials (after nudge with offer): 3 (<– this right here is why you should never nudge agents with an offer you’re not intending to accept!)

Rejections: 34

Ghosts: 21

Ghosts after request: 2

Withdrawn: 1 (for reasons that became public knowledge after I’d queried them)

Agents who replied more than a year later to ask if the materials are still available: 2

Offers: 1

A brief timeline:

December 2017: Started writing the book (in Bulgarian).

March 2019: Finished writing the book, sent it to family for an alpha read because they’re the only ones who love me enough to put up with such a rough draft (to everyone who says not to do that because they won’t be direct or objective with you, all I have to say is: get a Slavic family)

March 2019-October 2019: Revision 1

October 2019: Started translating the book into English, more as an exercise than out of any belief it might actually end up selling.

January 2020: Saw an announcement for Author Mentor Match on this sub, decided to submit even though my translation was still very rough in the second half of the book (I still feel terrible for putting my poor mentor through this)

March 2020: Got accepted into AMM! This right here is what made me actually believe this book might have legs.

March 2020-July 2020: Revision 2 (This one involved rewriting two thirds of the book, after getting a 10-page edit letter from my mentor, essentially teaching me how the 3 act structure works. Who thought pantsing a murder mystery was a bad idea?)

August 2020-October 2020: Querying (I didn’t query in batches, which on reflection was pretty stupid – but I’m impatient and my particular brand of anxiety meant the only way to preserve my mental health during this process was to shotgun 5-10 queries whenever I got a rejection that stung particularly badly – which is how I ended up querying 60+ people in a month and a half. I don’t recommend you do this unless you’re very confident in your query and manuscript.)

October 2020: Signed with my agent! Only ended up with one offer, spent the next few months panicking this meant the book won’t sell.

January 2021 – June 2021: Revision 3 (this one was a relatively small one, thank god!)

September 2021 – January 2022: Submission! We first got interest from the editor who ended up buying the book in early November 2021, and I had a great phone call with her. I’d been pretty chill about submission until that point, but what followed were 6 agonising weeks while waiting to hear back from acquisitions. We heard back just before Christmas that the acquisitions meeting had been successful, and Tor are buying not just FOUL DAYS, but also a second book!

January 2022 – August 2022: Negotiations, contracts, all those boring things I’m glad I’ve got my agent for.

September 2022: Revision 4 (another relatively minor one, woo!)

Next: Writing book 2 in the duology. Thoughts and prayers etc.

Lessons learnt:

1. Revising doesn’t just mean line edits. This is something that seems obvious on reflection, but I was honestly surprised just how deep developmental edits can go. I think for a lot of novice writers, the instinct is to complete a draft and then start tinkering at the line level, thinking that’s what ‘revising’ means, when it’s way too early for that. I had to rewrite two thirds of my book for AMM. This involved looking at narrative structure, character motivation, stakes. It meant deleting entire characters and plotlines and writing new ones. My ending changed completely. By the time I got to line level edits, deleting a paragraph here and there felt like nothing.

2. The best strategy is to write a standalone. Yes, I got a two-book deal. Yes, those are relatively common in SFF. But I got my agent and my editor interested in the book on the strength of its fast-paced, complete narrative. My original plan, like many fantasy authors, had been to write a series, so I’d left too many threads dangling at the end of book 1. It was during AMM revisions that my mentor suggested that wasn’t the smartest idea – so I worked hard to tie everything up and make book 1 a standalone. When Tor bought it as a first in a duology, that involved tweaking some things in book 1, but ultimately, those were (for the most part) different things than what I’d originally left unresolved. If I’d kept my original version of the duology, book 1 wouldn’t have had an ending satisfying enough to get me an agent, let alone a book deal. Book 2 would have looked very different. I realise there are exceptions here and people sell series all the time – I’m just saying I wasn’t an exception, and I wouldn’t bet on being one.

3. Workshop your query! I was one of those people who had a pretty disastrous first attempt because I didn’t understand a query is not prose. Then, with the help of the people here, my query slowly transformed into something that ended up getting requests. So, I suppose, the first thing I’ve learnt is: sometimes, no amount of reading Query Shark is enough. You need to get feedback on your query.

4. No feedback while querying doesn’t mean your book is bad. I kept getting form rejections—on queries and on fulls. It was frustrating—I just wanted someone to tell me what was wrong with the book so I could fix it. It turns out, nothing was wrong with it. Sometimes, a form rejection simply means what the agent/editor doesn’t like about your book is subjective. They have no valuable feedback because they’re not the right agent for it. It’s just like how you won’t end up buying every book you pick up from the shelf while browsing in the bookstore.

