10 Agents Looking for Novels Like "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Where to Query This Week (2.5.25) | Plus navigating the ebbs and flows of author-agent communication. And personalized agent lists have reopened!
Welcome to Sub Club’s Where to Query This Week! We have a JAM PACKED issue for you today, so buckle in.
First, I wanted to let everyone know that I’m reopening my Personalized Agent List service to another 10 writers! I love reading your query letters and finding the best agents for your projects, and I’m ready to do it all again this February. Here is what people are saying so far:
This list resulted in my first-ever request for the full manuscript. I've been saying for a while that it'll be a cold day in hell before I get an agent... and I still think that's probably the case, but I now feel like the temperature in hell has maybe dropped a degree or two.
I so appreciate this beautiful, curated list. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the whole querying process.
As a reminder, the Personalized Agent List includes:
A customized list of agents suited to your genre and project
A brief explanation of why each agent is a great match for your manuscript
Suggested phrasing for your query letter to help you show how your book aligns with their interests
Tips on how to make your query letter shine
I hope this will take a huge weight off your shoulders and allow this nightmarish process to be just a little bit simpler. I can’t wait to read your queries!
»Full disclosure: it's $300 a person since this will take an exhaustive amount of time, and I want to handle each carefully. Also, because of this, I am only taking 10 at a time. So, I will be closing this form after 10. If you see that it's closed, there will be an option to join the waitlist.«
Next, we have a wonderful piece from our guest, Jenna Satterthwaite. Jenna is a literary agent, the author of multiple novels under the pen name Sienna Sharpe, and the creator of
. In her essay below, she talks about how communication with your agent naturally ebbs and flows; key moments where you can expect more frequent updates; why long periods of silence are normal in publishing; and when and how to follow up if you need support.Now, onto agent things with Jenna!
Navigating the Ebbs and Flows of Author-Agent Communication
Hi, Sub Club readers! When Kailey reached out to me about writing a guest post, I was absolutely thrilled! I’m an author and an agent, and I write over yonder on my own Substack about all things publishing. Today, I’m excited to tackle the author-agent relationship with you all today and how communication ebbs and flows throughout that relationship.
I think people who don’t yet have an agent have a lot of different ideas, dreams, and hopes about what it might be like on the “other side.” Honestly, the experience is simply not the same for everyone. Please don’t read any judgment calls into this, but let me throw out a few scenarios just to illustrate.
Depending on the size of the agency your agent belongs to, you may frequently be working with their assistant instead of the agent you directly signed with. Depending on the size of their client list and whether they’re a newer or more established agent, your agent might take a week (or a month, or three) to get back to you with an edit letter. Maybe they’ll be quick and responsive. Maybe they’ll go quiet for longer periods. Maybe they’ve signed you for a single title, which puts more pressure on selling that one book they fell in love with. Maybe they’ve told you they’re along for the ride and are open to working on whatever you want to do next! And, of course, personality makes a huge impact on the experience too. Maybe they’re the warm and fuzzy type who loves texting and being silly, and they feel like your new BFF. Or maybe they’re extremely professional and efficient, and their tone is more formal (with zero silly texts). None of these scenarios are necessarily bad! Just different. Truthfully, there are as many flavors of agents as there are agents out there.
Regardless of the situation and personality of your present or future agent, your rhythm of communication with them will most likely not be a constant. It will ebb, and it will flow. There will be periods of more intense communication and also long periods of silence.
Here are some thoughts on what that might look like from my dual perspectives of author and agent!
Times of Intense Communication
In the long journey toward becoming a traditionally published author, there are certainly some highly active and frenzied periods when something exciting is happening. When you have multiple offers from agents, for example, and spend two weeks taking calls and following up with references. When your book gets its first offer, editors go on a reading deadline, which elicits a flurry of responses and possibly calls and more offers. We’ve all heard the adage that publishing moves slowly until it doesn’t. And you can expect that your communication with your agent will map somewhat onto that reality!
In general, you can expect your agent to be extremely communicative at some key times:
When you’re onboarding
To perhaps state the obvious, when you’re a new client onboarding with your new agent, there will be a lot of back and forth as you sign the contract, talk about manuscript edits, get added to the agency website, and announce your new partnership.
When you’re prepping a book for submission to editors
You should be hearing from your agent on things like the pitch letter (I always share that with my authors!), the submission list (what editors at what imprints and houses your agent plans on sending your book to), and obviously any edits on your book!
When you get an offer
This is one of the most fun parts of the journey. If an offer from an editor comes in, my authors WILL get a text from me. And no, I cannot wait for them to check their email! The offer unleashes a wave of activity, from discussing the offer and meeting with the editor to putting other editors who still have the manuscript on a deadline. If the book goes to auction that can be a wild time too, with multiple author/editor/agent calls and author/agent calls where you review bidding editors, offers, deal points, and more.
When they’re negotiating your book deal
You should have the chance to review your agent’s negotiations on the offer deal points and the contract before it goes back to the publisher. Like we say at Storm, it’s your name on the contract at the end of the day. Your agent should be up for hopping on phone calls to clarify All The Things and eager to make sure you understand the terms, both good and bad (and the implications thereof), of what you’re signing.
If something is going wonky post-book deal
After the book deal, your agent should be ready to step in and manage anything problematic that’s going on with your editor or publisher, which can sometimes mean emails or phone calls or even secret back alley fist fights (just kidding on that last one…or am I?). For example, if you hate your book cover, and the publisher changed it, and you still hate it, you’ll need agent intervention because the publisher isn’t listening to your feedback. Or maybe your editor isn’t meeting deadlines, putting you in a crunch or delaying your pub date. Maybe you’ve had a bad health flare-up and need a couple of extra weeks to turn in edits. A number of things could happen.
