Surviving the Query Trenches: How I Got My Literary Agent

86 Rejections, 12 Full Requests, 3 R&Rs, 1 Offer: My 3-Year Journey to Getting a Literary Agent

This story is 4 months overdue, which is funny because as I was suffering through the finding-a-literary agent hustle, I always looked forward to the “How I got my Agent” post I would one day write. I clung to that dream to keep me pushing forward, rejection after rejection after reject…ok, you get the point.

And then, I got the agent. And another round of revisions. So I buried myself into revising, and let that milestone fade into the background.

But here I am, a bit weary and worn, a bit more jaded and cynical, but I am declaring my slightly-aged milestone and documenting it for the world!!

I HAVE A LITERARY AGENT!

No, that does not mean my book is on shelves for you to buy. But I promise, this is still exciting! An agent represents me for my writing career—for my future books and movie deals and international rights. But for now, I still have not made any money off this book. Please refer to my diagram:

Once I finish this revision (don’t ask me which draft this is), my agent and I will send the manuscript to publishers, and then, maybe then, will I see a dollar bill.

Until then, let’s procrastinate from revising with some story-telling:

Rejections

I started sending this manuscript out to literary agents in Fall 2021, and I’m not going to sugarcoat it…I got a lot of rejections.

Pitching at an online conference

It was after 34 rejections that I decided I needed to try something new, so I signed up for an online conference where you can pitch to agents. I practiced with IG semi-strangers on Zoom the week before, and that Saturday, I woke up at 7am to pitch my little heart out. Ten 15-minute sessions, sprinkled annoyingly from 8am to 1pm.

In between pitch sessions, I blasted “I am Woman” on loud and struck power pose lunges around my office.

Here is where we introduce a key character— Agent Alli. Now, Alli was one of the ten agents I had booked for the Saturday pitch sessions, but she had to last-minute reschedule her pitches to Monday. (Take note of this).

I pitch Alli on Monday. Alli, unlike the other agents, plays Bad Cop. She seems uninterested, she’s not giving much back. She asks if I’m working on anything else, and I pitch my 2nd book idea: Moonshot. (Mind you, I’ve learned by now how important THE PITCH is, so for this new idea, I crafted the pitch before I wrote the book). So it was a good pitch.

Lo and behold, Alli loves this other idea. She’s like, “wow I want to read that!”

I’m like, “uh Agent Alli, that book isn’t written yet, don’t get distracted, back over here, yoo-hoo, let’s talk about the book I did write.”

And Agent Alli, in true Bad Cop fashion, is like, “hm, fine, sure, I’ll give it a look.”

~~

Jump ahead a day. I’ve polished my pages and my pitch letter and I’m ready to send. In total, 9 out of 10 agents liked my pitch enough to request pages. (That sounds like a toothpaste ad, doesn't it? Like…what happened to the 10th dentist?)

I send out the pitch to the agents on my list from the Saturday pitches, and….I FORGET ALLI! She wasn’t on the Saturday sticky-note. Because she rescheduled to Monday. Remember that key piece of information??

Later that day, I’m like, “oh sherpas, I forgot Agent Alli!” And then dear reader, I’ll be honest. I pause. I think to myself, “should I even bother sending to her? She wasn’t that excited.”

(If you can’t tell yet, Agent Alli is who I sign with.)

Well, I send to Agent Alli.

SEVENTEEN MINUTES LATER, Agent Alli responds.

Wow, I’m completely riveted by these first pages of MAY IT PLEASE THE SEA. I usually don’t get back to people right away, but I have jury duty tomorrow, and I’m wondering if you can send me the full manuscript. As you know, I also love the pitch for MOONSHOT, but I’m totally enraptured by these pages and your pitch - so please do send when you have a chance. I can’t promise I will finish reading before the end of the year, but I hope to get back to you early in January 22.

Needless to say, I turn on “I am Woman” and do more lunging power poses, across the whole house this time. Then, I send Alli a super chill business-profesh email with only 2 exclamation points and attach my full manuscript.

Revise & Resubmit

Yeah….we wish this story was over, don’t we?

Agent Alli starts following Caroline (that’s me in 3rd person, but I need to disassociate) on Instagram. Caroline freaks out and starts stalking Agent Alli in a perfectly-legal but a little bit creepy way, where she tries to figure out how far Agent Alli is into her book by the stories she’s posting about birds on a lake. (That must mean chapter 12…right?!)

December fades into January. Caroline is no fool. She prepares for the worst. Because she is a Stage-5 Clinger, she was checking when Alli watched her Stories. Alli has stopped watching her stories.

Caroline knows rejection is coming.

On February 7th, 2022, an email arrives. *Ding*

Caroline opens it, preparing for tears.

I hope this finds you well! I had a chance to dip into MAY IT PLEASE THE SEA, and I absolutely adore your writing and the set-up here. About half-way through the momentum wasn’t there (for me personally). But if you’d like to revise and resubmit, I’d definitely be open to taking another look. And I will definitely read any submission you want to send my way in the meantime. As you know, I feel really strongly about that pitch for MOONSHOT.

