Hello, friends! I hope spring has been treating you well so far! 🌸

I’m currently up in British Columbia exploring the Vancouver area. In all the years I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve gone “wow, I’m so close to Canada, I really should visit” and then done absolutely nothing about it. So in my partner’s and my planned year of fitting as much travel into our schedules as possible, I quickly leaped at the chance to visit our neighbors up north. (If anyone has BC bookstore + restaurant recs, pls HIT ME UP!)

A couple months ago, I shared a poll on Instagram asking what you’d like to hear about from me in this newsletter. You split the results evenly between my current WIP and my journey to getting a literary agent and book deal; and since I wrote last month about my woes with my current project (still ongoing btw 🥲), today I’ll share my first book’s journey from being vibes on a blank word doc to finding its publishing home.

The Wives of Herrick Hall

Really quickly (partly to give you context and partly to show my publisher I can do ~book marketing~), let me pitch you my book pls. THE WIVES OF HERRICK HALL is an adult gothic horror, full of ghosts, female rage, and sapphic yearning. I’ll be starting work on it with an editor soon, so it can be in your hands and mine next year in 2026.

I started drafting Herrick Hall back in November of 2022 (writing a book was a New Year’s resolution I made that year and since I like suffering a challenge, I decided to do NaNoWriMo and write the entire thing in a month). At the time, I had no greater ambition for it—or even knew about things like revisions, copy edits, and line edits—except to have a creative outlet to avoid burn out at my day job in the entertainment industry.

Armed with nothing but vague vibes and Save the Cat plot points floating around in my head, I dove in, and twenty-five days later, I had a shitty but complete first draft. I dove into revisions in the new year and spent most of 2023 chipping away at it—with no real idea how to edit, except to open up my laptop every day and aim for it to be slightly less shitty.

I ended up leaving my job in August of that year and decided hey, since I have nothing better to do, why not query this thing?

And so I entered—

The Query Trenches

For those who aren’t familiar with publishing, querying is the process of seeking representation from a literary agent. If you want to be traditionally published, it’s an inescapable step, since editors at traditional publishing houses usually only accept book submissions from agents (and not authors directly).

To send a query, you typically send a query letter along with a sample of your completed manuscript and any other materials the agent might want. And then you wait and wait and wait.

Then the rejections roll in. So you send some more queries and wait for more rejections.

(If anyone reading this is currently in the querying trenches, it isn’t for the faint of heart, so congratulations—having the bravery to share your art is hard and sometimes gutting work, but you should be proud of your courage. You should also be kind to yourself, give yourself all the little treats you deserve, space to feel all the feelings, and listen to your body and mental health as you navigate how to healthily accept rejection. I wish I had done some things differently, especially when it came to my mental health. You are here to play the long game, so protect yourself and find community with other authors who are truly the only people who can fully understand what you are going through.)

I sent my first batch of queries in September and got my first full request a couple hours later, with the agent even messaging me that they were excited to read it. Yay, this was going to be easy, right?

Wrong. That request turned into a CNR (“closed, no response”—essentially being ghosted). Though I got more full requests in the following months, I quickly realized I had little idea what I was doing and no community to ask questions/celebrate/commiserate with.

And so I turned online and discovered the magical world of social media pitch events.

DVPit

I participated in DVPit—a pitch event for marginalized authors—in October of 2023, their first time hosting it on Discord (though it is now on indefinite hiatus). I prepared a few pitches and posted them on pitch day, then checked my notifications every few seconds for the rest of the day.

I ended the day with 17 likes! For reference, pitch events have different rules about who can and can’t like pitches. Some are hype events, where you’re actively encouraged to like and spread the love with your fellow writers. But some, like DVPit, only allow agents and editors to like pitches, with likes being an invitation to send your materials their way.

Long story short, my now agent—Vicky Weber at Creative Media Agency—was one of these seventeen likes. Yay! Easy peasy, right?

Kind of, if you want a long story told very short. I’d been in the query trenches just about a month when I received Vicky’s pitch like. But I’d be in the query trenches for eight months more before I’d actually sign with her.

