Fellow writer Colleen Alles and I started a video blog on YouTube this week, which I’ll occasionally post about here. You can always subscribe on YouTube @anoynmousbells1816. Our first video was called “How We Got Our Agents”—a popular topic in the writing community. I share this in the video, but my process took over 10 years. There were many, many rejections (see below), but chatting with Colleen made me realize how supportive the publishing community has been thus far. This is a great reminder for writers who feel stuck. It’s hard to get your work out there. As Colleen discusses, there are many highs and lows.

I once took a certificate course at NYU, and the professor there said something along the lines of: “If you got everything you wanted all at once, what would you have to look forward to?” This made me very angry at the time, but I now think his advice was solid. There is always one more goal, one more story or novel to publish. We are always climbing a mountain, and I’m not sure we ever reach the top.

The list below includes the number of agent submissions and requests for either a partial or full. These submissions all resulted in rejections except book 4!

• Book 1 (2013)
  • Subs: 72
  • Requests: 17
• Book 2 (2016)
  • Subs: 54
  • Requests: 11
• Book 3 (2017-2021)
  • Round 1:
    • Subs: 62
    • Requests: 22 (+1 R&R)
  • Round 2:
    • Subs: 95 (yikes!)
    • Requests: 15
• Book 4 (2023)
  • Subs: 60
  • Requests: 11 (including an offer!)