Genn Albin’s Story of How She Got a Six-Figure, 3-Book Deal After Winning Pitchapalooza: Part 3

Our fabulous Kansas City Pitchapalooza winner, Genn Albin, gives us part 3 of 4 of her journey to a six-figure deal for her YA dystopian fantasy novel, Crewel

While I was making myself sick over how I would choose between seven amazing agents, I got an email from Arielle and David.  As luck would have it, we hadn’t been able to schedule our phone consultation, they were checking-in.  I quickly caught them up on the insanity, and I think they were as excited as I was.  They offered to talk it over on the phone, but as I was developing some type of scoliosis from being on the phone so much, I opted for some emails.

By this time I had narrowed it down to two agents with one dark horse contender.  I knew that if anyone would have sage advice on the topic, it would be David and Arielle, so I told them what agents I was considering.  They responded with their wisdom about each and helped to solidify what I was already thinking.

That didn’t mean that weekend was stress-free though.  I would go to bed one night quite sure of my decision and wake up feeling the opposite.  I flip-flopped right up until decision day.  But then I realized that when I had a question, there was one agent I wanted to ask first.  I was already emailing back and forth with her.  I knew exactly the right person to choose.

I spent the afternoon writing personalized thank you notes to each agent whom I did not choose.  A lot of writers like to fantasize about rejecting agents during the query process, and I can tell you its not as fun as it sounds.  I’d hit it off with each of them, but since I was only allowed to choose one, that meant sending rejections.  Almost all of them responding with warm well wishes, which just made me feel better and worse at the same time.

But then I got to make my own call.  To my own agent.  The one I chose.  And she was gone for the day.

Go figure.

Her assistant told me she would track her down, and I waited.  I finally decided a celebratory pie was in order and headed out with the kids (pie is the champagne of moms).  As I was buckling car seats, she called, and I accepted Mollie Glick’s offer of representation less than a week after I sent my first query.