Success Story Interview - Cara Collins

An Interview with Cara Collins (ccollinswrites on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Amy Giuffrida of Belcastro Agency.

08/06/2024

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?

Cara Collins:
My book is a childhood-best-friends-to-lovers-to-second-chance (say that 10 times fast!) adult contemporary romance set in a seaside cottage in a quaint New England small town between a copywriter guarding her heart and an earth-loving oyster farmer. These characters were actually side characters in the first book I queried, and I instantly knew I wanted to tell their story. It's a dual timeline and I was heavily inspired by the nostalgia and angst that bubbles up when two people have had such a long, fraught history together. I also thought oyster farming and the environmental benefits of it was interesting and aligned nicely with the sort of LI I wanted to write.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Cara Collins:
My entire life! Haha. But I've only been taking it seriously as a possible career move for the past 2-3 years.

QT: How long have you been working on this book?

Cara Collins:
I started the first draft just over a year ago, in May 2023.

QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?

Cara Collins:
Oh 100%. Actually the morning I got my first agent email to "set up a call" I was in the middle of a vent session with a friend talking about how I'm not sure I can keep going if this book doesn't fly, and joking about how I might be filled with enough spite to figure out the intricacies of self publishing, haha. Encouragement from my friends, commiserating with fellow querying writers, and support from my community helped on the bad days.

QT: Is this your first book?

Cara Collins:
No, but it was the first book where I felt like I found my footing as a writer.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Cara Collins:
Nope! I have a BA in Communications, but any writing done in college was essay writing, not creative.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Cara Collins:
No, I do better with organic, flexible schedules. I write when I want to write. Thankfully, that is very often!

QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

Cara Collins:
I did three full rounds of serious edits (first edit was about a 60% rewrite, and cut about 12k words, second round I cut another 8k words and trimmed down scenes, third was focusing on line level stuff and feedback I got from my critique group).

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Cara Collins:
Yes!! I have a dedicated critique group I meet with monthly that I found via The Great Beta Reader MatchUp, as well as my go-to critique partner who I often exchanged writing with. A GOOD critique partner is worth their weight in gold, but watch out for the ones that only hype you up (or, inversely, only cut you down).

QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?

Cara Collins:
A little bit of both. My process is very organic, and more of an experience in discovery than laying things out rigidly. I have a general idea of beginning, middle, end, but a lot changes as I go.

QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?

Cara Collins:
I queried my first book the summer of 2023 for about 3 months before deciding to pull it to rewrite it. This book I started querying late April of 2024 and I received my first offer of rep early July, so just over three months.

QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

Cara Collins:
For this one, I sent 98!!

QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

Cara Collins:
There are a lot of agents who rep romance, so I pretty much submitted to anyone who was open who was 1) a legit agent and 2) at a reputable agency. I didn't bother too much with heavy MSWL research.

QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?

Cara Collins:
Some of them! Only if something truly stuck out to me on their MSWL or a personal detail I knew about them.

QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?

Cara Collins:
The only way to fail is to give up. Keep going.

QT: Would you be willing to share your query with us?

Cara Collins:
Sure!

Query Letter:

THE TIDES BETWEEN US is a dual-timeline, 95,000-word adult contemporary romance that will appeal to readers who enjoyed the sweeping second chance at love of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After, and the New England coastal atmosphere and emotional heart of Emily Henry’s Happy Place and Amazon’s adaptation of The Summer I Turned Pretty.

After another lackluster date, Dani Dabrowski wants a man who truly gets her—or at least doesn’t condescend her astrology obsession and struggling copywriting business. Just-okay sex isn’t enough to distract from her unstable income and to make matters worse, her Grams’ senior community rent is going up and Dani’s footing the bill. Easygoing, earth-loving oyster farmer Brooks Sinclair used to check all her boxes, but after their heartwrenching breakup two years ago, their friendship's been a hollow replica of what it once was. They've buried their complicated history in the sand until Brooks visits home with the answer to her problems.

He’s nailed a career-altering magazine feature and needs someone to write the copy for his new website ahead of the write-up. Dani’s the only one he trusts to get it right. She’s nervous to work with the man she can’t get out of her head, but she’s never sent an invoice as large as he’s willing to pay and this project would float her Grams’ rent for months.

Now, she’s spending two weeks in quaint Easthaven for a boots-on-the-ground lesson on his business. When the last available hotel (and their rude ‘no pets’ policy) turns her and her cat away, she’s stuck staying with Brooks in his family’s salt-drenched cottage where they spent carefree summers as kids—and one steamy summer as adults. Learning about oyster cultivation and its environmental benefits elbow-deep in mud and seaweed doesn’t keep her from noticing what a great boss Brooks is to his ragtag team. Or how delicious he looks without a shirt.

This could be their shot at rebuilding their friendship if only they can resist the chemistry still sizzling between them. Giving him a second chance would mean confronting the painful past that ripped them apart, and taking the ultimate risk with their friendship. She can’t lose him permanently, or his family who took her under their wing. Falling in love with Brooks Sinclair (again) is not an option.

Like Dani and Brooks, I am self-employed as a designer and content marketer and love a good half-shell happy hour. I live in [redacted] with my husband and cats, Chip and Queso, and am currently working on my next contemporary romance. Thank you for your consideration.