Success Story Interview - Hannah Hartley

An Interview with Hannah Hartley (HKing on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, LLC.

07/24/2024

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

Hannah Hartley:
I’ve written an adult contemporary romance/romcom that bends genre quite a bit because I want to write something that gives readers the teenage feelings of an unhinged crush. I knew I wanted to do this when eighteen-year-old me decided to read the classics Pride and Prejudice and Emma (the enemies to lovers/friends to lovers blueprints) and again when twenty-year-old read Twilight for the first time, then yet again when I read The Hating Game—those books had me feral. I just had no idea *how* to do it back then.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Hannah Hartley:
I have been writing since late 2019—about five years. In the early days, it was on and off while I was learning the craft (and still am), so I’d say *seriously* writing for two.

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

Hannah Hartley:
I got the initial idea for this book in 2019 and jotted some notes. Then, after a few false starts, began drafting from start to finish between Jan-Oct 2023. I then self-edited for a few months, queried too early (oops), acquired an author mentor (shoutout Amy August Jones), and completed a developmental revision. In total, I’d say 18 months to the version that led to an offer.

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

Hannah Hartley:
Funnily enough, there wasn’t. What helped me stay the course was the rabid response from my lovely alpha/beta readers, the support of my writing groups (shoutout ADHD crew/KissPitch mentees), and my unwavering delusion.

QT: Is this your first book?

Hannah Hartley:
This is my second. I wrote my first novel as a practice, and while I still love it, it needs major revisions.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Hannah Hartley:
No, but I come from a science and education background—lots of technical writing in those degrees. I did one online four-week creative writing course, Unlocking Creativity at The Writers’ Studio which was excellent.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Hannah Hartley:
Not at all, I wish I did. I’ll have periods of writing every day to the detriment of all else, then periods of recovery.

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

Hannah Hartley:
This book essentially flowed out close to its final form, but I did four rounds of full edits. I also prefer to draft clean, and did *a lot* of editing as I wrote.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Hannah Hartley:
I had alpha readers who read a chapter at a time as I was writing and approximately twenty beta readers.

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

Hannah Hartley:
A bit of both. I outlined chapters with a sentence or two, then wrote toward satisfying the aim of the chapter. The characters decide how they meet their goals.

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

Hannah Hartley:
This is the first project I’ve queried. I queried for three months, got a mentor, and pulled everything. Then, queried the revised manuscript for an additional two months before receiving my offer.

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

Hannah Hartley:
Two hundred and sixty-nine… To be fair, many were repeats after withdrawing and resubmitting. I queried for a total of about 20 weeks, which averages to 13 queries sent per week, 2 per day.

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

Hannah Hartley:
I had a list of agents who I really wanted and thought would love my book and sprinkled them in. Then, queried everyone who accepted my genre as long as I also matched their anti-MSWL.

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

Hannah Hartley:
In the first round, yes. I mentioned specific things from their MSWLs or sales records. But once my query was working, the most personalization I did was triple-checking the agent’s name. My offer was on a non-personalised query (but was an agent I really wanted!)

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

Hannah Hartley:
I think there’s a lot of luck involved in getting your work into the hands of the right agent at the right time. Believe in your projects and don’t give up!

Query Letter:

Dear [Agent],

I'm seeking representation for WHAT’S MINE (97,000 words), a steamy adult romcom told in dual timeline ala Christina Lauren’s Love and Other Words. Think the lusty tension of The Hating Game if Joshua were a kinky New York accountant, appealing to readers of People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry.

Emma James is the pink sequin-clad black sheep in a family of Wall Street elites. The haunting eyes of Simon, the boy next door, and forbidden temptation were the last things she saw before she fled from her ex-CEO father’s authoritarian regime.

Simon Quill is her brother’s best friend, agonizingly hot, and Emma’s one burning desire. He’s an athlete, golden child, and her father’s favorite protégé on the finance career fast track while Emma is pressing clovers between the pages of her Austens. Though prohibited from speaking to each other, stolen trysts in their shared treehouse lead to a love affair from which they never recover. But when Emma’s father threatens her future, Emma chooses freedom, and Simon chooses the family, ending their relationship in heartbreak.

Six years of radio silence later, Emma is summoned from self-imposed exile to be the best woman at her brother’s wedding. Her father, still hell-bent on her total submission, plans to issue an ultimatum: come home or face disinheritance. But unbeknownst to anyone, this college dropout is now a social media marketing powerhouse in the shadows with an ultimatum for her corrupt father of her own. Partnered with man of honor Simon, sparks fly, and flames rekindle when he clarifies that Emma is the only one for him. For their future together, Emma must slay her childhood demons, confront her father, and stake claim on what’s rightfully hers.

I’m a neurodivergent high school science teacher from Melbourne, Australia, and this is my first novel. I have been working with an author mentor (Amy Jones, repped by Eva Scalzo) and have just completed a developmental revision.

Thanks for your time and consideration,
Hannah Hartley.