5. Sometimes, it truly only takes one. I was so scared the fact I only got one agent offer meant the book won’t sell, I didn’t take the time to celebrate signing with an agent. In fact, the two weeks waiting to hear back from agents after the nudge with offer and getting rejection after rejection were incredibly stressful, even if the wording of the rejections had shifted to be very complimentary. In the end, my agent was the best choice for this book, and I’m thrilled I signed with her – she’s a relatively new agent at an established agency, and she worked really, really hard for this book, both editorially and when it came to submission and negotiation.

6. You don’t need a social media following to get a book deal. You just don’t. I had 40 followers on twitter and no other social media when I signed with my agent. When I got my book deal, I had maybe 1500-ish combined. It made zero difference.

7. Most agents and editors don’t care you’re not US-based and English is your second language. All you need is a good book.

8. You don’t need to pay anyone. Anyone who’s telling you YOU MUST hire a developmental editor, or a line editor, or to pay for an expensive workshop, or to attend conferences is probably trying to sell you something (likely a developmental edit, a line edit, a workshop, or a conference). Yes, if you have money to burn all these things are nice, but the truth is, a lot of them are unaffordable and unnecessary. I hate this pervasive idea that there is a several-thousand-dollar barrier to trad publishing – there isn’t. I’ve never paid for an edit. I’ve never attended a single workshop or conference in my life. I cold queried my agent and signed with her without having ever met her in person. Then, it was her connections that got me the book deal.

9. Your agent and editor are your team—not evil, corporate gatekeepers who want to change your art. Honestly, this is not a sentiment I’ve seen often on here, but it does crop up. My book is commercial in that it’s fast-paced and deliberately written to be a ‘page-turner’. My book is not commercial in that it doesn’t fit neatly into the US market. At its core, it’s a Bulgarian book because I’m Bulgarian—it combines urban fantasy with secondary world fantasy, it has certain tropes and beats that won’t be as familiar to the US audience, it uses an unfamiliar folklore as inspiration. These quirks are part of what, I believe, makes my book interesting. From chatting with my agent and editor, they agree. No one, at any point, has suggested I make my book ‘more American’ (and thank god because I would have no idea how). No one has tried to rip the heart out of my book and replace it with their vision. Revision has been a collaborative, fun process during which everyone was focused on bringing out those unique elements and making my book the best it could be.

10. Write the next one. There is a reason this advice is a cliché – it works. Whenever querying and submission drive you batty, always have that other project to focus on, so it doesn’t feel like your entire worth as an author is resting on that one book you’re querying/submitting. I wouldn’t have survived submission without my WIP.

Hello Pubtips!

I haven't posted much here, but have been a longtime lurker and have benefited so much from the wisdom and experience of others that I wanted to share my (long) journey to getting a traditional publishing deal! Happy to answer any questions or chat more in DMs if helpful :)

TLDR: I started writing in 2014, got agented with my second book in 2019, had 2 books die on submission, then finally sold book 5, DELICIOUS MINDS, in 2025 after 3 weeks on sub, at auction, and in a 2 book deal simultaneously in the US & UK.

The long version:

(Apologies that I don't have exact numbers for queries sent, partials/fulls requested, etc. It's simply been too long.)

Book 1 (YA science fantasy, 250k, 2014-2017): As the word count suggests, this did not go anywhere, lol, even after I cut it down to 112k.

Book 2 (MG dragon fantasy, 65k, 2017-2023, got me my agent, died on sub):

• Drafted & lightly revised in late 2017 & early 2018, and got good reception during #DVPit. A number of agents who requested noted that the story (which I'd initially written as YA) would work better as MG. I agreed, but had no idea how to make that revision.

• I got SO lucky and was accepted into the Pitch Wars 2018 mentorship program, and was guided through a complete rewrite of the story by two amazing mentors. During the program showcase, a good number of agents (20-30? can’t remember) requested the manuscript.

• Within 48 hours of querying my MG dragon fantasy, an agent offered representation, and I ended up with 3 offers total. I assumed my tribulations were over. I'd made it. Dreams were coming true. Hahahahahaha. No.

• My agent and I did 2 rounds of sub (early 2019 & early 2020) for this book. Despite encouraging rejections, a R&R, and going to acquisitions once, the story didn’t get picked up.

