From Query to Book Deal, and the (almost) six rollercoaster years in between.

2022 – Year End Wrap Up & More Le... December 2023 Guest Blog Post – thoug...

From Query to Book Deal, and the (almost) six rollercoaster years in between.

Introduction

In January 2018, I sent my first ever query. Five and a half years later, in October 2023, I signed a book deal! And what a long, winding trip it’s been. I’m going to share my journey in the hopes that it can inspire others in the same boat, so, buckle up. This is going to be a long one, and as my mind works, perhaps meandering here and there. Disclaimer that the actual timeline of everything is a bit fuzzy to me, but I’ll do my best. Final query stats at the end of the post.

Some super quick backstory first. I wrote my first “book” in third grade, a picture book about fish species. I then graduated to Disney fanfiction as a preteen. This evolved to short stories, some of which became novelettes, and some became novels.

I’m that person that reads EVERYTHING: the backs of ketchup bottles, every single piece of backstory in the RPGs I play, and every word of a wall of text email (although I much prefer paragraphs. Please.). To say I adore the written word is an understatement.

Part I: NIGHTSWORN

I wrote my first novel in high school, NIGHTSWORN. Through the next decade, through college, graduate school, and my first jobs, I would turn this into a 5-book series.

At the time, I was still writing for fun with publishing as an afterthought. Though I still scoured the internet for, well, how to get published, learning what a query letter and synopsis was, and how to write one. All the while endlessly revising NIGHTSWORN to something that I believed was publishable.

I didn’t get any beta readers for it (I didn’t know what they were at the time. And side note…don’t do this. Get beta readers. The right ones make all the difference), nor any critique on my query and synopsis. I didn’t even have comp titles. I literally thought ‘oh this story is great, it’ll get picked up quickly!’ (Ha ha, joke’s on me. Spoiler, it didn’t get picked up at all. More below.).

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In January 2018, at the encouragement of some friends and family who had read my work, I finally decided to bite the bullet and send out my first query. NIGHTSWORN was an adult contemporary fantasy with elements of romance. The form rejection came quickly, but undeterred, I sent out roughly ten more. I got back all form rejections, or silence. So, I kept tweaking my query and synopsis while sending out a gradual trickle of queries in the meantime and participating in Twitter pitch contests with no luck. Except for a single agent like in one #PitMad. I submitted to her with high hopes. I got form rejected a month later.

Fast forward to July 2019. I attended the Writers Digest Conference in NYC, and participated in Pitch Slam. It’s where you pay a little extra for an hour to pitch in person to as many agents and editors as you can. I researched the industry pros and prepared a pitch. I was so nervous, I was shaking when I approached my first agent. Fortunately, he was friendly, approachable and encouraging. And he asked for a partial!

I pitched 2 more agents and 1 editor, and got another partial request. My first ones! Another agent told me that this book would sell, even though it wasn’t right for him. I was elated and walked out of the conference feeling on top of the world. My little book might actually have a chance, I thought.

One requesting agent suggested I change my age group to YA because she believed it would have a better chance in that age group. So when I got home, I did just that. I submitted the original (adult) query package to the other agent who requested. He gave me a polite form rejection.

But, I hadn’t lost hope yet. I still had the agent who suggested the age group change, and she seemed so interested when we spoke. I spent 3 weeks rewriting the manuscript, and submitted to her.

I never heard back, even after a nudge. Disappointing, but I started querying it as YA. I re-did my query multiple times, again, and I found some comp titles.

I still got rejections, but this time, I was getting some more personalized ones. This kept me going. There was also PLENTY of silence from “no response means no” agents.

Over the next 3 years, I queried on and off, agents as well as some small presses, while participating in various Twitter pitch parties. At the same time, I constantly made revisions to the novel and submission package. I was getting a little more agent and small press interest with my updated pitches and queries. I got 1 partial request from a pitch like, which ended up as a rejection.

I didn’t write anything new, because I was going through some personal issues at the time. Oh, and the pandemic hit. I applied to Pitch Wars 3 times, and never even got a request for more material. I also entered RevPit in 2022, making a single editor’s longlist.

At the end, this manuscript ended up with just one full request with a cold query, which was also rejected.

In the fall of 2021, I made the decision to shelf it after 60+ queries. Which, looking back, wasn’t a ton, but my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I had revised this MS to death, I didn’t know what to do anymore, and I didn’t have anything new written.

It was a tough decision, and self-doubt kicked in. No matter how hard I tried, how many times I revised, it wasn’t good enough. Maybe I wasn’t good enough to be published. Maybe, just maybe, that agent who told me the book would sell at Pitch Slam, was just saying that to be nice.

I started working on my contemporary romantasy, OCEANSONG, somewhere in fall-winter 2021, and completed the first draft in mid-2022. This time, I got betas, found appropriate comp titles, and wrote a much stronger query letter and synopsis from everything I learned while querying NIGHTSWORN. I entered RevPit, where I made one editor’s longlist and another’s shortlist.