But that was actually a blessing in disguise.

Dark Night of the Soul

After DVPit, I sent my queries out, got more rejections, sent more queries out, lather, rinse, and repeat. Remember how I said you should build community while querying—not just to learn more about how to query, but to have friends you can find community with in the good times and bad? Well, I needed that advice back then.

At the end of 2023, my mental health plummeted, in large part due to the rejections piling up in my inbox as agents cleaned out their inboxes before the end of the year. I felt a lot of shame at the time that I’d let it get that bad, but now I realize while it was soul-crushing at the time, it taught me a lot about how I can better handle rejection, which has helped me so much now that I’m on submission.

At the end of December, my partner and I went to Disney World, so I decided to forget about querying and just enjoy my vacation. I vowed to only check my email at the beginning and end of each day. My mental health improved SO MUCH, and I decided I’d approach querying with a healthier mindset in the new year.

Anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE Disney/theme park fan. To the point where I am up at the crack of dawn getting ready so I can be there when the gates open (the only thing I’ll happily wake up that early for). On day two of the trip, I woke up bleary-eyed and did one of my planned email checks. Just one peek, I promised, and then I won’t check again until tonight.

And boy, the email that was waiting for me.

This is a R&R, a revise and resubmit. Essentially, “I like the concept but want you to make some changes before I decide to make an offer or not.” After months of rejection, I didn’t know how to process this. In fact, I merely shut my email, hid my phone under my pillow, and got ready for Disney without a word. Only when I was in line for the shuttle to the parks did I tell my partner.

Vicky’s email lit a fire under my ass. As I mentioned before, I didn’t really know how to revise, but Vicky’s editing guide helped me develop my craft on the macro and individual line level.

As soon as I got back from Disney, I got to work. I sent out more queries too—after reading stats about how many R&R’s don’t lead to offers, I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket or put all my hopes into a single submission.

One Indie Publisher Can’t Hurt, Right?

In January of 2024, a post popped up on my Instagram feed about Quill & Crow opening up for submissions. Quill & Crow is a independent publisher, and they don’t require an agent to submit work to them. Moreover, they are a publishing house focused on all things gothic and horror. I wasn’t actively submitting to indie presses, but the fit seemed so right, so I thought, hey why not? Just this one.

They rejected me two weeks later.

If you’re like “wait, aren’t you publishing this book with Quill & Crow?!”—yes, I am! I shelved the submission as rejected, though I felt a bit sad because even though the rejection was really kind (and believe me, not all are!), if my gothic horror wasn’t the right fit for them, could it be the right fit for anyone?

But then four days later (!!!), the founder of Quill & Crow emailed me directly, saying a mistake was made and they would actually love to read the full manuscript for Herrick Hall. Hooray!

But remember, this was all going down at the same time I was revising my manuscript for Vicky. I morphed into a jumbled ball of nerves. Should I send the manuscript as is, or wait? Do I beg them to give me time so the manuscript can be the best it can, or would the request make me look unprofessional? However, the editing process really showed me all the weaknesses in my writing, so I asked Quill & Crow if they didn’t mind waiting for me to finish my latest round of revisions. And they said yes! Woohoo!

I promised myself I would finish revisions in March, mostly as a way to hold myself accountable. I treated it like my full time job, holing myself away in various coffee shops and libraries. And on March 18th, I did it. I sent the revised manuscript off to Vicky (and a few other agents who had requested fulls but also agreed to wait) and to Quill & Crow.

And then I forced myself to think of literally anything else but waiting. I wouldn’t call this a healthy coping technique, but my approach to querying at that time was to open my inbox every day and go “who will reject me today?” (actually this is also my submission strategy too). I taught myself not to expect good news (but hey I’ll take it gladly when it comes!), but never let the bad news control me and my self-perceived worth as a writer.

And then the fateful day arrived—

April 9th, 2024

A year ago today exactly! (There was a reason I decided to write this post this month!)

I woke up, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and thought “let’s see who’s going to reject me today” as I opened my inbox. My heart sputtered wildly as I spied an email from Quill & Crow.

