Announcement: I HAVE AN AGENT!

Plus: Some FAQs about how I got to this point, and the query letter that started it all.

This is the announcement every querying author dreams about making. On October 3 (Mean Girls Day, for those who celebrate), I signed with a literary agent. I am now represented by Nick Mullendore of Vertical Ink Agency. 

*Cue screaming*

Yes, I have used this reaction gif for every positive development in my life. 

Some of you reading this post might be on the aspiring author journey or are published authors, so you know exactly what might be next in this process. But I’ve also gotten some questions about what this means, how I got to this point, and what happens now.

With this in mind, I’m going to take a page from Beth Morris’ book (pun absolutely intended), and do a bit of a querying/agent FAQ post about how I went from writing a book to signing with an agent, and what will hopefully happen in the months and years ahead. I’m going to use some terms that might not be familiar to everyone, and I’ll try to define them as I go, but please read this post by Beth for her excellent layperson’s glossary of writing/querying/publishing terms. 

How did you start writing a book again? 

I was one of those bookish kids who wanted to be a writer from the minute they could hold a pencil. I’ve written a lot, both professionally and personally. But life, work, and imposter syndrome got in the way of me writing anything book-length until October 2019. Here’s a little more detail about my timeline up to January 2024.

How long did it take you to write the book? Did anyone read it while you were drafting? 

Between writing the first word and finally sending it out to agents in earnest, four years and nine months. I went through eight drafts and I had eight beta readers read various versions of it. All of my wonderful beta readers (people who read and critiqued my draft on a timeline) will be thanked in the acknowledgements, whenever/however this book gets published! 

Between the 4th and 5th draft, I worked with a wonderful developmental editor, Leslie Lehr, who helped me reimagine the story in new ways, making it more interesting and more likely to hook readers.

Did you read any books on writing, listen to any podcasts, join any groups, or take any classes? 

Short answer: yes! 

Long answer: Hell yes! Here’s a list of every book, class, and group that’s helped get me to this point. 

Books/Podcasts: Before and After the Book Deal, by Courtney Maum (read her Substack of the same name as well: Before and After the Book Deal); Bird by Bird, by Anne LaMott; On Writing, by Stephen King (though feel free to ignore the advice about writing every single day, that’s just not realistic for some people); Wired for Story, by Lisa Cron; Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, by Jessica Brody; and The Anatomy of Story, by John Truby. 

The Shit About Writing Team’s podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, is also the greatest resource for querying writers. It introduced me to an amazing community of writers online, and continues to help me learn things I didn’t even know I didn’t know. 

Classes: This book started with me calling my own bluff and seeing if I could finish something I started during a creative writing exercise I did in a class called “How to Start a Novel” through UC San Diego Extension. 

The class that really helped me, though, was the Shit No One Tells You About Writing’s Deep Dive seminar series. I met three of my beta readers through this course! 

I also recently did an online workshop with Lisa Cron (the Wired for Story author) through WFWA, and plan to continue doing any continuing writing craft education I can as long as I’m writing fiction. 

Groups: I’m a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA). I’m also a member of a San Diego Fiction Authors group (who I was introduced to through a local friend I made in the Deep Dive seminar) that meets monthly. Being around other people at various steps of the writing and publishing process has been a game-changer for me, and I cannot thank everyone in these groups enough for all their advice and encouragement. 

Finally, if you’re looking to meet with other writers in your area, pitch agents in-person, and hear great advice from authors, editors, and agents, see if Chuck Sambuchino is organizing a Writing Day Workshop in your city. 

How did you know you were ready to start querying?

First things first: I didn’t do everything exactly by the book when it came to querying my first novel (see: “Everything I've Done Backwards as a Debut Author, According to Conventional Writing Wisdom”). I went to writers conferences before I had a draft I was fully satisfied with, mostly to network and pitch agents in-person. I attended/pitched agents at the WFWA 10th Anniversary Conference in Chicago in September 2023, the 2024 San Diego Writing Workshop in April of this year, and the 2024 Writing Conference of Los Angeles in May. 

