Okay, dramatic title—check! Sadly, it’s true but there is no ill will here. The agent was fantastic throughout the process, and I appreciate everything I learned through this experience. I hope it’ll all help me on my journey. As they say, it all comes back eventually.

So, what’s the story? I sent out a few query letters in June 2025, and I honestly didn’t really expect to hear anything back. Call it exposure therapy or inviting rejection, I just wanted to try and see if anything would come from this. To my surprise, I got a hit, and an agent reached out saying they liked my work. We had a Zoom call, and I signed my first contract! All very exciting. I tidied everything up according to her feedback, and then we sent the manuscript out to some publishing houses. The feedback was generally positive, even though no one picked it up.

Sadly, a few months later I got another email confirming what I kind of already suspected. The agent wasn’t as familiar with the genre or demographic I was going for and fairly decided that they might not be able to sell the story. I am still appreciative of their time, and their insight into how the publishing industry works.

They also mentioned the importance of social media presence nowadays. It’s perhaps the only piece of advice I struggle with. Last year was full of all kinds of growth and change for me, and taking a step back from my author account was necessary. I’m grateful that I could do this and now get to return to it with fresh eyes and a different perspective. I’m also happy with the work I put in to learn more about social media, even if I don’t always agree or like it. Maybe it’s my Aquarian desire to do things differently, but I can’t believe there is only one way to succeed—I mean really?

So, I’m just going to keep playing it by ear and trying things until something lands. I don’t want this to feel like a chore, which it did last time. The constant need to pump out new, organic, authentic, unique content is just exhausting and I don’t like that. Sadly, the world we live in doesn’t care much about what we like or don’t like. Alas, we press on.

Anyway, the experience taught me a lot of really important lessons, which I hope to use going forward.

First, the importance of putting yourself out there. You might get disappointed, but you also might succeed more than you think.

Second, it taught me how to action feedback, and to stay disciplined. I can grow tired of projects quickly, but that wasn’t an option this time. I had to stick with it, and push through the hard moments of doubt and discouragement to get the manuscript ready. When there are other people waiting, you tend to find the motivation to finish your work!

Third, it taught me more about the industry. Sadly, until I’m a big name author (won’t be long now, I’m sure 😆 /sarcastic-maybe…), the second half of the year is reserved for all the bigger names. That leaves emerging writers like myself a little time to slot in at the start of the year. It also meant that there was a very small window for us to submit the manuscript to the publishing houses.

In all my research about emerging trends in the literary world, I wasn’t able to find any specifics that publishers were looking for, but my failed queries did give some insight: strong female friendship, immediate engagement and deep fantasy worldbuilding.

Overall, I appreciated having some professional eyes look over my work, and I was encouraged to see how many thought my writing was good even while giving the story a pass. It’s not so easy to step back when you’re self-publishing and doing it all by yourself.

The split was a shame, but not necessarily surprising, and I’m hoping that this will be a win in other ways. I do believe that things happen for good reason, and we can always make a way forward. Here’s to the next phase of my writing career!