Interim 1: debilitating writer’s block from 2019-2021 thanks to rejection blues and personal life issues. But I eventually felt inspired (recovered) enough to start writing again…

Book 3 (YA Studio Ghibli-esque romantic fantasy, 92k, 2022-2025)

• Drafted & did 4 revisions of my own, including 2 total rewrites, from early 2022 to early 2023 before sending to my agent. Then did another rewrite with her before we took the story on sub in October 2023.

• Though this book also received encouraging rejections, as well as 3 R&Rs over 2 rounds of sub (fall 2023 and spring 2025) it did not get an offer.

• Jumping ahead a bit, but I actually asked my agent to take this off sub in early 2026. I’d done eight drafts by then and, though I still loved the story, was utterly exhausted at the idea of editing it even more.

Interim 2: More despair, more wondering if this was worth it at all. But I put my energy into writing short stories in 2024 and got a boost of confidence from selling a few of them. By early 2025, I felt ready to get back into the game.

Book 4 (YA horror, 80k, 2025): Drafted this in a six week whirlwind from Feb-March 2025. It turned out very sloppy, but probably still salvageable...if I hadn't ditched it immediately because I'd gotten totally obsessed with a shiny new idea.

Book 5 (adult dark academia horror, 108k, 2025 - now, my to-be debut novel!)

• Early February, I had a flash of inspiration: "Why hasn't anyone written a dark academia and cannibalism mashup yet? I'd totally read that. Wait. Maybe I should write that." Within a couple of weeks I had a characters, themes, and a full synopsis, and my agent was super excited about the idea.

• I started drafting this book in late March, right after finishing the YA horror, and finished the first draft by late May. The incredible thing was that it was good enough that I felt comfortable sending it off to my agent after a light touchup—and my agent suggested only minor edits (which I completed in a week) before putting the book on sub.

• We went on sub July 1st. Three weeks later, on July 22nd (coincidentally my birthday!), we received the first offer. We nudged all editors in the US and UK, and there was enough interest to set up an auction in the US and a hard deadline for offers in the UK, both circa August 12, which resulted in...

A two-book deal in the US, plus a simultaneous two-book deal in the UK!

I guess the question is, why did this book sell? What was different about it? Obviously so much in traditional publishing is up to luck, luck, and more luck. But here are some factors that I believed help Delicious Minds sell:

• It gave a trendy genre (dark academia) a newer genre mashup (horror) and a cannibalistic twist, which has been seeing a rise in publishing.

• The story was easy to pitch in a single sentence: A Taiwanese American grad student is invited into an elite academic society, only to find out its inner circle eats the brains of lower-class scholars to steal their knowledge—and that his older brother might have been one of their victims.

• I'd acquired enough writing skills and experience to be able to write the story and get it in a sub-ready state fast enough to catch the trend.

(But honestly? Who even knows? Publishing is a fickle beast.)

It's been a long journey, but I feel very blessed to have had many writing friends and my agent for cheering me on through years of rejections, and of course so grateful that my editors saw the promise in Delicious Minds. I hope that my story gives those in the query and sub trenches hope: no matter how awful you feel about writing, the road could turn at any moment. There are always, always more and greater books inside you, waiting to be written.

Longtime lurker, first time poster, and in a state of ??!?!?! now that I can say I sold my debut book(s!!!) to a Big Five publisher after 11 months on sub. 

tldr: IT ONLY TAKES ONE

My experience wasn’t flashy by any means, even though I had that seed of hope in the beginning that I’d have a whirlwind, sold-in-one-week six figure deal like I think this subreddit can (sometimes) make seem possible. LOLLL. Definitely did not happen, and I spent many, many weeks wondering why I wasn’t hearing from editors, what my book was lacking, and why I couldn’t, too, be showered in instant, gratifying praise (as one does). Luckily, I have the most amazing agent who constantly championed me, kept my spirits high, and never gave up on trying to sub my book, even when I was ready to call it quits. 

Timeline:

2023-2025: wrote my first two manuscripts, queried them after literally one draft (rip) and wrote a whole lot of half-books that never became anything. 

March 2025: I query a new, properly edited manuscript

May 2025: after one offer of rep, I sign with my lovely agent 

May 2025: after two quick rounds of edits, we go on sub to ten editors

Summer 2025: passes and a whole lot of nothing. I obsess over every form response. 

August 2025: agent sends another round. One publisher notifies they are sending to second reads

Fall 2025/Winter2026: CRICKETTTTSSS. literally no good news lmao. Wrote another book in a blind panic and ate way too much chocolate cake. Beginning to feel like Aniya wishing KC would just pick her. 