Here we go. The rejection.

It was early in the morning, and I was still half asleep. I vaguely noticed two short sentences when I first opened the email.

My initial thought was “OUCH! A TWO SENTENCE REJECTION!” 😭

But then I actually read those two sentences.

Thank you again for your interest in Quill & Crow Publishing House for THE WIVES OF HERRICK HALL. Please see our publishing offer attached to this email. 

I am not a quiet person, folks. But this email actually knocked the ability of speech right out of me. I truly could not say a single damn thing. Only when my partner asked me what was the matter did I throw my phone at him and whisper, “Is this what I think it is?”

We’re Almost Done, I Promise

I had an offer of publication in hand! Yay! Hooray! What do I do with myself?!

I waited to reply until I could be a coherent human again. By this time, I had found community with other authors and knew the correct thing to do was to ask for two weeks to close out my outstanding submissions. Basically, give everyone who has your manuscript a chance to either reject it or toss their hat in the ring too. One of these people was, of course, Vicky.

And exactly one week later, she nearly gave me a HEART ATTACK. I was traveling to Chicago to visit my sister when an unknown number called me. I was on two or three hours of sleep and pretending to be a functional human when the unknown caller started leaving a voicemail. One of those voicemails where the message is transcribed across your phone screen in real time.

Hi, this is Vicky Weber…

GUYS! I was sitting in my sister’s living room with my family discussing dinner plans, and I literally started uncontrollably shaking. Vicky asked me to call her back when I was able to, and I panicked. Should I call back right then? Did I need to prepare first? Could I even string a sentence together on nearly no sleep?

Vicky and I ended up connecting the following day as my sister and I were walking around her neighborhood. I’ll always have a fond connection to the random park I sprinted away from her in shouting “I HAVE TO TAKE THIS” and Vicky and I ended our conversation with her saying “let’s do this.” I told myself I hallucinated that bit, so I was very grateful she also sent a follow up email explicitly titled “OFFER OF REPRESENTATION.”

And so two weeks after receiving Quill & Crow’s email, I accepted both offers and celebrated with pumpkin pie (Shari’s even threw in a free second slice - RIP Oregon Shari’s 💔).

Stats

Many HIGMA posts wrap up by showing readers their stats while in the query trenches. Some get snatched up by their agents after mere weeks, but for most it can take months if not years. I understand the curiosity about stats, but I’d also caution querying authors not to read too deeply into them. Everyone’s experience is unique, and a million factors go into how long it takes—the agent you’ll eventually sign with might not even be open to queries now, or agents who have your manuscript might have to prioritize existing clients at the moment.

It just takes the time it does, and that’s okay. Everyone has different professional and personal commitments, and nothing moves fast in the book world. Just embrace the journey and we’ll all get there in the end.

But I also agree there can be a value in sharing stats, especially when you don’t end up juggling a dozen offers. I hope my nine month adventure in the query trenches shows you that you only need one yes (as long as that yes is a good fit!). So here are my final querying stats:

And there it is—my debut book baby’s journey from being a little wordy mess in a word doc to sending it on its way to becoming an actual book. The team at Quill & Crow has been absolutely incredible (check out their books here to see all the amazing work they’re doing), and I am so excited to bring this book to life alongside them.

This was a longer post than usual, so if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reliving the journey with me. One of the reasons I didn’t write a HIGMA post immediately after signing with Vicky was because I couldn’t be happier than to never open my queries folder or spreadsheet again. But I also hope this has been helpful and encouraging. Querying is not easy. Writing a book is not easy. So find others who love it as much as you.

If anyone here is querying, please know I am rooting for you. I’m also always open to connecting with writers and can be a fresh set of eyes on materials, like query letters or pitches or synopses. I don’t really host giveaways for that like some authors do on social media—but that’s just because of my impostor syndrome and feeling like my opinion isn’t really that valuable. But if it’s something you are interested in, I am always here and ready to cheer you on.

Have a wonderful April full of good food and good books ❤️ I will see you again soon! xx

-Julie