Author Updates, Autumn 2023

Book discounts (today!), the story of landing my literary agent, and more.

Sep 05, 2023

Shortly after getting an offer of representation from Haley Casey at CMA.

It took two years of actively querying, two different manuscripts and over 100 rejections, but I’m ecstatic to say I’ve finally signed with my dream literary agent Haley Casey at Creative Media Agency.

My goals started small.

When I finished writing my debut novel Elvish in 2018, I knew I wanted to publish independently. From everything I’d heard, querying (the process of submitting your manuscript to literary agents) was a grueling task with low odds of success, and at the time, I didn’t see the need to put myself through it. I hired my own editor and cover designer, learned InDesign so I could format the interior, uploaded the book to Amazon, and off we went. I wanted to be an author. I wanted it so badly, I couldn’t stand to wait even a moment more, and with self-publishing, I didn’t have to.

I published the rest of the series independently as well, and I’ve never regretted that choice. Sales were good. Reviews were good. For the most part, I was proud of my work. Yet once my trilogy was complete, I realized my dreams had grown. I wanted what every author wants: to see their book in bookstores, to go on tour, hit the NYT bestseller list. These things are not available to indie authors; for that, you need to publish traditionally, and to publish traditionally, you need an agent.

It is, how shall I put this? Really fucking hard to get an agent.

I wrote To Poison a King in 2020. I poured my heart into that book, spent months agonizing over every line, hammered it into something meaningful and unique. I naively believed that because I loved it, agents would love it too, yet after querying the manuscript to over 100 agents over the course of six months—half a year of highs and lows, requests for fulls that ultimately ended in rejection, the frankly grievous “no reply means no” industry norm—no one wanted it.

Devastating. I knew the chances of success were low. Some agents receive upwards of 1,500 queries a month yet only take on maybe five new authors a year. Those are tough odds, but still. This was my best work. If agents didn’t want this, what hope did I have?

After my first failure, I made changes.

I’ve only ever wanted to do one thing, and it’s to write books. So I tried again.

Querying is as soul sucking as everyone says, but when you throw yourself into it, you start to get a sense of the market. After reading hundreds of manuscript wishlists and agent bios, I learned not only what agents were looking for, but how to better position myself in front of them. I’d just queried something very literary, and that didn’t work, so next, I wrote something commercial.

I used this traditional 24-chapter book outline by Derek Murphy. (To my fellow author hopefuls, if you’ve never used a standard book outline for your manuscript, I’d suggest giving it a shot, since many agents (and editors) expect stories to follow a particular format based on your genre.) I gave up Word and started using Scrivener. I purchased a membership on Query Tracker and used it to focus on querying agents who have a history of responding to authors (as opposed to those who simply don’t reply at all). I switched from adult fantasy to YA, because I write character driven novels, and I figured YA agents would be more likely to align with—and therefore take interest in—my stories. I outlined the entire novel before I wrote a single line, made sure I was hitting all my beats at the right time, skimmed the thing tirelessly for slow points and plot holes, asked my critique partners to tear it to shreds.

I wrote the first chapter first and the last chapter second. Then I wrote everything in between.

And that, apparently, was enough. The story caught the attention of several agents, and to make a very long story slightly shorter, I signed with Haley Casey at Creative Media Agency this past July. She is wonderful. It’s a big deal. I am very proud.

Keep going.

I used to look at big name authors and wonder how they managed it. I’m now speaking directly to anyone who’s striving toward a dream: it’s okay if it takes time. It often does. It did for me.

I’ve been writing books my whole life, though I started taking it seriously as a career in 2016, published my first book in 2018, my second in 2019, my third in 2021, queried my first manuscript in 2022, failed and published that book independently in 2023, queried my second book shortly after, and landed an agent this past July. I’ve continued to grow as an author, to hone this craft, to tell stories in a way that readers love and agents notice and the market doesn’t cancel and maybe, hopefully, one day soon, a publishing house will pick up. That’s what I want. I don’t really care how long it takes. I will keep going until I get there.

To Poison a King is on sale on Kindle for $0.99!

This is the first price drop of the book since its publication, and the deal runs today and tomorrow only, so if you’d like to dive into the world of Selene and Elias, you can grab your copy here!

Each of these stories captured me in a different way and I highly recommend them all. The Darkness Outside Us was an unexpected m/m SFF that is branded as a YA love story and is really not. The Other Merlin is a fun Arthurian retelling with deeper themes. Bring Me Your Midnight is the latest from Rachel Griffin and is a quintessential YA fantasy. The links take you to my full reviews.

The River of Reversal (Free Short Story)

The River of Reversal is a short story that takes place six years before the start of my full length novel To Poison a King and introduces Selene as she was in early childhood, before she makes the mistake that changes her life. It's about choices and fate and a father's love for his daughter. The story (specifically, the legend of the River) plays a major role in the plot of the full length book, so if you’re interested in the series, it’s a great way to dip your toes into some of the lore.

The River of Reversal is free. I give book away as a thank you for those who follow me. You can download The River of Reversal onto your preferred e-reader through BookFunnel, or you can quickly access a web version on my site.

June Freebies (Free SFF Books)

Every month, I like to partner with other authors who are offering readers free and discounted books. It’s a great way to discover new favorites, so click the links below to check out the full giveaways.

Find Me on Social Media

I’m active on Instagram. I’m also technically also on Twitter (X?) but only tweet rarely. You can also find me on Goodreads and BookBub.

My Affordability Policy

I’ve written a note regarding my book affordability policy. Please read this post if you'd like to learn more.

Leaving Your Review for To Poison a King

To everyone who has taken the time to leave a review for To Poison a King, thank you, thank you, thank you. The more reviews a book has, the more attention it tends to attract, and your support has directly impact my success as an author.

If you'd like to support me, leaving a review is the easiest way to do that!

All right. Time to wrap this up. Thank you for sticking around, reading what I have to say and supporting me on this journey. And as always, happy reading.

- s.g.

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