“Do you want to get an agent? Because this is how we get agents!” – Someone, somewhere…I think.
I’m marking this day down as one I’ll never forget. Well, ok, there’s several of those in my life, and if I had to really think about it, I’d say Friday, February 6th is a day I’ll remember forever. Let me rewind the tape a bit (I’ll explain that for the non-80s/90s crowd in the room later) and tell the whole story.
When I finished A Cook’s Guide to Supernatural Philadelphia back in July of 2025, I was on fire. This book, to me, was something really special. I knew this because the query letter flew out of me easier than sneezing. Writing the synopsis was (almost) a walk in the park. I genuinely could not wait to share this book with someone, anyone, everyone. I spent a few hard weeks on the “cutting room floor” editing, patching, and fixing (a dedicated 1.5-2 hours a night to re-reading, snipping, changing, blocking, whatever needed doing!) the book to make it the best I possibly could.
Then, the query journey started in earnest. Now, I’m not new to queries. I’ve been writing for a long time. I sent my first query back in 2015 for my first novel (oh you sweet summer child) that is still sitting in a drawer. Of course, with future goggles on, I can see now that book needs a ton of work, but it taught me a ton! Anyway, I sent my first query letters for ACGTSP on July 16th, 2025. I hit send, stepped away from the computer, and took my youngest daughter (who I’ll refer to as “Snootz”) to a friend’s birthday party.
About an hour later, I got an alert on my phone, “Query reply from…” … Wow. That was a quick no. Except, when I opened it, it was the agent I queried letting me know that, while they absolutely loved the book, and had zero issues with its execution, they weren’t the best fit for it, and were passing it up to a senior agent at their firm who they thought would be an awesome fit. They got back to me within minutes, said they loved the query and sample pages and wanted to read the whole thing.
This was definitely a new step in the journey. This had never happened before, and especially so fast. I also knew how this industry worked, and knew it could be a long time before I heard anything back, so I kept writing and kept querying. Over the next few months I finished the sequel, started a third book in that series, wrote the bones of a “Cozy horror”, and kept on querying.
Months passed. I continued querying, and wound up with about 8 requests for partials (meaning they wanted to read the first x pages) and 5 requests for full (the whole manuscript) by December. I was floored. This had never happened since I started querying other novels in 2015. This told me something that I’d been so eager to hear.
A Cook’s Guide to Supernatural Philadelphia had something special. There was a reason I felt so strongly about this book. Then the “Thanks, but I didn’t really connect…” replies started coming in. I want to emphasize this to any writers in the future reading this: you gots to grow some thick skin.
I’ll admit, by the end of December I was feeling kind of bummed. It felt like it might be time to shelve Mac and the gang, and try again in 2026 (I refused to give up on this book). I kept writing, spent a wonderful 2 weeks off of work with my family for the Christmas season, and just recharged my batteries. Yeah, I actually have a day job on top of all this, a wife and three daughters, and still manage to write 2 hours a night. I’ll catch up on sleep later in life 🙂
I sent out a few queries for the sequel novel for Philadelphia. I purposely wrote both books as standalones (but the sequel has some great easter eggs and nods to book 1). I started getting requests for fulls and partials for that too! It made me realize that yes, maybe Mac and the gang had something special after all. I also changed my approach to querying a bit starting in January.
Each week, QueryTracker sends out a newsletter with Agency updates. Y’all, if you didn’t check that “Send me news…” box when you setup your account? Stop what you’re doing, and “go check that shit.” Let me explain why, and my change in strategy:
The beginning of the year is when most agents re-open to queries. They’ve had a break. They’re ready to start the year with a bang. I started paying close attention to the announcements of agents re-opening to queries, and what they were interested in.
That’s when I noticed in early January that Tricia Skinner was open to queries. I checked out her website, the kind of books she loved and was looking for. I saw a common thread: a love for urban fantasy. Well, the only slight issue in my head was, A Cook’s Guide to Supernatural Philadelphia is Cozy Urban Fantasy. A book I wrote out of my sheer love and obsession with Urban Fantasy, and a desperate desire to recreate the feeling I had reading Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree for the first time. Would she like it? I hoped so, because everything about her approach, enthusiasm and tone (just from her website) instantly put her at the top of the list.
I crossed my fingers, and shipped a query off, hoping for the best for Mac and the gang. And (as so many of you know all too well) I waited…except I didn’t wait too long.
