THE ONE THAT WENT ON SUB TWICE
Cat/genre: YA Historical
The book that would become my debut was my first completed novel. I began writing it in earnest in 2013, finished a draft in November 2014, revised heavily and sent out ~5 queries in late 2015. I got one full request from those initial queries, but I suspected the book wasn’t “there” yet.
That requesting agent was kind enough to offer really constructive feedback in early 2016, so I implemented their feedback then continued to revise and send out a few more queries until I learned about Pitch Wars—a mentorship program which pairs unagented writers with more established mentors, and culminates in a (very attractive) agent showcase.
I connected with other Pitch Wars hopefuls via the Pitchwarriors Facebook group and we all swapped manuscripts and gave each other feedback, which was hugely helpful.
My manuscript didn’t get into Pitch Wars—and it also didn’t get into Author Mentor Match (another mentorship program) later that year, but a new agent at an agency I queried in early 2016 ended up offering me representation in early 2017.
They’d had the manuscript for about eight months by that point (so, a while)—and I actually nudged them with the revised manuscript before they finally sent their response—but it turned out they had already read my earlier draft, so they just asked for an explanation of the revisions before sealing the deal. (Proof that offers don’t only happen fast, friends!)
Anyway, though this agent was new to agenting, they were with an established agency, and their feedback on my manuscript was AMAZING. They were hugely helpful in getting it in shape for submission.
We sent out the first submissions in May 2017, then over the next year, the manuscript made it’s way to around 15 editors. During this time, the book got an R+R from one publisher and went to acquisitions with another, but ultimately didn’t sell.
Then my agent decided to leave agenting, and I had to return to the query trenches.
At the time, I was devastated to be “orphaned”. I heard from many that since my book had already been on sub, it would have a hard time getting agent interest. But, I believed in the book and I hoped another agent would as well. I’m also—actually—really glad for the way things worked out. I learned a lot about craft from that first agent and we are still friends and I’m grateful for the chance to have connected with them.
But back into the trenches I went. I sent out about 18 queries before I received an offer. I was actually surprised that many agents weren’t dismayed by my book’s sub history and the full requests came pretty quickly (much quicker than my first time querying).
I was lucky to receive an offer of representation in August 2018, fairly soon after parting ways with my first agent. My next agent was more established in the industry and the difference in the sub experience was . . . noticeable.
With my first agent, editors were really slow to respond and, in some cases, even ghosted us. With my second agent—though there was still a lot of waiting—the responses came much faster and there were even editors who ghosted my first agent, but were now responding to my second—so yeah, that was . . . interesting.
Still, my sale wasn’t the super fast fairytale auction scenario many of us dream of.
It took a year on sub, 3 rounds, and about 30 editors total before I found out that a great publisher was interested.
I was thrilled! I was already familiar with this editor’s list and a big fan of the authors who had debuted with them, so though it took a while (2 agents over 2 years), I’m ultimately so pleased with where my book landed.
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The stories on this blog are posted anonymously so that authors can speak candidly about their experience. If you have a sub story you’d like to share, drop me an email at: katedylanbooks@gmail.com
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