February 2026: agent is very kind and takes book 2 on sub. She asks if I want to still push book 1. I say no. I hate it now. All hope has officially been washed down the drain. She is much smarter than me and continues to push the book

March 2026: handful of passes on book 2. agent nudges all outstanding editors on book 1. Out of the blue, second reads publisher from August emails back two days later. The team read it!!! They like it!!! They want to know if I can chat!! I scream!!!!

April 2026: I meet with publisher. They are lovely and enthusiastic. I’m starting to feel like Cinderella. I’m hoping I finally got my ticket to the ball.

End of April 2026: my agent calls. I’m in the hospital waiting for my husband to wake up from surgery. She says we got an offer - for book 1 and 2. I try very hard not to ambush my husband after he wakes up from anesthesia and scream into his ear. 

I’m a glass half full person, but being on submission was miserable (at my own overthinking fault). Looking back, I realized how important it was to have people - whether your agent, your husband, you friends - who continue to support you even when you start to believe the worst has come. Because I really did think book 1 was dead and gone. I honestly did not believe anything could happen after so many months had passed, but I’m so happy that my agent continued to believe in me, even when I was a moping mess. 

Please keep hoping. And dreaming. And screaming. And writing. Success can happen at anytime to anyone. 

It only takes one <333

Hi! I'm Haley. My first book (an illustrated memoir about anxiety called Give Me Space but Don't Go Far) came out a year ago today! In preparation of this anniversary, I compiled seven lessons I've learned. Hope the resonate or help:

1. It's okay to be shameless.

In fact, you have to be. Ask your community to pre order the book and write reviews. Stop in at bookstores and offer to sign copies. Post about it on social media again and again and again.

It can feel unnatural to turn the spotlight on yourself. But here’s a reframe: People generally want to show up for people they care about. I’ve had to remind myself that self-promotion might be how someone finds my work, as it’s certainly been the way I’ve learned about other creators’ projects.

Oh, and when folks who have championed your work come back around as their big moment arrives, show up for them, too. Duh!

2. Obsessing over the numbers won’t change the numbers.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit how many times I’ve refreshed my book’s Amazon best seller ranking. The pendulum swung both ways—at one point, it was number one in the graphic memoir category! But a month later, it ranked in the hundred-thousands. This number (and any sales number, really) had the power to make or break my day in an instant. And guess what? There was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

This is not to say that I shouldn’t have been disappointed. It’s so human to use quantitative information as a datapoint in determining success! But that’s all it is: one datapoint amongst many datapoints. I had to remind myself that this number would change over the course of my life, and that was okay.

3. Network, but do it earnestly.

For me, the word “networking” conjures an image of a finance bro, zipping up his Patagonia vest as he gestures toward the world and asks, “So, who do you know here?” I’ve had to unlearn this notion, because networking, when done genuinely and with the interest of actually building community within your industry, is quite lovely.

4. You have no control over how your work will be received.

When someone gives you a negative review or low rating, try to let it go. This is not easy. Dita Von Teese said it best: “You can be a delicious, ripe peach and there will still be people in the world that hate peaches.” The same is true for your work. What you’ve made is bursting with flavor. It will find its way to the people craving it. Some people will try it and realize they were in the mood for something entirely different. Someone might even spit it out, immediately put off. They’ll go find something else. The world will keep turning.

This applies to creative work and life in equal measure.

5. Publication (or any massive accomplishment) is not the secret to happiness.

It might bring happiness! But it will not guarantee a carefree, fulfilling life henceforth. Anne Lamott sums this up perfectly in her book Bird by Bird: “All I know about the relationship between publication and mental health was summed up in one line of the movie Cool Runnings, which is about the first Jamaican bobsled team… The men on [this] team are desperate to win an Olympic medal, just as half the people in my classes are desperate to get published. But the coach says, ‘If you’re not enough before the gold medal, you won’t be enough with it.’”

And hey, if you’re not sure how to find happiness, might I suggest riding a bike on a perfect spring day. Or eating a peach (see the previous lesson).

6. Similarly, becoming a published author will not fundamentally change you in the way you think it will.

Yes, there’s true delight in seeing my book at a bookstore or hearing how much someone loved it, but day to day? I’m still me. I still doubt myself and my work. I’ve wondered if I’ll ever publish again, if my authorial career is one-and-done, if everyone who bought my book is in on a massive prank (can you tell I got bullied in middle school?). I’m not sure any accomplishment guarantees pure satisfaction or self actualization or unbridled confidence.

