Success Story Interview - Evaline Horng

An Interview with Evaline Horng (lelashiba18 on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Hillary Fazzari of Bradford Literary Agency.

07/31/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?

Evaline Horng:
I was querying two projects simultaneously, a YA and an illustrated PB, two projects in vastly different genres. I initially queried my agent with the YA and after she read the full, she requested to see the PB as well. I’m not quite sure which project made my agent decide to take a chance on me. I’d like to think it was both. Both stories share fantastical elements, inspired by my Asian culture and Asian folklore.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Evaline Horng:
I’m sure many authors will say the same thing: I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. But I’ve been writing to publish for almost four years now. The first two of those years I spent working on projects and going on sub with my first agent. Then after parting ways with that agent, I spent another year and a half querying the projects that eventually led me to my current agent.

QT: How long have you been working on this book?

Evaline Horng:
Initially, I spent about six months writing my YA, from first draft to what would be the version I first queried. Three months into querying, I received an R&R from my agent, during which time I pulled the book back from querying and spent another 6 months revising. So, in total, I’d say I worked on this book for a year before I got signed.

QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?

Evaline Horng:
Publishing is brutal. No matter how good you think your book is, how hard you’ve worked on it, and how much love you put into writing your masterpiece (and yes! It is a masterpiece! Believe in it!), once you put your book out there, you’ll quickly learn that there’s no shortage of people lining up to tell you your book’s not as good as you think it is—or at least that’s how it feels. Something you’ll learn very quickly, though, is how much you want this. The agent. The book deal. Getting to the day when you can finally share you story with the world. Hold on to that. I’ve heard people describe the persistency and drive we see in authors as “desperation”. For me that desperation could be the very thing that drowns out all the “nos” and self-doubt and carries you to that finish line. So go ahead, be desperate!

QT: Is this your first book?

Evaline Horng:
No. It’s my fourth give or take. Before this, I went on sub with my first agent with three projects.

QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?

Evaline Horng:
I think of this latest plunge back into the query trenches as, Season 2 of Evaline’s Querying (and I hope there won’t be a season 3). It took me a year and a half from when I parted ways with my first agent, to signing with my current agent. For the majority of this year and a half, my YA was my sole project. It was only in these last 2 months, as interest in the YA dwindled, and fulls came back as rejections and it looked like this book might not make it out of the trenches alive that I decided to trying querying the PB as a sort of Hail Mary.

QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?

Evaline Horng:
Close to a hundred. But for reference, my agent was one of the first 30 I queried, and I was about 6 rejections in when I received my full request from her. By the time we signed, I was nearing 100 queries, and over 70 rejections. It’s true what they say, you never know when it’s going to happen. Querying is unpredictable.

QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?

Evaline Horng:
I prioritized agents who have expressed interest in seeing stories from marginalized authors. As a BIPOC author, it was important to me to find a partner for my work that shared a respect, if not a love, for my culture, and who was willing to take the time understand and learn to connect with my stories in an industry that is often times dismissive of marginalized voices.

QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?

Evaline Horng:
If I had something genuine to say, I would. For example, if we connected during a pitch contest or if the agent expressed they wanted a book about Japanese board games (which is what my PB is about), I would definitely mention it. But I learned not to force a personalization for the sake of personalization. In the long run, I’ve learned, personalization doesn’t really tip the scale in any significant way. I’ve had full requests from agents who didn’t get a personalized query and I’ve had rejections—or worse, been ghosted— from agents who did get a personalized query.

QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?

Evaline Horng:
Again, querying is unpredictable. There’s no real strategy. It’s puzzling and frustrating and sometimes it can feel just downright unfair. And take it from someone who’s done this twice—you don’t get better at it. Or at least I didn’t. The first time I queried, I landed an agent in just 3 months, after about 50 queries. The second time, it took me a year and half, and close to 100 queries. Funny thing is, this second time around I jumped back into the query trenches with more experience, more industry connection, and what I believed was a far more marketable book, and a stronger query package than the first time around. I thought I knew publishing. I thought I was a seasoned pro now. I thought it would be easier. It wasn’t. All of this is to say, once you enter the trenches, all bets are off. The only thing you can do is keep moving forward. Hold on to hope, keep believing in your book. You never know when the offer is coming, sometimes it’s right around the corner, and you just need to send 100 queries and endure over 70 rejections before it all pays off!