Monday, February 24, 2025
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My Unusual Debut Success Story That Landed a Two-Book Deal With a Major Publisher

I wrote my first novel in late summer 2014… yep. Nearly 10 years ago. It was a cozy mystery called The Deadly Alb that you will never read, nor do you want to (trust me). Still, it was my recovery method of choice from a traumatic ectopic pregnancy, and it taught me that 1) writing books is an excellent way to dip out of the painful real world and find escapist relief, and 2) I was capable of writing a whole darn book. Whoa.

(I Got 8 Agent Offers; Then, My Book Died on Sub.)

That fall, I wrote another—a YA dystopian you will also never read (nor do you want to). That’s the first book I seriously queried. Prior to that, I didn’t even know what a query was! Or what an agent was. Or anything, really. 

Imagine my surprise when right away, I got an R&R from a really amazing agent! Which I tackled far too quickly and went on to totally bomb. Oh well. In retrospect, thank God that didn’t work out. As a much more seasoned writer than I was a decade ago, I can say with utter confidence that getting a book deal that fast would have 1) set me up for very unrealistic expectations in all things publishing, and 2) created a whole set of problems that I couldn’t then anticipate.

At that point, for example, I didn’t really understand story structure. I’d written two books—but that didn’t mean I understood what I’d done, what was working and why, and what wasn’t working and why. I didn’t understand the concept of reader expectations. Character arcs (*I know*). Delivering on a premise. Pitching. The market. I didn’t even have a clear sense of genres—what they were, and what I was writing. 

I had basically winged it, twice, and if (God forbid) I’d landed a two-book deal with that YA dystopian, I would have fallen on my face with Book #2. I happen to know this is factually correct since, contrary to all the advice on the internet, I did attempt to write a sequel to it before securing an agent. 125k words later, it still wasn’t done. It now rotteth on the graveyard of my hard drive where, I’m sorry to say, it belongs.

Over the next few years, I wrote more books in a variety of young adult genres, perfected my querying skills, participated in Twitter pitching events (which really helped me hone my pitching skills!), read everything about the publishing industry I could get my hands on, fielded hundreds of rejections, and started to actually learn what it was all about—both the publishing industry, and what makes a book work (or not). 

Some of the books I queried got me close to landing an agent, but it wasn’t until Book #5, a young adult mystery called Not the One You Think, that I got two offers! One of them was from Lauren, and her enthusiasm during our call sold me hard. We signed together in June of 2019, after I’d been in the query trenches for more than four years. Here’s my original query letter!

Dear Ms. Bieker,

I’ve just completed a 98k-word YA mystery called Not the One You Think, which I describe as One of Us is Lying meets Mean Girls, and I’d love for you to consider it for representation.

Sixteen-year-old Britta Andersen doesn’t belong. She’s just had a traumatic move from Spain to Indiana. Her parents are ex-missionaries, which is distinctly weird. She has the wrong clothes, the wrong hair, and no money to fix it. Oh, and she has yet to break to her parents that she doesn’t believe in God.

On Britta’s first day at Pine Lake High, a bully sees an easy target and soon the whole school is laughing at her. But then, like a miraculous lightning bolt from heaven, the Great Rescuer shows up—not God, but Robin Langley, the most popular girl in school. As Britta begins to explore the boundaries of her conservative upbringing, Robin ushers Britta into a world of dangerous boys, broken curfews, and an ecstatic independence that has Britta feeling like she finally has the chance to become someone new.

Then everything starts to fall apart—Britta’s family, her reputation and her new dating relationship. Could things get worse? Yes. When Robin disappears at a wild lakefront party and the police say it’s murder, Britta and two of her classmates come into possession of Robin’s journal. But this is no ordinary diary. This book, they’re convinced, holds the name of the killer. Except their names are in there too.

If Britta and her friends turn the book in, it could ruin their lives. The solution? To find the killer themselves. But in a world where justice can be cruel and lying kind, the answer is far from clear. One thing is certain—the clock is ticking on Britta, her friends, and her family. Can Britta find her friend’s killer before it’s too late?

I’m an unpublished writer based in Chicago, looking for an agent who will be an advocate and a coach, pushing my work to be the best it can so that we can grow our careers together.

I’m pasting the first two chapters below, per your guidelines, and I hope you enjoy reading!

Thanks,

Jenna Satterthwaite

We revised and honed and cut words and revised again before going on sub later on that year… and we did not sell it. Then, 2020 hit: COVID. We pulled back a bit. Publishing was (we heard) in chaos. No one knew what was going on, and it seemed like a bad time to keep pushing editors. Meanwhile, though, I was working on another Young Adult mystery with a Pan’s Labyrinth comp that I loved (and still love, to this day, and hope to eventually sell). 

Later in 2020, when things had stabilized a bit, we sent that one out on sub. We got some really nice rejections over multiple rounds, but still no enchilada. Next up was a YA crossover speculative…then an adult epic fantasy (that has my heart, still)…then an adult women’s fiction (that made me snort laugh while writing it)… and finally, the one that would go on to sell: my first adult thriller.

Yes, by the way. You read that correctly: it took me SIX manuscripts with Lauren to finally sell one. Three young adult and three adult.


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We sent Made for You into the world in late summer 2022, right as my youngest sister was dying. It was a grueling time for me personally, and when the rejections started rolling in, I couldn’t help but think this one would likely end up just like the others, on the hard drive that now housed so many ‘dead’ projects. 

It was February 2023 when Leah from Mira/HarperCollins first reached out with interest. I could hardly believe it. Could this be it?? One thing led to another (a story for another time) and she made an offer in early May 2023, which we accepted. We were able to announce the (2-book!) deal later that month, and my life has not been the same since!

I couldn’t be happier that Made for You is my debut. It’s a high concept thriller that I describe as The Bachelor meets The Stepford Wives, and I have to add that the AI angle which people are describing as ‘timely’ was merely a stroke of luck, since I wrote it before the conversations around AI started heating up. After years of bad luck (such as querying a dystopian right as everyone decided they were done with it), I’ll take it!

Since then, Lauren and I have also sold another thriller, Beach Bodies, to Thorne Ryan at Transworld/PRH UK, which I’m publishing under pen name Sienna Sharpe. It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that, after more than eight years of rejection, within a single 12-month period, I sold not one, not two, but three books to two different Big Five houses.

There’s no moral to this story, but I’d like to highlight two things. First, between agent rejections over more than four years in the query trenches and editor rejections over six projects with Lauren, I once tallied up all the rejections. There were over 700. Yep.

Second, Lauren has always made me feel super secure. There was never a sense that she would cut me off if we couldn’t sell Book #1… or book #2… or book #3… or (you get the point). In fact, she went out of her way to reassure me that we were in it to win it, and that one day I’d have a breakthrough and we’d go on to sell my backlist too (fingers crossed!).

Fast forward to January 2024, just a few months ago, and my journey through the world of publishing took a fun new turn: I joined Storm Literary in January as an Associate Literary Agent (a story for another time!). As I sign my first clients, I can’t help but think of my own agent, Lauren. She has truly set the example of the kind of agent I want to be—an unshakeable cheerleader. If as an agent I can provide that safe “risk free” space for my clients, I believe that is where their creativity can best thrive long term, just as my creativity has done through Lauren’s loyalty and belief in my talent and potential.

Also, just for funsies, and to close this out, here is our pitch letter for Made for You, which is pretty much just like a query letter except for editors! And if this makes you want to perhaps preorder? Well, I’d be eternally grateful.

Dear Leah,

I hope you are well and enjoying the transition into fall. I have a new project that would make a fun addition to your list at MIRA. At just over 100k words, MADE FOR YOU by Jenna Satterthwaite is a fascinating domestic thriller that will appeal to fans of THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME by Laura Dave and THE ECHO WIFE by Sarah Gailey.

Synthetic woman Julia Walden has been designed for one reason: to compete on The Bachelor and win the love of leading man Josh LaSala. Engineered by WekTech genius Andy Wekstein to be Josh’s perfect match, Julia is a wildly controversial addition to the cast, earning the ire not only of her housemates and Bachelor fans, but also of the American public. If Julia knows one thing though, it’s that she’s falling head over heels for attractive, muscled, midwestern Josh–and he seems to be feeling the same.

15 months after the show and now married to Josh, the dream has become a nightmare. Julia is supposed to be living the simple life in small-town southern Indiana with her husband, 6-month-old baby, and dog. But people are having a harder time accepting a Synth in their midst than Josh and Julia ever imagined. After months and months of vandalism, threats, and spying neighbors, the couple is reaching their breaking point.

When Josh fails to return from a hiking trip, the missing persons case Julia opens quickly escalates to a full-on murder investigation. Convinced the Sheriff will do whatever it takes to pin the murder on her and take her child, Julia takes the investigation into her own hands, following the trail from Josh’s abandoned campsite, back to her own neighbors, and finally to Andy, the man who designed her. But did Andy really design her for love–or for something more sinister?

MADE FOR YOU is a dual timeline novel that intersperses THEN scenes, which follow Julia through her time on the Bachelor, with NOW murder mystery scenes. The story combines reality TV drama and sneaky suspense and will have you intrigued until the very end.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Best,

Lauren 

Check out Jenna Satterthwaite’s Made for You here:

Bookshop | Amazon

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