Okay, so I queried three books with varying success until my third book landed me my agent. Here’s how I did it, plus the query letter and pitch that got me there:
Prepping the Book
For this book, I made sure I had polished my manuscript as well as possible, and even saved up and hired a developmental editor to help me get it there. Then, I sent out my queries in batches (sending a few out at a time), adding variations to my query letter as the responses came in.
I was pretty confident that this book would be the one to land me an agent based on the positive feedback I was getting.
The Pitch That Did It
During querying, I also actively participated in Twitter pitches. #QuestPit was the one that got my agent like—someone I’d sent a query to only two days prior!
I sent Madison (my now agent) a follow-up email to tell her she’d liked my pitch and I had just submitted my query to her. She replied and asked for the full manuscript. Three days later, she emailed me and said she loved the book and would be interested in representing me.
Check out my website to read more about the book that’s on submission.
The Query Letter
First, the preamble: the project I was querying was a Comedic, Cozy Adult Fantasy, so I wanted to infuse some humour into the pitch.
Dear Madison,
I’m seeking representation for my debut novel, THE RELUCTANT MENTOR, an 83,000-word Comedic Adult Fantasy satirising the heroes’ journey from the perspective of a failed wizard mentor. This is a standalone novel comparable to the humour of Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer and Darkwood by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, with the reluctant hero trope in Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. This novel has been professionally edited by a developmental editor.
Athragast is an average wizard, and after years of drudgery, all he wants is to retire on a beach—preferably somewhere off the magical grid. The Academy selects Athragast (everyone else was busy) for a straight-cut mission with a large enough payout to fund his retirement. Determined to have a fate different from most other wizards (who tended to fall off towers or get kidnapped), Athragast agrees to go on one last quest to defeat an old nemesis. All he needs is a hero to facilitate his success.
Armed with his most magical possession (a ballpoint pen) and an unlikely animal companion (with an unhealthy cigar-eating habit), Athragast travels to the Kingdom’s capital to inform the Prince that it’s his destiny to save the world. The Prince refuses the job, but the world needs saving! And Athragast needs retirement like an ogre needs a bath. So really, what does it matter to destiny whether he gets the Prince to do it, or some random bloke off the street?
Athragast recruits Jon, a busboy with a skill for pickpocketing and (annoyingly) the most optimistic person Athragast has ever met. Along their journey, they pick up a few troubled sellswords with strange interests, and Athragast becomes an unintentional father figure to Jon and learns a bit about making friends, how to keep them, and what it means to be a hero – at any age. Oh, and he may or may not have developed feelings for a handsome pirate.
When I’m not baking, you’ll find me curled up with my cat, crocheting or drawing maps. I’m a Canadian writer based in Wales, UK. I have a B.A. in English Literature and work as a writer and editor for an automation company in my day job. I co-founded a local writer’s group and have had a short Fantasy story published in Peasant Magazine, Issue Two – May 2024.
My goal with this book is to break down the stereotypes we often place on aging people, and create an inclusive fantasy world that questions class systems and bureaucracy in a fun and entertaining way. Below, I have included the first five pages of my manuscript for your review.
Thank you for your consideration,
Alexis Veenendaal
A fun note:
If you watch Gina Denny on TikTok, she actually reviewed my query letter in one of her posts and gave some really helpful tips that led me to this final version of my letter!
The Agent Call
A few days later, I met Madison on Zoom and we talked about her vision for the book, plus my ideas of where I wanted to see my author career. I had a list of questions that I asked her throughout the discussion, but from her enthusiasm for my story and characters, I knew I’d found a winner.
After the Call
I took my two weeks to consider her offer to represent me, sending out notices to all the other agents with my manuscript. And at the end of those (excruciatingly long) two weeks, I let Madison know that I wanted to work with her.
Next came the revisions. We figured out what changes the manuscript needed to be ready for submission. The changes were fairly minimal, and within a bit more than a month, we were going out on submission with editors!
Timeline:
- I queried for almost 8 months off and on.
- I signed with Madison Potter from Olswanger Literary Agency in March, 2025.
- I revised my manuscript to prep it for submission for approximately one month.
- On April 14th, I was officially on submission with editors.
- … We’ll see what comes next!