Armed and ready, I participated in more pitch contests. My pitches got the attention of multiple agents and/or editors each event and I met so many amazing authors along the way, several who I’m now honored to call my friends.

I sent out my first queries for OCEANSONG at the end of August 2022 to requesting agents from #DVPit and #SFFPit. My first batch of 5 queries came back with 4 full requests and 1 rejection. I thought it would be smooth sailing from here on out.

Nope.

They all came back as kind rejections, and two were personalized, but didn’t provide actionable feedback. One full MS was rejected in less than 24 hours. I was absolutely crushed.

While I queried on and off for the next few months, I got more beta feedback. I made more changes to the story. Got more rejections, more silence, and more partial and full requests that turned into rejections. Maybe I had become numb to it at that point, and desperation kicked in to find someone, ANYONE, who would like my work enough to give me a chance.

By mid-2023, I was up to around 100 queries, all ultimately rejected. Then, it happened. In July 2023, an agent who had my full, wrote back.

Expecting another rejection, I didn’t open the email for two days to mentally prepare myself. But then I finally did. She loved OCEANSONG and wanted a call! I was sitting in my car after getting to work early and let me tell you, I was walking on AIR the rest of the day. We set up a call for that Friday, three days from the email. I prepared myself on what questions to ask, including specific ones to ask as a BIPOC author, and counting down the days. I reached out to a couple of her clients, who all had wonderful things to say about her.

Finally, FINALLY, after 5 years, it was happening!

And then the agent unexpectedly left her agency the day before our call. She was lovely, and I truly wish her the best of luck in finding a new agency more deserving of her.

I was tossed back into the querying trenches. But now I felt renewed. If one agent loved it, surely, another would. Another 90 or so queries later, this time querying both agents and small presses, the same cycle repeated. I was still getting a few full and partial requests, so I just kept going, hoping to find my champion.

Somewhere in there, I got a lengthy full rejection from an agent who’d had my manuscript for 8 months. And another partial rejection from a virtual pitch session. But this time, both gave me actionable feedback that really resonated. Both suggested that I bring the POV closer to the protagonist, and tell the story from her eyes in a more subjective manner. They also recommended that I make my protagonist more active.

I had queried close to 200 agents/small presses at this point and wondered, even if I implemented those changes, would it even matter? I had exhausted the majority of my query list. But I did anyway, intending to query whoever was left on my list, and circle back to agents who rejected my full/partial to see if they would reconsider.

Part 3: Finally, an offer!

A week later, in mid-September 2023, I went to visit my aunt in Singapore, my childhood hometown, and sent a small handful of queries while there. Another week later, the day before my flight home, I got a message from an editor at a small press, who I had submitted to almost 2 months before. She requested a call. My heart nearly stopped.

We arranged to meet when I returned stateside, and though I was jet-lagged to the Hells and back from the 12-hour time difference, it was a wonderful call and she made an offer! I was in complete disbelief. After hearing over 200 ‘no’s at this point, hearing that ‘yes’ didn’t feel real. My voice shook the entire call. I was still struggling to process what was happening. I asked for the industry standard 2 weeks to close out my remaining queries.

I then set off to alert the remaining 20 agents and editors with my submission materials. I got another offer from a small press, and awaited word from the others during the consideration period. 8 agents and editors gave me kind step-asides. One agent with my full and one with my partial were unable to meet my deadline, but both were so sweet and congratulatory. I never heard back from the last 10, some who had my fulls and partials. I do feel a certain way about those, but that’s a conversation for another time.

At this point, I was at a crossroads: whether I wanted to sign with one of the two small presses, or turn them down and keep trying for an agent with my overhauled manuscript.

I ultimately signed with Hey Hey Books in early October 2023. The editor’s enthusiasm for OCEANSONG was infectious and we got along right from the first few minutes of the call. They were a new publisher, but I did some research and weighed my options. They just felt right to me, and I followed my heart.

OCEANSONG is scheduled for release in the summer of 2024.

Part 4: Final thoughts and insights

If you made it all the way to the end, THANK YOU! I’m so excited that you shared my journey with me.

Lessons learned…your time will come. Keep learning and keep writing. Keep drawing. Keep CREATING. The world needs your work. There is no single avenue to publishing.

Find your tribe! I spent my first 4 years querying going at it alone, and it was lonely.

And it truly only takes one yes. Don’t give up, don’t ever give up your dreams. Take a break if you need to, for your mental health. But you will find your champion. I believe in you.

The next photo is literally me when I see good things happening to my friends:

NIGHTSWORN:

Queries sent: 60

Rejections/CNRs: 60

Full/Partial Requests: 2

Offers: 0

OCEANSONG:

Queries sent: 190

Rejections: 132

CNRs: 55

Full/Partial Requests: 25

Offers: 3

If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to know more about my upcoming releases and querying / publishing journey, please consider subscribing to my mailing list! You’ll get cover reveals, new character art and new book announcements before they’re officially announced, and there will be giveaways and content (such as deleted and unreleased scenes) exclusive to my subscribers. I promise to never spam you.

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Published on December 19, 2023 17:51

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