Times of Silence
Of course, those periods of more intense communication do tend to be, erm, less frequent than the periods of nothing happening. Here are some times in the life of your agent/author journey when you might not hear from your agent as often.
When you’re on submission
Before going on submission, you should make sure you know how your agent normally communicates and make sure to express what you want as well. On the agent side, I update a shared Excel sheet with editor responses as they come in. That means, barring good news, I’m not necessarily communicating directly with my authors. They can see the rejections I’ve pasted into the shared sheet, as well as other information like what dates I’ve nudged, new rounds of editors I’ve sent it to, etc. But we’re not emailing back and forth about them (unless an author initiates that).
Still, books can spend a VERY long time on sub. Not just weeks, but months. Even years (yes, and I’m sorry). Your agent may be quiet during this time, but ideally, they are quietly doing their regular follow-ups, and finding new people to send your book to.
After you send a new manuscript their way
Unless your agent is new and doesn’t have a full list—or they’re superhuman—they likely won’t be able to turn around edits on your next book super quickly. As someone who’s been agenting for a year and has about 20 clients on my list, reviewing an author’s second book (or third, etc.) can take months. (To be clear, for authors who don’t currently have a book on submission or for those who I’ve just signed, I’m much faster. I like to have something out there for everyone at all times when possible.)
This may sound like an extremely long time. But keep in mind that I may have other books ahead of those books, or other pressing priorities—an influx of contracts (time-consuming, but vital!), a new offer that needs to be negotiated, or material from the query inbox that suddenly gets other offers and puts me on a deadline. Fun story, this happened last weekend, and I read three books in two days. My brain is still recovering!
If nothing new is going on OR if you’re working more closely with your editor instead
In general, if your book is on sub—perhaps even languishing on sub—and you’ve written nothing new, very long periods of time could go by without your agent communicating with you. Or, in a more fun scenario, maybe your book has sold, and you’re working with your editor on developmental edits (followed by line edits, copy edits, and pass pages), and your agent just doesn’t need to be closely involved in that part. There are many reasons why you just may not need to touch base for a while.
I do know of some agents who do yearly check-ins. One agent I know even does this with their authors quarterly! But many of us don’t unless there’s either a reason to touch base or the author reaches out to initiate a meeting. With my agent, there are months (and months and months) where I just don’t need to talk to her. I might be working with my editor on revisions for my sold book, or I might be working privately on a new book. I know she’ll be there when I need her, but I don’t feel the need to be in touch during those more chill periods, or times when I’ve got it handled on my own.
In Conclusion
At the end of the day, as with most relationships, communication with your agent is going to ebb and flow. That is 100% normal and does not mean that your agent doesn’t adore you!
However! If you’re feeling neglected or are waiting for your agent to respond to an email for longer than you’d like—perhaps over 72 hours?—or your agent has blown past a deadline without a peep, reach out!
Ideally, your agent will proactively communicate if they’re running behind on a deadline. It can definitely be a red flag if they habitually miss deadlines and don’t say anything. But if it happens once, don’t read too much into it. We’re only human! And if your agent is a decent agent and a decent human, they will not be upset at all if you reach out and nudge, or even point out the missed deadline. In fact, I’d be upset if my authors were afraid to nudge.
All in all, don’t read too much into periods of silence from your agent. But do speak up if there are things that need to be done that aren’t getting done or if you’re simply feeling the need to touch base.
I hope this provided a little insight into the author/agent relationship and what to expect during certain periods in the life of your book. Thanks for reading! Any questions?
Born in the Midwest, Jenna Satterthwaite grew up in Spain, lived briefly in France, and is now happily settled in Chicago with her husband and three kids. Jenna studied classical guitar at the Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Zaragoza and earned her BAs in English Lit and French at Indiana University.
Jenna is a literary agent with Storm Literary Agency, and an author of thrillers and thriller-romance. Made For You is her debut novel, out now with HarperCollins. The New Year's Party is coming from HarperCollins November 2025. Under the pseudonym Sienna Sharpe, Jenna is also the author of Beach Bodies (UK) and A Killer Getaway (US title), both releasing Summer 2025.
Connect with Jenna on X or BlueSky @jennaschmenna, Instagram @jenna.satterthwaite.author, or on her Substack. She loves to hear from readers, writers, and anyone interested in the crazy world of publishing!
» Ready to self-publish like a pro?! Join bestselling author
for Book It, Babe: Your Guide to Self-Publishing Success on Substack, a high-energy workshop with Write or Die on February 9 that will equip you with the strategies, mindset, and tools to launch, market, and monetize your book with confidence <3. Sign up here. «If you want to ask a question in our Query Hotline, fill out the form here with any questions you might have about querying—whether that’s around agents, indie presses, book contests, formatting, genres, or if you just need someone to tell you you’re doing just fine.
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10 Agents Looking for Novels Like "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid
As you might have noticed, my agent list is a little different today! Instead of focusing on one genre, I thought exploring a book I see on so many agent’s wishlists would be fun.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid has sold over five million copies and was a New York Times Bestseller. The story follows the life of Hollywood icon Evelyn Hugo as she finally shares the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. This novel is categorized as historical fiction, women’s fiction, contemporary fiction, and/or romance, and contains a unique narrative structure with character-driven storytelling—all elements the agents on this list are looking for. Could you be the next Taylor Jenkins Reid?!
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