Ambrielle Butler

As the one year anniversary of signing with my agent approaches, I’ve decided it’s time for me to write the long-awaited How I Got My Agent post! I loved reading these while I was querying, but I know they’re not for everyone. If you’re in the thick of the querying trenches right now, I want to remind you that there’s no “right” way to succeed in publishing. My querying journey spanned years and several projects—and that’s okay!

To start—I queried too early.

It’s a rookie mistake that countless authors make. I thought I had done everything right. I’d written the book, sent it to beta readers, and made adjustments based on their feedback. I did one final read through, made my query list, and sent off my first round of queries in the summer of 2022.

Silence. And then, the rejections.

But I wasn’t new to querying. I’d tried querying three different picture books a year earlier and knew that rejection was just part of the game. So I sent out another round, and then another until 40 agents had my query.

Finally, I got a nibble. An agent liked my pitch, but it wasn’t right for her MSWL, so she forwarded it to her colleague. The colleague was nice enough to request a partial. I was thrilled! My first request!

Her feedback came back a month later. My main character was flat and one-dimensional. She had no personality, no motivation, and no reason to be the protagonist. The agent couldn’t connect to her at all.

I felt deflated, but I reasoned that it was one person’s opinion. I still had outstanding queries, and so I waited for responses to roll in.

Rejections. Every single one of them.

I had no choice but to revisit the requesting agent’s feedback. This time, I realized that she was right. The plot was solid, but without a deeper motivation and backstory for my protagonist, the story didn’t have a point.

I bought some craft books and studied them cover to cover. I outlined my book beginning to end using the Save the Cat structure to make sure the beat sheet was exactly how it should be. I identified my protagonist’s motivation and wove it into the narrative as the anchoring theme. It was two months of grueling rewrite, but I knew that my book was better for it.

I finished the rewrite in April 2023, just in time for MoodPitch. I thought it would be a good way to ease back into querying with my newly revised book. What I didn’t expect was to go from 0 full requests to 6 full requests overnight.

With the confirmation that my query and revised opening pages were doing their job, I sent a batch of queries to agents I wanted to work with. I knew from previous experience querying that responses were slow, or sometimes nonexistent, so I didn’t wait between rounds this time. A few more full requests came through, and then I had months of slow progress as spring turned into summer. I noticed a large drop in responses from June-August and the wait gave me time to focus on other projects. By September, I started to receive agent responses again, including more full requests. One of these fulls was from the agent I signed with.

While September and October were exciting as more requests rolled in, these months were also hard. The agents who had requested my full manuscript back in April got back to me. I was very fortunate in that I received lots of personalized rejections, both on fulls and queries. It was reassuring to know that there were things everyone seemed to love about my book. Shockingly enough, most agents complimented my protagonist. They connected to her now and enjoyed her voice.

Still, the rejections stung. There were many kind, personalized passes, but it was heart-breaking to be told that while agents enjoyed my book, none of them had that “have to have this” feeling. With only a few more fulls remaining, I was beginning to think that I’d have to shelve the book.

And then I received a late night response from Andie Smith at the Booker Albert Literary Agency. She said she loved my book and wanted to set up a call to discuss potential representation.

When I read the email, I screamed and fell off my bed. My husband thought I had fainted. My in-laws, who were visiting us, heard me shout from down the hall and worried something was wrong. I was ecstatic and spent the night anxiously making my list of questions for the call.

I emailed Andie the next morning and we set up a call for that afternoon. I was so nervous, but the call went AMAZING. I loved her vision for my book, her edits, her sub list. Most importantly, I loved that she seemed as passionate about the book as I did. After so many full rejections telling me that they liked it, but didn’t love it, I realized the importance of finding an agent truly passionate about your manuscript. Andie’s enthusiasm for my book left me floating on cloud nine.

Since the offer came right before Thanksgiving, Andie suggested I take 2.5 weeks to nudge other agents and get back to her. These 2.5 weeks felt like the longest in my life. It was exciting to watch my full requests double with the nudge of an offer, but I wanted so badly to sign with Andie and make things official. Luckily at the end of the month, I did just that!

I feel so grateful to have found someone like Andie to advocate for me and my book. A year later and I can say with confidence that my book is even better than it was when she first signed me. I know my story is in good hands and I’m so excited to see what we accomplish together in the future.

It’s true when they say it only takes one yes to change things! My advice for anyone else slogging through the query trenches is to keep going, keep improving, and don’t give up. There were so many times when I was tempted to put this book on the shelf, but I’m so glad I didn’t. If you believe in your story, someone else will too.

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