Successful Queries: Hannah Braaten, Joe Veltre, and “All the Little Ways,” by Laura Lekkos

Welcome back to the Successful Queries series. In this installment, find a query letter from agent Joe Veltre (The Gersh Agency) to editor Hannah Braaten (Gallery Books) for Laura Lekkos' debut novel, All the Little Ways.

Laura Lekkos is a screenwriter and author. Her credits include Amazon MGM’s Relationship Goals and she is the adapting writer of Maurene Goo’s Somewhere Only We Know for Netflix. She just confirmed Jennifer Probst’s The Marriage Bargain and Rebecca Serle’s New York Times bestseller Expiration Dates, which is in development at Amazon MGM Studios with Emma Roberts set to star. She is especially passionate about writing female-focused stories and has worked with various studios including Amazon, Netflix, Sony, Universal, and Lionsgate. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and is repped by Gersh and Felker Toczek Suddleson McGinnnis Ryan LLP. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Hi Hannah,

As discussed, please find attached the wonderful debut novel by Laura Lekkos —Thanks in Advance.

In the vein of Malibu Rising, this is a compelling tale of two expecting women whose friendship is threatened by a shocking revelation. Punchy and heartfelt, Thanks in Advance dives into the nuances of life-saving female friendship, modern partnership, and how a family built on its own terms leads to the love we all need.

Victoria and Liz barely breathe the same air, but they collide head-first when they meet in a group for expectant mothers and find common ground against all odds. When the two meet in a parenting class, they both feel out of place amongst these pregnant women who seem to have it all figured out. They roll their eyes at the classic sign-off peppering the new mommy group chat: TIA (thanks in advance!) Alienated from these other women and due within a week of each other, Victoria and Liz’s bond becomes a lifeline as they navigate their pregnancies and relationships. They grapple with impending motherhood together and lean on each other to navigate important decisions about family, career, and love. It’s the first successful female friendship in Victoria’s life and the first time Liz has felt so connected to an older, wiser confidante. Maybe, just maybe, it will all be okay.

But as they grow more secure in their futures with each other’s support, the friends confront a shocking turn of events that will change the course of both their lives. Victoria and Liz then must reckon with their relationships, their impending journeys of motherhood, and the strength of their own bond.

Laura Lekkos has contributed her writing talents to various film and television projects, collaborating with studios including Universal, Sony, MGM, Netflix, Lionsgate, and Amazon. Notable works include Relationship Goals, a captivating office love story entangled by a fierce rivalry, Holidates, a true story of a holiday romance originating from a Craigslist ad, which is now in development for television, and Cat Brushing, a feature adaptation of Jane Campbell's debut novel. Additional comedy and dramedy projects include Somewhere Only We Know, Kiss & Tell, The Honeymoon is Over, Bad Friends, and The Baby Shower. Thanks in Advance is her first novel.

Thank you for reading — we look forward to hearing our thoughts!

Best,

Joe
DBNR
JV/jj

GERSH
Joe Veltre | Senior Partner
Co-Head, New York Office; Head, Books, Media Rights & IP

Bookshop | Amazon

(WD uses affiliate links)

I am a sucker for a female friendship story. Any query for a novel that promises to explore the nuances and complexities of female friendship always makes me perk up, and when I got the query for All the Little Ways (not its original title; that’s a longer story), I had a strong suspicion that this would be my kind of book. “Shocking revelations”? “Family built on its own terms”? Sign me up.

It helped that I was a new mom myself when I received the query about these two women on the precipice of such a seismic life event—and as soon as I started reading, it was clear that I was in the hands of a writer who is exquisitely good at inserting those hyper-specific details that make this middle part of life so wonderful and simultaneously confounding. As I turned the pages, I just didn’t want to stop reading; I always know I should acquire a book when I think of the characters as I fall asleep at night, and I couldn’t get Liz and Victoria out of my head. Working on this book has been a pleasure since Joe Veltre’s query first hit my inbox.

Long before I had a finished manuscript, or even the snippets of scenes and details that would flit across my mind, I knew the core concept of All the Little Ways. It was the story of an unlikely but transformative friendship between two women that proved love doesn’t have to be romantic to be life changing. As the broad strokes of Victoria and Liz began to take shape on the page, I hoped readers would relate to them and their story.

Funny enough—or maybe, expressly because it would have been paralyzing—I didn’t stop to think about how I would need at least one reader to connect with these characters and how if that happened, it would be life changing for me. And if it didn’t happen…I’d need an endless supply of comfort food and possibly a padded room?

When my agent sent out my manuscript to publishers, I realized, with the accompanying sensation of my heart sinking to my stomach, where it would bob for weeks, just how much hinged on these queries. I needed someone to fall for Victoria and Liz like I had.

Fortunately, Hannah related to the characters and the world of the novel with an enthusiasm that filled me with relief and validation. The first time we met, over Zoom, we discussed everything from the complexities of motherhood to the mold that inevitably accumulates on the ubiquitous Sophie the Giraffe children’s toy to comp titles for my novel. Unlike the characters’ bond in the book, which develops somewhat shakily, Hannah and I connected right away. I was not only overjoyed that my novel had found a home, but I was confident that it was the right one.

The query process is tough—all that waiting and hoping!—but much like pregnancy itself, I think I had blocked out all the angst and uncertainty until now, only focusing on the end result. In both cases, I’m so grateful for what came as a result of the journey.

___________________________________________________

Hannah Braaten is an executive editor at Gallery Books, where she has published bestsellers and book club picks such as The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali, The Third Gilmore Girl, by Kelly Bishop, Welcome to Murder Week, by Karen Dukess, and The People We Keep, by Allison Larkin. A Wellesley College alumna, Hannah got her start in the book world working at independent bookstores from the age of fourteen, and has always been obsessed with a good story well told, in whatever form that might take.