I’m thrilled to announce that I have signed with Corvisiero Literary Agency! I am lucky enough to have two literary agents guiding me on my publishing journey; Ciara Smith and Marisa Corvisiero. The zoom call I had with them made me confident that they understand my hopes for the book that I queried with, as well as my dreams for a career as an author. Everyone’s journey to finding representation is different and the path I took in the end is never one I would have imagined.
For years, I queried on and off. In retrospect I actually had quite a bit of success in the percentage of full requests, but my writer soul couldn’t stomach the rejections so I would set it aside “for later.” During one of these periods I met my writing partner Elise, who encouraged me to take the rejections more in stride, looking at them as a thing to be celebrated because it meant we were one step closer to success. Taking that to heart, I was just “throwing spaghetti” on Submittable and ended up with an offer for my debut novel from Rebel Satori Press. With that milestone coming down the pipeline I’d decided not to query so that I could focus on marketing, instead.
Naturally, that very sensible plan went completely awry.
My intrepid writing partner convinced me of the merits of a Twitter account focused on writing and I grudgingly agreed. I made short pitches and mood boards and they told me about a twitter pitch party. I only acquiesced because it was supposedly low stakes—it was informal and it wasn’t likely agents would be there.
My future agent, Ciara, though, was there. And liked two of my pitches.
<cue panic intensifying>
I sent them a query and waited. Being new to Twitter, when I saw that Ciara had posted about their own writing and that no one had responded, I thought I’d start talking to them. Being a librarian, I started suggesting craft books not thinking of how that could come across. Ciara kindly sent me a DM to (I realize now) figure out if I was being a know-it-all or not. Once I said I was a librarian who was penguin pebbling, we had a lovely discussion about neurodivergence. I ended up being a regular at the Twitter #DAT (Disabled Author Talk) that Ciara runs.
Friends, learn from me—even if your neurodivergence makes you awkward, please know that the right agent will only find it endearing.
Ciara had my full manuscript for three months before I received that really lovely email every writer hopes to see in their inbox. I had “The Call” a little over a week later with both Marisa and Ciara—as an agent apprentice, Ciara signs all her clients with Marisa as well, who oversees the work in order to ensure that Ciara is truly supported as she begins her agenting journey.
I feel humbled to have been chosen but also find it completely hilarious that the timing was precisely when I had decided not to pursue getting an agent. Life truly has a mind of its own and I’m grateful that I’m open to the twists and turns of opportunity. May everyone who is in the query trenches find your own unique path to success.
