If you follow me on social media, you’ve probably already heard me shouting this from the metaphorical rooftops. Well, sorry, because I’m going to shout some more: I HAVE AN AGENT!!!
Signing with a literary agent is a huge deal for writers (at least those of us who dream of traditionally publishing novels). It’s not a guarantee of publication (I wish!), but it is a necessary step on the journey to selling a book to a major publishing house. It’s also incredibly difficult, because it requires not just honing your craft and writing a high-quality book, but also meeting the right person at the right time. Finding an agent who not only loves your writing and your book but also has room for it on their list and knows editors who are looking for it right now… Well, you can see how many stars have to align.
Of course, some writers get lucky and end up with a dozen agent offers after a few weeks of querying. But most of us have to slog through the query trenches for much longer before we land one yes. In case you haven’t guessed, I was in the latter camp.
Nine years in the query trenches
I had been in and out of the query trenches for close to nine years, writing six books in total and querying three of them—and I knew they were good because they won or made the longlist in a handful of contests. I did everything else writers are supposed to do: took classes, did mentorships, joined critique groups, attended conferences, studied writing craft, read books in my genre.
But the stars just refused to align for me. A few agents even said they would have signed me if they didn’t already have a similar book on their list.
I was obviously cursed.
In October 2025, after about a year and a half of querying my most recent project (BLOOD FALLS LIKE NIGHT, a YA speculative thriller) and hearing mostly crickets, I decided to shelve it and focus on my next project. I sent one last round of queries and then quietly let it die. They say finding an agent is like finding a life partner, and I had officially resigned myself to literary spinsterhood.
My first yes…and no
Imagine my shock when, in February, one of the agents from my last round of queries reached out to say she was interested in signing me! But before she made an offer, she wanted to see a synopsis of the sequel to my book. I was happy to provide one—I just had to come up with it first.
This was scarier than it might sound. I hadn’t worked on the book in a year and a half, and the misery of the query trenches had pretty much sucked the joy out of it. I couldn’t even remember if it was a decent book.
But writing a synopsis for the sequel turned out to be a surprisingly joyful and freeing experience. Revisiting the first book with fresh eyes, I found it wasn’t just decent, it was good. I rediscovered why I had written it in the first place, and soon my head was brimming with ideas for the sequel.
Of course, I was still convinced that this agent wouldn’t work out for one reason or another. I was cursed, after all. But a day later, the agent replied saying she loved the direction of the sequel and wanted to schedule a phone call. The Call.
This is how I know I had truly given up on my agent dream. Because even at this stage, going into The Call and knowing an offer was coming, I still didn’t believe it was real.
I went through the steps. Talked to the agent on the phone. Contacted her clients to ask about their experience with her. Reached out to all the other agents who still had my manuscript or query to let them know I had an offer. It was really happening!
Then, plot twist: After talking to the agent and several of her clients, it became apparent that she just wasn’t a great fit for me. I liked her as a person, but I could tell her vision for my book and my career was not aligned with mine. I talked to friends and mentors who have agents, and they all said the same thing: The wrong agent is worse than no agent at all.
My agent thrill ride came to a crashing halt as I tried to make a tough decision. Should I sign with her, knowing our relationship probably wouldn’t work out in the long run? Or should I decline her offer, knowing I may never get another one?
Honestly, this was the hardest part of my entire querying journey. Even worse than the time I got an R&R (revise and resubmit request) from an agent who loved my last book…but then got fired from her agency for racist tweets. Yes, that happened.
And this was worse. The stars had finally aligned, only to spit in my face.
The luck o’ the Irish
Then, another twist: A second agent made an offer.
I cried when I opened her email. To have not one but two people love my book and believe in me enough to say yes? I was on a cloud. And thankfully, this agent (Alex Land at Mad Woman Literary) felt like a much better fit. Signing with her wasn’t a tough decision at all.
That was March 17—St. Patrick’s Day! It felt particularly auspicious because I’m part Irish and have spent a lot of time in the Emerald Isle, including studying abroad in Galway. I celebrated my shiny new agented status by going out to an Irish pub with my husband and mom, who happened to be visiting from North Carolina.
I’ve heard writers compare signing with an agent to getting married, and (having also gotten married in 2024) I think that’s accurate. Signing with an agent should be mostly fun and exciting, if a little nerve-wracking, and it should feel right. If your gut tells you otherwise, you’re better off waiting for the right person to come along.
What comes next
Since then, I’ve been hard at work revising my novel with Alex’s help. Which means I’m mostly doing what I’ve always done—locking myself in my home office and tapping away at a keyboard all night, getting up only to forage for food in my snack closet—but it feels so different with an agent. There’s a special motivation that comes from knowing that when I’m done, the book will go out to real editors at big publishing houses and maybe even have a chance to be sold.
I’m so grateful that the stars finally aligned for me, but I’ve been in this industry long enough to know this is hardly the end of my journey. I’ve heard that taking a book on sub to editors is just as painful as querying agents. I have several writer friends who have gotten agents and later parted ways with them for various reasons. I know well-established authors who are still struggling to break out and achieve a comfortable financial situation. All these challenges and more might await me down the road.
As cliché as it sounds, I’m kind of glad it took me so long to find an agent. All the ups and downs I went through, all the heartbreakingly close moments (looking at you, Racist Tweets) have given me a thick skin and, I hope, prepared me for whatever comes next.