But it’s not a rejection. It’s a….Revise and Resubmit? Caroline doesn’t cry. Because she’s too busy nodding and agreeing with the numerous paragraphs of feedback detailing what could be better.

She aggressively googles R&Rs, going into Page 20 of Google. (Although, now Google does endless scroll, but you get the point).

She hems and haws and wants to go work on Moonshot, but she decides that she MUST see this through and she WILL do this rewrite, even though there’s no guarantee of an agent offer at the end. But she’s tired and jaded.

Ok, switch back to 1st person POV….

I REWROTE THE ENTIRE DANG BOOK.

From March to November. 9 months. Basically, a book baby.

566 hours of writing. Yes, I tracked it in a spreadsheet.

On November 30th, I send Agent Alli the revised manuscript. Again, only two exclamations in the email. Go me.

*Ding* Alli responds immediately.

So excited to see this in my inbox!! It’s impressive to hear about all you accomplished, and I can’t wait to dive in. I hope to get back to you in less than a month, I will do my best!

More Rejections

Since I’m waiting, I send out my amazingly-revised manuscript to a few of the agents who had rejected me in the past who will regret missing out on this super fantastic revised story, andd…….

They reject me again. Lol. Cry. Lol.

The Offer

Agent Alli is called Agent Alli for a reason. Because I talked about her and her feedback for NINE MONTHS as I revised. To myself, to anyone who would listen.

My family knew Agent Alli. She was Agent Alli. But was she MY Agent Alli?

On December 14th, I receive an email *ding* Pukes in mouth.

Hi Caroline, I just wanted to tell you that I’m LOVING this revision. You’ve done an amazing job. I just had to interrupt my read to finish another task for a client, but I do hope to get back to you before the end of next week. And so I wanted you to know that I’m very much hopeful here. More soon!

It’s not a rejection. She’s still reading. I google the meaning of “I’m very hopeful here” and call 5 people to analyze the wording. Then I send a super chill response. Again, limited to 2 exclamation points.

On December 24th, Alli sends another email *ding*. It’s not an offer, but it’s not a rejection. It’s…

Hi Caroline, happy holidays, and I just wanted to write that I’m still considering this. I finished and have several thoughts and ideas, but I continue to be impressed with your writing, and this world has me hooked. It’s just that there are still a few blocks I’m running into with the plot, so I want to speak with you before I would be able to offer representation. I know you have worked so hard on this revision, so I would not ask for another R&R but rather to see if our editorial thoughts are lining up to move forward more officially. Shall we chat in the new year on Zoom? January 3rd around noon EST?

MORE REVISIONS!

This time, I do cry. I go into the garden, which is just weeds because I haven’t taken care of it, and I pretend to fix my always-broken sprinklers but really I’m just crying, and David comes out and takes away the pipe cutter that I’m crying onto and making it rust, and asks, “why are you sad?”

And I say, “because I have to rewrite my book again.”

“But you knew you would have to revise it again, and you will, with a publisher.”

And I say, and I genuinely meant this, “Yes, but I wanted it to be perfect and I wanted Alli to love it and I wanted her to want to change nothing and send it to publishers immediately.”

And David hugs me and says, “you knew that wasn’t going to happen.”

And I sniffle and say, “Yes, I know.”

🌊

Stats

Queries: 98

Rejections: 86 (88% negative response)

Full manuscript requests: 12 (12% positive response)

R&Rs*: 3

Offers: 1 (1% success rate)

Timeframe: 3 years, 2 months

**I accepted Alli’s offer before the other 2 R&R agents had time to read. They couldn’t commit to the 2-week notice I gave them, and I was ok with not waiting for them because..AGENT ALLI!

Timeline

11/01/2019 - Wrote the 1st draft in November National Novel Writing Month

Draft 1: 30 days (didn’t log hours)

04/16/2020- Left my job at LinkedIn, started revising

draft 2: 351 hours

Draft 3/4: 538 hours

Draft 5/6: 287 hours

07/08/2021 - Sent first queries to agents. Rejections.

12/14/2021- After hitting 34 rejections, decided to pitch my book at an online conference

02/07/2022- Agent Alli asks for Revise & Resubmit (R&R)

~revise for 9 months~

Draft 7: 566 hours

01/03/2023- Offer of representation

01/26/2023- Signed the contract!

---

In Conclusion…

Well, that got a little melancholy there. But that’s why I’ve been postponing this story. Because, yes, it is a “success story”, but it’s also the summary of a lot of writing and rewriting and rejection. 1,742 logged hours, to be exact.

But let’s end with some happy thoughts…

Agent Alli is at Stimola Literary, which is the agency that represented Hunger Games. And guess what, my books are Dyssstoppiaaaan. The genre is back, baby!

Basically, Suzanne Collins and I are BFF. This is almost as exciting as when I asked Amy Tan to pass the green beans. But that’s a story for another day. ;)

Thanks for reading,

Caroline

P.S. the best way to help me right now is to share this newsletter with your friends and force them to subscribe! Publishers will look at my “Author Platform” when considering a deal ($).