But as far as when I felt ready to start querying…well, it’s different for everyone I think. First, I didn’t want to take it out there until I had seriously reworked my manuscript according to a revise and resubmit I got from an agent in October 2023. Then, I thought “hm, this is too long now, I need to tighten this up” after learning that the standard length of an upmarket fiction manuscript is closer to 80,000 words. Then I re-outlined and reworked accordingly. Then, I wanted more feedback after that, and then kept coming up with new ideas and, subsequently, places to cut. 

It took me eight drafts, and I kind of just had to get to a place where I felt like I enjoyed the story as it was, start to finish, and everything made sense. It’s subjective. 

When did you start querying, and how did you find agents to query? 

Barring one partial manuscript I sent to an agent after the WFWA conference in September 2023 (which got me a revise + resubmit response in October 2023), I started querying in earnest on July 2, 2024. 

In addition to sending formal queries (or, an email or online form with a query letter and sample pages from my manuscript) to the agents I met at conferences who had requested pages, I searched for agents to query online, using a combination of Manuscript Wish List (free), QueryTracker (free), and Publishers Marketplace (paid subscription). I also participated in the WFWA Pitch Program, which helped me hone the 75-word pitch for my book and subsequently get in front of agents who were looking for what I was writing. 

I used a very organized(ish) spreadsheet and QueryTracker’s online database to help me keep track of who I had queried and when. 

Spoiler: I found the information for Nick, the agent I signed with, by using the Publishers Marketplace Agent Matcher search. It’s a really cool way to see which agents might be interested in your work based on the description of your manuscript. 

Did you query in batches? 

Nope. This method of querying in batches, or sending out 10 or so queries at a time and then waiting for feedback before you send the next batch, works for some people, but that’s not how I did it. I started querying in the summer, which I had heard was a notoriously slow time in publishing, so I figured it would be better to do things at a steady drip. I spent the better part of 10 weeks just sending an average of a query a day, whatever I had time for.

How many queries did you send? How many requests did you get? 

OK, here are my stats! 

Queries sent: 55

Positive replies (full or partial manuscript requests, whether or not they ultimately ended up passing on it): 14

Negative replies (rejections or no response): 41

Of the full or partial requests, seven of these were from agents that I had met and pitched in-person at conferences. One was from the WFWA pitch program. The final six came from cold queries, including Nick. 

I also had a very kind friend forward my manuscript along to his indie publisher, after we spent the better part of another friend’s baby shower talking about our writing. This is an important plot point - more on that below. 

Wait, you got out of the slush pile? 

Yes, the dreaded slush pile, AKA the agent’s email folder full of hundreds, if not thousands, of unsolicited queries! Miracles happen. But it also helps if you have a lot of people who are willing to read and critique your manuscript, especially the opening pages, and your cover letter. 

Also, it’s worth noting that Nick responded to my query and asked for the full manuscript the day after I sent it, which may have also been luck and timing. 

How did he make the offer of representation? 

Here’s the thing about querying a manuscript: everything is very slow until it’s not, and then everything happens at once. A month after my friend forwarded my manuscript to his indie publisher, they made an offer on it out of the blue, in early September. I was shocked and overjoyed–and used this fun new development as an excuse to follow up with agents. 

I heard from Nick and several others fairly quickly. At one point, I had eight agents with my full manuscript. Nick, however, was the one who definitively said “I want to work with you.” We had The Call, the one all querying authors dream of, where he talked about what his vision for the book was and how we could work together, on the luckiest Friday the 13th of my life. After I got off the phone, I screeched and flapped my arms. Then I sent some frantic texts and emails asking for advice from my writers group. 

I spent two weeks nudging every other agent who had my full manuscript so I could get closure, and getting feedback from an Authors Guild attorney and publishing consultant extraordinaire Anne Dubuisson to ensure that the contract with Vertical Ink was in a place everyone was happy with. After that, I signed the agency contract and became an agented author. My husband and I popped a bottle of bubbly I had purchased from Vons on an errands run earlier, each took a sip, and then immediately stopped up the bottle and got back to work because we both had Zoom meetings. 

