Successful Queries: Sabrina Taitz and “Harmless,” by Miranda Shulman

Welcome back to the Successful Queries series. In this installment, there's actually not a sample query, but a story about the query from both author Miranda Shulman and agent Sabrina Taitz.

Miranda Shulman attended Bard College, where she majored in human rights. Before pursuing a career in publishing, she worked at Planned Parenthood. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and still lives there. Harmless is her first novel.

I had an atypical querying experience. I was so lucky to connect with Sabrina at the Southampton Writers Conference in 2023, which hosts the BookEnds fellowship’s graduation ceremony—why I was there (BookEnds is a fantastic yearlong program that supports writers through their novel revisions).

Ahead of our meeting, organized by my fellowship, I was petrified, but Sabrina quickly put me at ease by speaking about my work like no one had before. She took it so seriously, talked about my characters like they were real people, carefully dissecting on their motivations, relationships, and fears. I’ll never forget it. Of course, I’ll really never forget when she said, “You know I’m offering you representation, right?” toward the end of our conversation.

I knew not to commit to any offer of representation immediately, but it was hard—I had such a good feeling about Sabrina; I wonder if she sensed I was struggling, because she said, “you should think about it. If I were you, I’d take a second and query some other people, too.” She also said, “I’ll wait as long as you need.”

This only fortified my belief that she was the right person for me, but I spent a few months revising my manuscript before officially signing with her—going into our meeting, I knew I’d rushed the book’s ending, and I wanted her to have it in its best form. We checked in from time to time as I revised and eventually, I sent her the new draft. She read it quickly and responded with the same remarkable enthusiasm she had during that first meeting. It was wonderful. Celebratory. I sent a few other queries at that point, too, because it seemed like the thing to do, like an experience a writer should have, though my efforts were halfhearted—I knew she would be my agent.

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From the moment I read Miranda's query, I knew that her book was going to have serious bite—that she had written something unique and edgy and special. I've always been drawn to material with unlikable characters, particularly women behaving badly, and Harmless offered them in spades. The other element that caught my eye immediately was the eclectic childhood friend group that had been brought together by mothers and forced to remain friends (at least on social media) even after everyone had grown up and drifted apart. It was such a specific, recognizable reality that almost everyone can relate to, but there was also something dark about it that I wanted to untangle.

Sometimes strong queries don't translate into strong manuscripts—occasionally the characters behaving badly are just characters, and the story doesn't have the right kind of connective tissue. But Miranda had crafted compelling throughlines for each of the protagonists that made them feel alive, so their relationships with one another, in turn, felt wonderfully vivid and real. I gobbled up the manuscript in 24 hours.

After reading, I met Miranda at the Southampton Writers Conference and completely fell in love with her infectious energy. I was confident that she would do a killer job talking about her book, which is such a huge part of being a successful author. While I knew I wanted to work with her on the spot, I told her to take her time making her own decision—and she was worth the wait!!!!!!

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Sabrina Taitz joined WME in 2015. As the daughter of two writers, she is extremely passionate about helping authors build lasting, impactful careers. She believes that the strongest books are those that both entertain and enlighten, and that meaningful ideas should never come at the cost of great storytelling. Originally from Los Angeles, Sabrina lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughters.