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Teresa Richards: A Query Kombat Success Story

Success stories are one of the best parts of hosting contests. Sure, the contests are fun and everyone learns, but it's always helpful to see when that hard work pays off. I'm excited to present you with Teresa's story. Hi everyone! I'm thrilled to announce that I've signed with agent Mallory Brown from TriadaUS, as a result of a request made during Query Kombat this year. My entry was for a manuscript called Windfall, nicknamed My Boyfriend Rigged the Lottery, and made it to Round 4 of the competition. I received eight requests during the agent round.

One of the requesting agents was Uwe Stender, founder of Triada. After I got knocked out of the competition, I sent the requested material to him, along with the other agents. Then I waited.

I worked on another writing project. I enjoyed the summer. I went on vacation with my family. I sent out more queries. I got my kids started back at school.

By mid-August, I'd heard back from a couple of the other requesting agents with either rejections or requests for more material, but hadn't heard back from Uwe. Since Triada is well-known for its quick response times (their query guidelines state that if you haven't heard back in two weeks, then they didn't receive your query), I decided to follow up to make sure he'd received the material I'd sent him. He responded right away that it must have slipped through the cracks and that he'd take a look soon. I am *so* glad I followed up!

Two weeks later, he emailed and said that he'd passed it along to one of his agent assistants, Mallory Brown, who wanted to see the whole thing. Five days after that, Mallory emailed me with an offer of representation! She listed all the things she loved about Windfall and all the ways she'd connected to the story! After talking with her on the phone and hearing her enthusiasm, I was convinced she was the right agent for me and the perfect person to pitch my book to editors.

And now it's official. I've joined #TeamTriada and am now rep'd by Mallory Brown!

*Commence freaking-awesome mildly embarrassing happy-dancing*

Of course, news this big requires a celebration. Since I did things a little backward and already have a book out with Evernight Teen, I'm going to celebrate with a giveaway! Up for grabs is an Emerald Bound prize pack, including a signed copy of the book, a metal Shepherd's-hook bookmark with emerald charm, and a custom-made Emerald Bound key chain. The giveaway will be live on my blog, http://teresarichardswrites.blogspot.com/ until October 4. Emerald Bound is a YA fantasy, so it's a different genre than Windfall. It's a dark retelling of The Princess and the Pea, in which the pea is an enchanted, life-sucking emerald.

For those who are interested, here are my query stats for Windfall:

Queries sent out: 79
Partial requests: 10
Full requests: 4
Rejections: 46
No response: 33

The bulk of those 79 queries were sent out before Query Kombat. I had a much higher request rate on the queries I sent after incorporating feedback from the competition. If you ever have the chance to enter Query Kombat, or even just stalk the entries and read through the feedback they're getting, DO IT!

Thanks again to Michelle, Laura and Michael for running this awesome competition and for the gobs and gobs of amazing judges and writers who took the time to read my entry and provide feedback. This success belongs to all of you and I am profoundly grateful!

And now, if you'll excuse me, I must go finish my happy dance.
Labels: Query Kombat 2016, QueryKombat, Success stories
 
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