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As I mentioned, my friends sure didn’t lack for ideas when critiquing my book. In fact, put all their emails together and I’d have enough material for a sequel. In the end, I spent as long editing BUSTED as I did writing it, and it wasn’t until summer 2006 that I decided to revisit the world of the query letter.   

I compiled a shortlist of six agents to whom I’d sacrifice my firstborn if they took me on—bear in mind that he was waking up about seventeen times a night back then, so it seemed like a win-win—then waited. This time, everyone was interested. In particular, Megan Atwood at Firebrand Literary blew me away with the kind of gushing praise normally reserved for Pulitzer Prize winners, if Pulitzer Prize winners ever wrote about hormonally charged boys with a fetish for tits, that is. Which they don’t, as far as I can tell. But I was won over anyway.

I signed with Megan (and Firebrand) in September 2006. Megan had a strong background in publishing (she was a former acquisitions editor for Flux, of which more later) and an infectious enthusiasm, and I knew we’d make a good match. And we almost certainly would have, if she hadn’t left the publishing industry for personal reasons. Still, before she signed off she left me in the ever-capable hands of Nadia Cornier, agent extraordinaire and founder of Firebrand. I was naturally thrilled, and over the next few months Nadia and I worked on a series of comprehensive revisions, reshaping and polishing until the novel was ready to face the critical eyes of editors. 

As a final step, Nadia showed the book to Firebrand’s new agent, Ted Malawer. In addition to making some brilliantly insightful comments, Ted told me that he loved the book—completely and utterly loved it, and was so excited to see it go to print. The next day we chatted on the phone about our interests and aims, and it became abundantly clear to me that Ted was my dream agent: super smart, gently critical but generously encouraging, and with an unerring belief in me and my writing. I’d read various accounts of what to look for in an agent, so I didn’t need more than a moment to recognize I needed Ted to represent me. And I can honestly say that every day since I’ve realized how outrageously lucky I am to have him in my corner.

All we needed now was a publisher . . .