Losing Your Champions Amidst Success

One afternoon two years ago, I was taking care of my toddler and had just begun packing him into our car to go home from the zoo when I received a text message from my first literary agent at KT Literary asking if I had a few minutes to talk.

My mind began to swirl. Were they dropping me? We were just in the midst of revisions on a partial that I was hoping would lead to my first full-length novel sale, so I felt like it was unlikely. But then again, what did they want to talk about?

(I Got 8 Agent Offers; Then, My Book Died on Sub.)

My heart racing, I quickly typed back. A few minutes later, I was on the phone and my agent was telling me that they’d decided to leave the publishing industry entirely and, therefore, would no longer be representing my work.

To make it all worse, they also informed me that my editor for an anthology I was editing that we had sold two months prior, was also leaving the industry. From one minute to another, I was agent-less, editor-less, champion-less, and it was a harsh reminder that in publishing, things can change so quickly. The only silver lining: The amazing, Kate Testerman, owner of KT Literary, wanted to talk to me about taking over representation for my work.

I drove home, with my toddler falling asleep in the backseat, thoughts in chaos, unsure of what would happen next with my career.

That evening, after talking to my husband, who reminded me that no matter what, I would be okay, I took my first full breath. After all, even if Kate ultimately passed on me as a client, the trenches didn’t seem so doomsday scary to me. I’d survived them once, I would do so again, right?

The moment that Kate and I got on the phone, relief further spread over me, even more exciting was the fact that the call was one to officially offer representation. Although losing my first literary agent felt like a heavy weight and, on a personal level, was simply quite sad, the work that they did behind the scenes to try to pair their clients with another agent at their agency, for me, led to a wonderful new connection.

After the call, I had a choice: I could either take Kate’s offer or choose to leave KT Literary and query widely.

We talk a lot about how in publishing, your journey is only as good as your agent—and it truly is terrifying to think that you might make a mistake in choosing the wrong champion. In this case, I chose to trust my gut, and my gut was telling me to take Kate’s wonderful offer.

Click to continue.

A few weeks after taking the offer from Kate, I learned that my agent-client relationship would be much different in one particular way, which would lead to my chameleon era in publishing: Kate wasn’t as editorial as my first agent had been. Still, I knew she wouldn’t send anything out she didn’t approve the quality of, and I learned to trust the quality of my writing.

A few weeks after we sent it away, Kate and I heard back on the revise and resubmit, and received Wednesday Books’ offer for my debut novel, SALVACIÓN, a Zorro retelling seeped with salt magic, a slow burn romance, and a Mexican and very feminist heroine!

I’ve had other chameleon moments along the way: from Inkyard Press shuttering a few months before the release of my anthology, Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories, to losing my acquiring editor for SALVACIÓN a few months before its release now as well.

It’s always hurt losing champions that I so loved along the road to publication, but I’ve always been so thankful for every opportunity that they’ve given me and my work, and each one of them has helped shape me into the writer I am today: someone who feels confident enough that me and my work can stand on its own, regardless of any changes that happen.

And all of these happenings have confirmed that things can and (hey there, Murphy’s Law) will, change sometimes in drastic ways, but if you take a breath, and trust your gut, more often than not, these changes don’t mean chaos, but new opportunities to work with even more of the amazing champions that make up the publishing industry.

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)