I feel lucky to have my story in print (and bound in a bubblegum pink cover). I hope to write more, I really do. But truthfully, I don’t think about the fact that I’m an author half as much as I thought I would. Instead, my brain zooms in on the same things it did before: anxious spirals over the news, mundane to-do lists, whatever song is stuck in my head at the moment. Unsexy as it is, that’s life, baby.

7. Feelings are unpredictable.

This will always be true. Take them as they come.

Part of me thinks it would be cool and nonchalant to not make a post like this, but I've identified myself as having "sour grapes" before, have always relied on HIGMA posts to motivate me, and tried hard to be a contributing member of this community, so I figured I'd share.

To start, I wrote the next book. I was querying what was basically my first novel, which I wrote when I didn't know much about agents, hooks, etc. It was a juicy story, but genre confused, a story clearly written by someone who didn't understand the meta part of writing. I felt I owed it to myself though to keep trying.

I was stuck in an R&R going nowhere from an agent who wanted me to write thrillers instead of litfic, trying to force myself to write 1,000 words a day. I started fantasizing about how much better this would feel with a fresh book, so I said screw it, and started writing something else I'd been thinking about.

2.5 months later I had a new manuscript to pitch. Walking away was hard, but it was the right move.

Stats on that first book: 102 queries sent, 5 requests, 0 offers.

With the new manuscript, I stayed protective over my vision. Workshopping the query here was great, but some responses were chilly, and I had to accept the people who didn't see the vision for the book weren't pieces of feedback I could take. I also didn't do beta readers. I leaned 100% on reading comps with similarly hooky, daring premises and becoming obsessed with how they worked.

I chose to only query senior agents and agency heads. This goes along with the above point. With my first book, I guess I had some imposter syndrome that because I was new, I should pitch new agents. I also pitched a lot of agents who said they "prioritized Black voices." I feel that thought process burned me through a lot of great agencies.

I have the sense that assistant and associate agents are perhaps being more picky/conservative than senior agents and agency heads. With both books, I did MUCH better with more senior agents than more junior agents. And I've vented about the "prioritizing Black voices" agents here before, so no need to rehash.

I had a deferential posture with book one. With book two, my posture was that I was confident I had something that could break through.

Agent bios and MSWL were taken with a grain of salt. Publisher's Marketplace and Query Tracker request rates were my bible. I know everyone says "read an agent's bio to know what they want," but I felt strongly that reading their Publisher's Marketplace page and their Query Tracker stats gave me a greater sense of what I needed.

This community leans a little toward the agent perspective, but, again, I wanted to adopt a different posture for book two, which meant that what the agent wants to communicate about their preferences was less important than a track record of what they could do for me and my book.

I stole my process of picking an agent from another poster here, who I'd tag if I could remember them, but basically it was this: Find the top agencies, pull the agents up on Publisher's Marketplace, query the one whose had the most deals/debuts/six-figure advances that sound like my book. I would also consider the request rates by word count and genre reports on Query Tracker.

Stats on book two: 56 queries, 7 requests, 2 offers. I signed with my agent 75 days after my first query, and 5 months after I started writing the book.

Everything I've written here could be absolute horseshit, and maybe the real differentiator is I just wrote a better book this time, but I did want to share in case it helps anyone else.

Thanks so much to the moderators who've built this community and all the incredible members. Reading your queries and getting your notes on mine has been absolutely invaluable. Can't wait to see you all get

Hi PubTips - big news in the industry today. Employees of Hachette (To clarify: Hachette Book Group, in the US) have announced that they're unionizing - they'll be the second union in the Big 5, along with HarperCollins. The healthier the industry is for the people actually doing the work, the healthier it will be for authors as well. I'm not personally at Hachette so have no inside knowledge, but some links:

Publishers Lunch article (subscription needed to read the full thing): https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2026/04/hachette-book-group-employees-unionize/

Their website: https://hachetteworkers.com/, with a link on that site to an open letter of support you can sign.

Hi PubTips warriors,

My debut thriller came out in 2024 and didn't have great sales. Then my agent and I went back and forth for over 2.5 years on edits for my next book until it didn't even feel like mine anymore.

This was a really dark period for me. Writing felt like a chore, and I was starting to doubt my voice. So, I decided to split with my agent, which was scary. It was so difficult to get one in the first place. But what was the point of having an agent if I couldn't write?

Since I was now on my own and sick of my other book, I decided to write whatever I wanted. And finally, the words flowed and my voice came back and I vomited up a weird little book.

