In 2024, I decided to adopted the phrase “it doesn’t hurt to ask” as my personal mantra. I am honestly shocked how well things worked out.

But my journey toward publishing started well before 2024.

I specifically remember I started writing MY THORNS FOR YOUR ROSES on November 30th, 2022, the night before my wife started HRT. My sister had begged me to read ACOTAR and I finished it a few weeks prior. As someone married to a folklorist who knew of the Scottish folktale “Tam Lin,” I had opinions.

The plot did not go the way I felt a “Tam Lin” retelling should be written and being the external thinker that I am – I told my wife about all my ideas. I kept at it for weeks and finally my wife said, “Why don’t you write your own book, then?”

What better way to get a story out of your system than to write it down?

So, I wrote a rough draft in what little spare time I had as a mom and full-time employee, in the cracks of time between chores and after the kids were asleep at night from November 2022 – May 2023. “Rough” as in 129,000 words and I changed my mind about major plot points half-way through. Reading the story from beginning to end made zero sense.

From May until November that same year, I self-edited with some tips I found online and started querying literary agents in November 2023. That was my first mistake, but I did not know until much later that I queried too early. My word count sat somewhere around 110,000 at that point, so while I had trimmed a lot, I still had a long way to go.

I got my first bite from a new agent and she requested the full. I deluded myself for a second that I might be one of the lucky ones to escape the querying trenches in record time. But a few weeks later she gave me a very kind pass that it she just did not “fall in love with it.” While we both enjoyed interacting with one another online, it was not meant to be.

I got a lot of similar responses. Due to a mixture of disappointment and impatience, I wanted a professional’s opinion. I hired Andie Smith of Suns & Spines Editorial in January 2024. Andie had good reviews and her services were in my price range. I paid extra for expedited 10-day feedback timeline, which was my second mistake. You should not rush someone critiquing your work. Like good food, some things need time to properly marinade.

Despite my haste, hiring Andie turned out to be an excellent decision. She provided a lot of encouraging words, developmental notes with actional feedback, and some suggestions of her own. I agreed with most of what she had to say, but I stood my ground on a few particular points. By then I had a vague notion for the rest of the series and those changes would not have worked with where I wanted to take the story in later books.

I took Andie’s commentary and made some changes, but they did not feel like enough to take my manuscript to the next level agents craved, but I had no idea how to get there. I entered #RevPit and got a few solid resources out of it, (I highly recommend Story Chat Radio by editors Carly Hayward and Jeni Chappelle) but I did not win the prize to work with an editor. No more fulls on the querying end, not even a partial. I felt stuck.

So, I took a break to read again. I had not read anything for pleasure in ages. I had been ravenous for stories and devoured books like Girl Scout cookies. Reading sparked ideas to improve my own manuscript with tiny, yet significant details that added emotional depth that earlier version lacked – something Andie mentioned, but I did not understand how to fix.

I came back to my manuscript with fresh eyes, having read a dozen other stories, and went to work. During this time, I got a partial request that did not results in an offer of representation, but I she gave me a copy of her editing guide which I used to go over my manuscript one last time. My final word count? 107,000 for my adult romantasy faerie tale retelling. Perfect.

To backtrack a bit. In January 2024, while scrolling through the comments section on Query Tracker, I noticed an author left a comment about withdrawing their manuscript because they got an offer of publication from a small publisher. I asked the author more about it and they mentioned Conquest Publishing by name, so I messaged Conquest on Twitter to ask if they had any upcoming open submission calls. They told me to check back in at the end of summer.

So in July 2024, I had my polished manuscript and planned to participate in the first #SmallPitch, where authors could pitch their books directly to small, indie publishers rather than going through the usual hoops for the change to sell to one of the Big 5 publishers.

(The format for #SmallPitch has changed since then and if you are interested in publishing with a small, indie press I highly recommend it!)

I had a bite from a new indie publisher for a #QueerPit event that I had high hopes for, but they did not see a place for my novel in the crowded romantasy space without workshopping to make it something completely different. I loved the story I wanted to tell, so I turned the offer down.

With #SmallPitch on the horizon, I reached out to Conquest again, asking if they knew about the event and about their open submission period.

I got a response that their open submissions were not live yet, but I could submit before they opened to everyone else. Conquest promptly contacted the #SmallPitch event host afterward to join as a participating publisher. Win-win.

Even if they did not ask for a full of my manuscript, I felt proud that someone would likely get a book deal because I stopped being so afraid of asking questions.

The day of #SmallPitch, Conquest requested a full and I sent it immediately. Six weeks later, I received an email asking to meet for a discuss on publication. I nearly cried.

The call with Brittany went well and she promised a contract would be sent in the next few days. In the meantime, I asked around to writing community about Conquest’s reputation since the had only been in business less than 18 months. Other authors offered glowing reviews about their experience.

Now, admittedly, I did consider hiring a lawyer to review the contract and honestly if you don’t have an agent it’s a good idea to take that extra precaution. However, Conquest’s contract was so close to the example The Authors Guild uses and Brittany took the time to explain all the terms I did not understand. All of those were green flags for me, so I signed.

I started my querying journey in November 2023 with the hopes of landing an agent. Though things did not go the way I intended, I learned and grew as an author in the query trenches, and by September 2024 I signed directly with Conquest. I did not give up, I adapted, and I took criticism as an opportunity to hone my craft. Now my debut romantasy, MY THORNS FOR YOUR ROSES, will published in April 2026.

You never know which doors will open for you if you are brave enough to ask.