On January 18th, Tricia replied to me through Query Tracker that she enjoyed the sample pages, and wanted to read the whole book. I was thrilled. Something in me knew if I could just get her to read the book, that she would enjoy it. Even if it didn’t end up in an offer, I had a feeling I’d get some great feedback on the book and some ideas to make it even better.
Fast forward to February 5th. I got another Query Tracker reply from Trisha that Thursday afternoon that she started reading the book, was 100 pages in or so, and was enjoying it! If the trend continued she’d have a decision for me soon.
I couldn’t speak. I read it again. She…she was enjoying it?!. I read it again. Then I started bouncing (I do that a bit when I’m really excited, I can’t help it). I told my wife. She is my compass, and my center, and she shared my excitement. She’s always believed in me, and this occurrence did not come as a shock to her.
Going to sleep that night was…challenging. But I had to, I had a lot due at work the next day, and needed to make sure I was rested to get it done. I woke up early, got myself together for work, saw my oldest daughter off to school, and then went into my office to start the day. I checked my email first, even though I knew I was being a bit unreasonable to expect a response that morning.
Except…I wasn’t. Tricia had replied at 2:30AM(ish) Friday morning to tell me she was just about finished with the book and already knew she wanted to represent me. I screamed. I believe I screamed “Holy Shit!” My wife came in and said “She liked it?”
Trish and I setup a call later that day. It would be our chance to ask each other questions, talk through next steps, and really, to just get a feel on “connection”. This is a partnership, one that I’ve heard is one of the most important partnerships/connections a writer will make (thanks Brandon Sanderson for your incredible free 2025 Lecture Series on writing Fantasy and Sci-fi on Youtube!).
I never had a one hour phone call go by so quickly. Trish adored the book. I’ve never in my life heard someone absolutely rave about a book I wrote the way she did. Sharing parts and characters she loved, moments that made her laugh/tear up. Most importantly, that the book left her with a feeling of hope. That is the one thing I want for anyone that reads this book (if it sees light of day, that’s the next journey!) and to hear that from her was the most validating event of my life.
I knew right away that Trish was the right person to represent me and help try to bring Mac’s adventures to the world. But I had some work to do that weekend:
I had to get in touch with all the agents I queried and let them know I had an offer of representation (thank you query tracker for making this easy). I worked my way through the list, all the way back to that request for full in July (I never did hear back on that, but hey, it happens!).
Now, Trish is the utmost professional. She recommended I let them know and give them two weeks to decide if they want to read the book and also offer representation. She didn’t want me to ever regret not getting that choice. Like, holy crap. Can you believe that?! I was so taken back in the best way with her courtesy for her fellow agents. That’s truly amazing, especially when you have something in your hands that you feel is special and that you could sell it. My decision was pretty much cemented then, and I took her up on that. I wanted to at least give that agent from back in July a chance to decide after reading the book, mainly because they were the first to ask for the full manuscript.
This was all on Friday.
Over the weekend, my oldest daughter (who the character Compass is partially modeled after in the book) has an opinion on pretty much everything. She’s been following along on this journey too, and she remembers my excitement back in July. But she said something that really opened my eyes: You’ve sent a couple nudges, it’s been over six months. Maybe this just isn’t the right time for them to represent you even if they do like it? Then she knocked it out of the park, “And even if other Agents offered to represent you, do you really think you’d even consider it after your phone call on Friday?”
She was so right. I really connected with Trish. She loved my book, she understood what I was trying to do with it. I always said I wanted to sign with an agent that believes in and loves my books as much as I do. So, I spent Sunday reaching out to all of the agents again, apologizing for the sudden withdraw, thanking them profusely for their time, but also trying to save them time as well. They deal with thousands of queries/manuscripts, and they deserved their attention, because my mind and heart were made up. As all three of my daughters said by Sunday, “Team Trish, all the way!”
As of today, February 11th, 2026 – it is official. I have an agent!!! I’ve signed with Tricia Skinner and joined Fuse Literary as a client. The first big door on this journey into traditional publishing has been opened.
Thank you to everyone that’s been reading since the beginning. There is long road to go yet, but it’s never felt as full of hope as it does now. Stay tuned for more of my journey into traditional publishing!
Remember Red, Hope is a good thing. And no good thing ever dies. – Andy Dufresne (Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption)