I started querying it at the end of August 2025, got over twenty requests, three offers, and secured a new agent by the end of 2025. My new agent took my book out in early March 2026. Four weeks later, it sold at auction in a significant two-book deal for North American rights.

I decided to write this post because there were moments along the way (more than moments, long scary days and nights) where my meager track made me think it was all over. One agent who had requested my full later get cold feet because of my sales. Another wanted me to consider using a pen name (I would have). And another asked me if I'd consider switching genres.

Then there was my offering agent, a top agent at a top agency who never mentioned my track. When I brought it up, she merely shrugged and said that she thought my book was strong enough to overcome that. Looks like she was right.

To anyone out there losing heart due to a less than stellar track, don't give up. What's done is done. The only thing you can do now is write the best book that you can. And with some luck (let's not kid ourselves, there was a lot of luck involved here), you just might write yourself out of this jam.

Godspeed, xoxo.

It feels so incredibly surreal to be writing this after months of querying with more doubt and emotional damage than queries sent out, but: I got an agent!

I told myself if it ever happened I would live to tell the story, if only because this sub has helped me so much even just as a reader of other writers' journeys. So here we go. If anyone is interested, happy to share more intricate numbers, but the baseline goes as follows:

I started querying in March this year. Sent my queries in batches but without much strategy other than that I queried whomever seemed a good fit (wishlist, clients, experience). Rejections began trickling in soon after. Forced myself to send out two queries for each rejection. Had a period in June in which I didn't query anyone due to a loss in my family. Sent out a batch of nudges in July just to get things going again. Was losing hope but told myself no - my goal from the very start had been to collect 100 rejections by agents at minimum, and then a few more from editors before I looked for other options.

Long story short: My journey wasn't a very sparkly one. I didn't have tons of agents request my manuscript. I didn't even get a single personalized rejection. But one agent I had nudged requested a full. It turned into an offer. And I accepted :-)

I had 67 queries out. Many CNRs. No competing offers. I had a call with my agent and they were amazing. I knew immediately I wanted to work with them. Even the first round of edits has made my book so much better. I'm incredibly excited for all to come.

Everyone wishes for double-digit requests and a mountain of offers - and I wish that for everyone who is querying, truly! But I want to share my story to urge you to not give up hope even if you have not gotten a request in your first ten, twenty, thirty, hell, even fifty queries. Yes, look over your materials. Polish them. But have some confidence in your work and remember: This is also a numbers game, and one that involves a crazy amount of luck.

It really only takes one.

I literally cannot believe that it's my turn to write a post like this. This will be a long one, but I ate these posts up when I was on sub:

• I grew up loving books, they helped me mentally escape from a neglectful home. And from 2007 and on, I wrote SO much fanfic (still do 😛.) I know fanfic can be a joke to some writers, but I swear by it. I also went to film school from 2013-2016 and learned how to tell original stories/write scripts.

• I had my idea for my book in 2016 while being an au pair in Italy. It lived in my mind for years, but I never actually wrote anything down.

• I didn't start drafting until July 2023, when I met a published author and realized my dreams weren’t so far-fetched. I finished my first draft in July 2024.

• I started querying right away (BIG mistake. Burned through like, five promising agents with a garbage query. I hadn’t found this subreddit yet and didn’t know shit about shit.)

• I came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t ready. I did a big round of beta reads, and made a bunch of changes based on those notes. I finished my second draft in October 2024. I discovered this subreddit, and after some tough love with my query letter and my first 300 words, felt actually ready to query. (You guys are just the best.)

• After querying like forty agents, I got two offers of rep mid november! The one I signed with didn’t want to do any rewrites, so we went out on sub in January! I was over the moon! I couldn’t believe it!

• Then… silence.

• After three months, my first round was a bust. Then I moved forward with rewrites based on a mix of feedback from editors and my agent. Despite my disappointment that editors didn’t want my original manuscript, I felt super energized, and I ended up rewriting like, 40k words in two months. I liked the new draft way more!

• Went out on ANOTHER round of submission!

• And… crickets! 

• The summer was my low point, everything online was telling me my chances of publication were ZILCH. Seven months without an offer? My book had one foot in the grave. I was so, so sad.

• In the midst of my depressive episode, there was a light in the dark: I got more valuable feedback in my rejections, and one editor in particular gave me SUCH good advice to align my MS more closely with genre expectations that I knew I had to give it one last rewrite. Part of me wanted to be done with it and give up––I felt like it was a shit story and I was a shit writer and it was hopeless––but I said fuck it, these changes aren’t so hard, and did one last rewrite. 

• By the time we went out on our third round of submission on the 4th of November 2025, I was over it and half way through my next book, (that was me, I published on a second account to test something) which I was much more excited about. I had fully accepted the death of my debut.

• Then… on the 19th of November, ELEVEN MONTHS since starting submission, I got an email that not one, but TWO Big Five editors wanted to meet with me. I didn’t know what any of this meant, if it meant that they already had offers ready, or if they still had to go to acquisitions, but I didn’t get any details beyond the names of the imprints and editors. (Had to wait until my agent got back from vacation. Longest two weeks of my life, haha.)

• Had a touch base with my agent the night before my calls, and she told me we GOT AN OFFER FROM A THIRD EDITOR?? Not Big 5, but holy cow my dreams were suddenly coming true? After that, things started to move really fast.

• The following day, the calls went great, even though I was super nervous beforehand. I had built editors up in my head as some godlike entity. But they’re just people! It felt like a regular work call. 😅I will say that it was so surreal to hear industry professionals talk about MY protagonist (“everyone on the team just LOVES her”) and MY plot… all of a sudden it didn’t feel like my little story. One was talking about miniseries potential (idk if that’s a real possibility) but it all suddenly felt big and official. 

• My agent gave them both until the end of the following day to make their offers. 

• Only three hours after my calls, I got the news that one of the big five editors got back to us with a higher offer than the first one from the midsize publisher. I was floating around like a ghost, nothing felt real. When my boyfriend said, “I can’t believe you’re going to be an author,” I finally burst into tears. Now I keep crying out of nowhere hahaha

• The final top 5 editor offered the following day with a higher offer and a two book deal since I had pitched my princess book to her on the call. We had a small, informal auction over the course of the week, the original offering editor dropped out, and the other two increased their offers. (The two book deal turned back into a one book deal with a much higher per-book rate. My agent and I decided together that it would be safer and smarter to start with just one.) By the end the editor I clicked most with offered the highest, so it was a no-brainer for me. 

• So, now I’m here a day later, waiting to sign the contract, wondering how on earth any of this happened. When I tell you guys that I gave up on this book, I literally gave up. Fully. I cried and mourned for days when I realized that it was going to die on sub. I guess the saying ‘it’s not over til it’s over’ is truer than I thought.

Things to note:

• Reading for fun wasn’t enough. I had to go out of my way to critically engage with books in my genre to better understand what the publishing industry wants. It’s a balancing act of what kind of story YOU want to tell and what kind of story publishers want. 

• Paying for freelance editors isn’t worth it, unless you have a lot of expendable income. Once I settled into my writing group and was able to exchange chapters with other authors at my same level, it was wayyyy better than hiring an editor, and it’s FREE! (Plus, helping others with their writing improves my own. Win/win!) 

• Not being married to my story, save for the core characters and core conflict, helped a ton––if I had stuck with my original vision, I would have never gotten an offer. A lot of the time, feedback from editors when they reject you can be vague and unhelpful, but when an editor takes the time to actually dig into the meat of your book and talk about why it’s missing the mark, it could serve you. (Only if your gut tells you they’re onto something, though.) Every time I made changes based on their feedback, I got closer and closer to actually publishing it. I don’t know if other writers do this, or if I’m just some weirdo amateur that was learning as I went. I looked at it as free creative consulting from real industry professionals! You’d have to pay them like a grand in any other context.

• Having followers on social media does NOT guarantee an automatic book deal. (Before you kill me, I didn’t think it would. I have crazy bad impostor syndrome, but there’s a sentiment on here that influencers just get handed book deals willy-nilly.) I am a part-time content creator but have an okay-sized following (less than 200k on tiktok.) I am definitely aware of my privilege and I do think that it helped me stand out from the slush pile when querying agents. For submission, however, my writing friends who had around 1k followers got deals MUCH faster than me because they had tighter manuscripts. It wasn’t until I made those magic, genre-aligning changes did I get any bites. Followers help, but if you don’t have a polished book with an airtight plot, they don’t mean much. I hope that helps some of you feel better and less anxious about unqualified influencers coming in and snapping up all of the deals. 

Hi everyone! I posted my query letter on r/pubtips in 2024 under a different reddit account. I’m probably going to delete that profile. This is now my “official” author account.

This is the query letter (5th attempt) that helped me land an agent. The title was originally HEIR OF DAWN. It is now THE EMPIRE BURNS AT DAWN. It’s set to release on December 1st, 2026.

