Success Story Interview - Alexandra Orchard

An Interview with Alexandra Orchard (AOrchard134 on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Scott Eagan of Greyhaus Literary Agency.

06/22/2025

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

Alexandra Orchard:
My book is a contemporary romcom based on a fictional British royal family and how the 5th in line to the throne finds love with a normal, everyday woman - after a one night stand.
I was inspired by my love of the whole royal pomp and ceremony (I’m British!) and I wanted to write a romantic comedy. The idea came to me randomly, and just started writing after having inspiration for the first scene.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Alexandra Orchard:
Over 20 years now! I started when I was 8, and I’m 31 now!

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

Alexandra Orchard:
I started writing this book in 2023, so 2 years!

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

Alexandra Orchard:
Definitely! There was specifically one evening fairly recently where I’d had 6 rejections (for this book) in one day. I was sobbing - this is my life’s dream - and decided to give up writing all together. My husband showed me my hard drive where all my books live and told me not to give up or it would’ve been a waste of something I’ve worked so hard for and love doing so much. He told me it may not be this book - like it hasn’t been the many books before that I’ve queried - but the more I do it, the closer I get. I tried a few more agents after that - and one of them is now my agent! The thing that keeps me going is how much I love writing, and how much I want to do this all my life - career or not!

QT: Is this your first book?

Alexandra Orchard:
This is close to my 40th book I’ve ever written. That’s scary! A LOT of them will never see the light of day for many reasons. I took a long break in 2016 after I graduated and to have my family. Since I “came back” to writing, it’s probably my 20th.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Alexandra Orchard:
Yes, technically! I have a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing. Some of my tutors are bestselling poets and novelists. I’ll forever be thankful for learning from them.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Alexandra Orchard:
Technically no, but as I have a child, I tend to do most of my writing when he’s asleep, and I try to write every night.

QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?

Alexandra Orchard:
This specific one has gone through 3 rewrites and edits. There’ll be a few more soon now I have an agent as we have a vision for where it needs to be changed a little bit!

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Alexandra Orchard:
I did! I had 2 rounds of beta readers!

QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?

Alexandra Orchard:
I’m what they call a “plantser” - I have a rough overall outline for the book but I write and make it up in the middle. Most of this followed a very loose outline and I just made up the in between points. There’s a particular scene in the middle I had in my head from the book’s inception and it’s hardly changed since. I’m in love with that scene so much.

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

Alexandra Orchard:
This specific book I started querying April 1st 2025 (done on purpose so I remembered! Haha) and I had my offer June 16th 2025.
I’ve queried so many other books. I started taking querying “full time” in September 2024 with another book. As I was querying that, I edited another book to start just in case that didn’t work - it didn’t, so I then queried that. Then I queried this one.

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

Alexandra Orchard:
Overall, 115 queries were sent. I had 9 full requests in the end (including the 2 offers I had)

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

Alexandra Orchard:
Mainly that they represented my genre, and were looking to represent for a writer’s career. I also looked into the other authors and books they represented and if it looked anything like what I write, I would query them. I also looked into their social medias and MSWL to get a feel for what they’re like, their personality. Getting on with my agent is a big thing for me, and also them liking the book.

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

Alexandra Orchard:
Not particularly. I obviously put their name in, but overall, no as I’m doing 100 different things at once so it’d take me a while! Sometimes I did if the agent requested my query, or if they represented something in particular that hits my book like a trope, or a book I think comps, or if their MSWL didn’t *quite* fit but it did in another way (like if they didn’t represent romcom but did want a trope my book hits)

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

Alexandra Orchard:
Please keep going! It’s a hard, long journey. I’ve wanted this my whole life - literally - and so many times I’ve sobbed and hated my writing or myself or the fact it felt like I was going nowhere. I’d all but given up. I had thoughts about selling my laptop and giving up, I was going through bouts of depression because of querying. I was literally about to give it all up when my agent came along. Never, ever give up. It will happen. You have to keep going, preservere. Finding friends and a community will help SO MUCH. The one I found has helped so much in the dark pits of it, they lift you up, help you out. It’s crucial.