How I Got My (Second) Literary Agent!

Hello, friends!

If you don’t know who I am, let me introduce myself! My name is Sydney and I’m a nineteen-year-old, queer and Disabled YA author who just signed with their second literary agent! I haven’t seen many blog posts from authors who’ve signed with a second, third, or even fourth agent, so today I wanted to talk about the journey that led me to my second (and DREAM) agent, whom I love with my whole heart!

Let’s dive right in!

A Bit of Background:

In July 2021, I signed with my very first literary agent but around six months later—February 2022—I made the choice to leave that agent when it became clear the partnership wasn’t tenable. I talk about why/how I started writing and about the book I queried (a YA Contemporary with #OwnVoices elements) in my first “How I Got My Agent” post, so if you’re curious about those details, please check it out, since I won’t be discussing that in this post!

Shortly before I left my first agent, I wrote my second novel, an #OwnVoices YA Rom-com. This is the book I decided to query with after leaving, instead of my first book, which I needed to take a small step back from to clear my head.

QUERYING!

After taking time to polish my YA Rom-com, and process my first agent relationship, I was finally ready to jump back into the querying trenches! (Okay, well, I wasn’t ready. But who’s ever truly ready to query?? It’s HELL. 😭) I took a very different approach with my queries this time. I didn’t do a “test batch” or wait to see what my Full Request rate was before yeeting my book baby at Dream Agents. I just… yeeted from the very beginning.

Now, I’m not sure I can say I recommend this technique to everyone, but for the place I was at when I started querying, this was the method that worked best for me.

In addition to my querying strategy shifting, what I deemed important in an agent/client relationship also changed. Coming out of my previous agent relationship, I had a much better understanding of what I was looking for in a new agent—their editorial style, the way they communicate, what genres/age ranges they’re passionate about, their overall ✨vibe✨ (I cannot stress the importance of vibes, people!!)—and this definitely helped me narrow down my query list!

Now, let’s skip straight to the interesting part of the story. (Drumroll please!)

…The Offer!

*Record scratch*

Okay, actually, there is MORE background in order for this section to make sense. I’M SORRY!!

In my last “How I Got My Agent” blog post, I talked about how a Dream Agent, who hadn’t finished my book quite yet, had some questions and wanted to set up a Zoom call (and how that email caused me to pace several miles around my bedroom and run every possible scenario through my head)—and how that Zoom call resulted in my first Offer of Rep!

Well… that original Offer came from my current agent, Emily Forney (who I love with my whole heart, did I mention that???). Now, I bring you to our next thrilling segment in Sydney’s Complicated Agent Story:

Star-Crossed Lovers:

I was heartbroken to turn down Emily’s offer last year, and I don’t even want to think or talk about it because I legit get so upset when I think about the fact I turned her down. Alas, I was younger back then. Just an innocent, summer child, not yet wise enough to realize she is my soulmate. My sun and moon and stars.

Okay, that was a touch dramatic. (I’m a theatre kid, drama is in my blood!!) But seriously. Emily is my PERSON. When I left my last agent, I immediately knew I wanted to query Emily. But then it came time to query her, and I was… not sure how to approach it. And anxious. Very anxious. So many thoughts were floating around my head, so many potential situations. My main concern, though, was—as Taylor Swift so wisely said—what if we had Bad Blood now? (Even though, all along, Emily’s been nothing but lovely.)

I came up with a plan to contact her and give her a brief heads-up I’d be querying her, since I wasn’t sure if she’d be confused to see my name randomly show up in her query inbox. But, as those with anxiety are wont to do, I never contacted her. Hahahaha so quirky!! I was nervous things would be awkward, so I kept procrastinating, until Emily and I had a funny Twitter interaction on a post I made about my YA Rom-com, and I decided to bite the bullet and contact her. (Well, after my author group chat hyped me up for a solid hour…)

Disclaimer:

Please do NOT contact agents ahead of time to let them know you’re going to query them or to tell them about your book!! I only did this because Emily and I had previous Offer history—but I never recommend doing this unless there’s a really unique circumstance!

Uh, so, remember all that anxiety and months of not contacting her for fear of earth falling off its axis due to a small little message along the lines of: “Hi, heads-up, I left my agent and I’m gonna be querying you again”? Yeah, well, that worrying was for nothing.

Emily and I hopped on a Zoom call an hour after I contacted her, and after a really lovely conversation, she offered me rep for the second time! (Of course, I played it super cool and basically verbally keyboard smashed by making random sounds in lieu of a response.) After our call, I did my due diligence and spoke to agents I had queried, but at the end of the day I just knew it was Emily.

The whole star-crossed lovers trope really does fit us. We went through our whole “Dark Night of The Soul,” Second Act breakup after I turned down her offer last year (literally typing that phrase is painful 😭 let’s never talk about it again!), and now we’re in our “Final Image,” Third Act happily ever after. 😌

I truly could not have asked for a better advocate, champion, and agent. And I’m so, so, SO thrilled that Emily and I are a team!!

My final sentiment for this blog post: Leaving your agent (or really any kind of relationship) is such a hard decision, and it can very much feel like you’re taking a step backwards, but sometimes taking a step back is the only way to continue moving forward.

Thank you for reading about how I signed with Emily Forney, my second agent! And to anyone reading this who’s in the querying trenches: I wish you the best of luck—your champion is out there! You’ll find them!

See you soon,

- Sydney