It’s been a while but I wanted to share my stats. This sub helped immensely with my query letter. It all happened pretty quickly, and I’m still kind of stunned by how fast the submission process went. I’ll post another thread about that experience if anyone is interested.

Here are my querying stats:

Querying timeline: May 2024 - August 2024
Queries sent: 44
Rejections: 23
No response: 8
Requests (all fulls): 13
Rejections on full requests: 11
Offers of representation: 2

I followed the rule of sending my query out in batches to see if my pitch and opening pages were strong. I sent a batch of 12 queries over the first 2 weeks. I received 4 full requests from that batch, so I amped it up after the first month, sending more queries out as rejections came in. 

I remember getting a couple of personalized rejections. One agent said they felt they didn’t have the editorial vision to help bring my story to the next level. Another mentioned that certain magical elements appeared too suddenly about halfway through the book. I took this as subjective feedback and kept querying.

In early August 2024, I received 1 offer of representation. There was a flurry of requests after I notified the other agents that I’d queried, and I received my second offer just six days later. The rest were all passes.

From what I remember, during the Call with both offering agents, we discussed what my goals were as an author, series potential, editorial vision, communication styles, and what they envisioned for the submission process. Both agents shared clients for me to get in touch with. I did my due diligence and followed up with their clients over the next two weeks.

It was a difficult choice to make. Both agents were highly experienced and worked with very reputable agencies, and their clients (mostly fantasy authors like myself) had nothing but praise. I went with my gut and signed with the first agent who offered. It worked out far better than I imagined it would.

I owe my high request rate in large part to the feedback I got on this sub and the in-person critique groups that I worked with. Here’s what else worked for me:

• Before I started querying, I stepped away from my query for a week or two every time I revised it. I only posted 5 attempts here but in reality, I must have written 12 versions over the course of several months.

• Emphasizing the “high concept” element (basically the hook) of my book—a loose reimagining of Scheherezade and Dunyazad from A Thousand and One Nights.

• Choosing my comp titles strategically helped solidly place my story in the Muslim & Middle-Eastern fantasy genre, which is a market that’s in high demand but not easy to break into. I also mentioned this an #ownvoices story, which I think helped.

• Tailoring my query letter to each agent according to their personal taste or manuscript wishlist.

• Writing the next project while I queried. Because I had edited the novel and the pitch letter to death before I started querying, working on the next idea helped keep me from obsessing.

These are just some practical tips that I would recommend. There are some more personal aspects that I would like to share.

I think it’s healthy to go into this process with an end in mind. I’ve been writing this book for years, and after months of editing and revising, I had made the decision to give it my best shot and then move on. That doesn’t mean it didn’t sting sometimes when I got a rejection, but knowing that I was ready to close the door on this project helped with my peace of mind. So while it worked out for me in the end, I stayed emotionally detached during the querying process.

Another thing that helped ground me mentally was to turn my attention towards others. This process can be self-absorbed and anxiety-inducing. Focusing on my friends, family, and community helped remind me that I’m just a human being, and life will go on whether my book gets published or not.

I hope these stats and tips help! If you’re in the querying trenches now, hang in there. Feel free to message me directly if you have any questions.

EDIT: Also, feel free to follow me on Instagram! I sometimes take Q&As in my stories. Link in profile! And just a correction: I started querying in May 2024, not April.

Yes, that's right.

Many people describe having to query two or three books before they got an agent, and how painful that was. I'm not discounting their experiences, but by the time I was querying my fourth book, these posts weren't encouraging. The opposite--they made me feel like a giant loser. It seemed nobody was in my shoes, or at least wouldn't talk about it in public.

Maybe you're thinking my craft took a long time to develop, but even after two major mentorship programs, including PitchWars and Author Mentor Match, professional editors, and multiple rounds of beta readers, I think my skills were trad pub ready by at least book three. Still, for five more books, I'd get full requests that went nowhere. I was about to self-pub book 8 when I finally get an offer from a very reputable agent that I'm thrilled to be represented by.

I'm here to tell other long haul queriers that they're not alone. That it can take years and years. I won't say "just keep trying and it will happen," because I feel like that's toxic positivity. Nothing is guaranteed. I simply got lucky with book 8 and found someone who wanted to rep me--I only received one offer. Will my book sell to trad pub? Who knows! Not sure what conclusions can be drawn, except that the one thing that kept me (and keeps me) going was that I love writing, and feel that there are readers out there who might like my stories. I'm going to try my hardest to get them into their hands.

Good luck to all those warriors in the trenches!