Photo credit: My eternally patient husband. 

Can we see the query letter that got your agent interested? 

Yes! This is the most important part of the query. It’s the first thing agents will see, and they will stop reading if they’re not interested. I spent a lot of time reworking my query letter, and personalized it to every agent. Below is the letter I sent to Nick, shared with his permission and mine. 

Dear Nick, 

I understand you’re selective about the fiction you take on, and that you’re only seeking projects that maintain the fine balance between “literary” and “literate,” with some commercial sensibility. Hopefully I’m the right author with the right story to land in your inbox today. My name is Sarah Flocken, and I’m a nationally competitive punner, comedian, and public relations professional. I’m seeking representation for BE WELL, my debut 83,500-word adult upmarket fiction novel set during the Great Recession. BE WELL is a relatable, humorous take on the coming-of-age story that explores how easy it is to believe in something unquestioningly–and lie to ourselves and others–when the future feels uncertain. BE WELL features the wellness and self-improvement culture satire of Self Care by Leigh Stein and The Glow by Jessie Gaynor, with a dash of “L.A. student loan noir” a’la the 2022 film Emily the Criminal. 

It’s the summer of 2009. Despite sending nearly three hundred applications, recent college graduate Ann Ward can’t find a job with a salary high enough to pay off her loans and stay in Los Angeles–let alone move to an expensive new dream apartment with her best friend Lindsay, or at least give Lindsay the money she owes her. Ann is desperate to avoid going back to her desert hometown of Blanco Valley, where she’d live in the shadow of her fame-hungry televangelist father with her burnout brother and divorced, world-weary mother, who is at risk of losing her house. After a failed job interview at the city’s Natural History Museum, Ann meets Tori, the magnetic founder of Sagebrush, an upscale but shambolically run holistic wellness center. Ann is quickly drawn into the privileged, crunchy world of Sagebrush, which offers her an aspirational sense of community, plus a sense of confidence that boosts both her job search and a burgeoning flirtation with a museum security guard, so she invents a new persona to fit in. When her father reveals that a loan from him requires a live broadcast baptism and other terms Ann can’t abide by, she throws her faith into the Sagebrush lifestyle and crystal healing sessions, doing increasingly questionable (and criminal) things to maintain her Sagebrush membership. But when her funds run out, a job interview isn’t what she thought, and her lies blow up, Ann must choose between facing reality or doing whatever she thinks it takes to achieve the future she wants.

During my graduate studies in literature at the University of Edinburgh, I performed in a sketch comedy show at the Festival Fringe while writing my master’s thesis about women in comedy. I’m the owner of a PR business in San Diego, a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and the host of Pundemonium! San Diego’s Only Pun Competition. In May 2024, I won MVP at the national O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships in Austin, TX. I regularly perform with two improv groups in addition to doing plenty of yoga. My writing journey is chronicled in my Substack newsletter, What the Flock?

Thank you for your time and consideration. Below is a more detailed synopsis of BE WELL. May I send the full manuscript? 

Sincerely,

Sarah Flocken

So…how are you feeling? 

Thank you for asking! Everything. All the feelings, all at once. Joy, elation, gratitude, anxiety, shock, disbelief, pride. Spin the emotions wheel and you will probably find something I’ve felt over the past two-ish weeks. 

I can’t believe this has finally happened. I feel like I wasn’t “in the trenches” long enough (except wait, I’ve been working on getting things query ready for over a year and writing this book for nearly five). I’m worried about screwing this up somehow. I’m so grateful to everyone who has helped me get this far. I’m so proud of the hard work I’ve done. I’m excited to roll up my sleeves and get to work on revisions and come up with ideas for promoting this book before going out on submission (meaning, Nick sends my book to publishers to see who wants to buy it). 

Above all, thank you, Nick. Thank you for your enthusiasm and communication so far, and for believing in this book and me as a writer. I can’t wait to see where this goes.