Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Ali Rowan

Success Story Interview - Ali Rowan

An Interview with Ali Rowan (alirowan on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Kristy Hunter of The Knight Agency, Inc..

03/09/2026

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Ali Rowan:
It’s a YA Contemporary about two sisters who don’t really get along, but are forced together for the summer at a cottage off the grid. It really all started with the setting, which is inspired by the family cottage that I grew up visiting.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Ali Rowan:
Forever, but seriously working toward publication since the beginning of 2019.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Ali Rowan:
This book began in mid-2020, and I started querying it in 2022. I took a lot of breaks from querying this one to get some distance and make changes to my submission package with fresh eyes, and just to muster the will to keep at it.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Ali Rowan:
No, I allowed myself to take breaks to prioritize other interests for a while when I was feeling burnt out, but I always knew I was going to come back to it. Being a published author has always been my clearest life goal, which has always kept me returning. It also helped me to think about querying as “collecting rejections”, like it was something I was doing on purpose. I knew I wouldn’t get a yes without some no, so as my rejection collection grew, I could think of it as getting me closer to that yes.
QT: Is this your first book?: Ali Rowan:
No! It’s the second manuscript that I’ve revised, polished, and queried. The first I wrote in 2019, and was querying from mid-2020 to 2022 while I worked on this one. Several years before that though, I had participated in NaNoWriMo every year from eighth grade through the end of university. I never revised those drafts or intended to do anything with them, but they really removed the intimidation factor when I wanted to sit down and write a book for real—I knew that finishing a novel-length work was no big deal!
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Ali Rowan:
Not a lot. I took a few creative writing classes in high school and university, but most of my learning came from books on craft, and a lot of practice. I remember The Elements of Fiction Writing series from Writer’s Digest as being the most concrete instruction that really unlocked a lot for me about what makes good writing work.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Ali Rowan:
Not strictly, but I do try to spend at least a few minutes looking at my current WIP every day just to keep it fresh, even if I don’t have time to actively work on it. It keeps me feeling motivated, and makes it more likely for ideas to come to me throughout the day because it’s front of mind.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Ali Rowan:
I truly have no idea. I think there must have been at least two big structural edits, and then several more rounds with small-to-medium changes from there. I’d be shocked if there were fewer than six different versions, and there could easily have been more.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Ali Rowan:
Yes! I find it so helpful to get external perspectives. Especially since my stories tend to be “quieter”, with more emotionally-driven stakes, they help me to identify the places where the stakes feels clear to me implicitly, but I need to bring them out more on the page.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Ali Rowan:
I outline now that I’m writing seriously. When I was doing NaNoWriMo, I would make everything up as I went, but I realized through that practice that while character comes easily to me, plot does not. If I don’t outline a plot, there will be no plot! That also means that the beginning stages of a project are the hardest for me, because I have to tackle my weakest part right away, but once it’s done, I can run with it. I leave room for things to change or become more specific as I write, but I need to know that those key plot beats are in place, or they simply won’t exist.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Ali Rowan:
Off and on since late 2022! I took this one at a much easier pace after retiring my first queried manuscript. The first time, I was stalking the status of each query all day, every day, so as soon as rejections rolled in, new queries went out. That was rough on my nervous system! Hahahaha I became very jumpy to the sound of my email notifications, and it was a constant rollercoaster. This time around, I set up a new email address just for querying, and turned off all my email notifications, which helped a lot to disconnect emotionally. I would let months go by, waiting for everything to come back or time out before sending a new batch. When I got my offer, I was thinking this manuscript was probably done. I just got a notification on QT that an agent I followed had opened up to queries, so I fired one off as well as a handful of others I found to add to my list while I was at it, and was floored when I got a full request from that newly-reopened agent—now my agent!—five minutes later.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Ali Rowan:
I sent out 55 before I got the full request that turned into an offer! I had gotten two other full requests before that, spread far apart, on different versions of my submission package. The last batch I sent at the same time as the successful query was another 13—a last ditch effort, I thought—and I had a higher request rate on those because I was quickly able to nudge with an offer of representation. Ultimately, I ended up with a second offer, but decided to go with the original offering agent.

On my first queried manuscript, I sent out a total of 62 queries, with 3 full requests.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Ali Rowan:
I prioritized agents who mentioned either on their agency sites or on their Manuscript Wishlists elements that applied to my story, like sister stories, or distinct settings, or who cited authors whose work I love and feels related to my own. I did also query others though, as long as they were open to my genre.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Ali Rowan:
Whenever I could, I would mention something from their wishlist that applied to my story, or an author that they represent whose work feels connected to my own, just in my opening line. The “Based on” line that opens my query below was my go-to formula, and I would just customize it based on whatever I knew about the agent I was querying. I did submit to many who shared very few specifics though, and didn’t personalize in those cases.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Ali Rowan:
Don’t obsess over your ratio of queries to full requests. You’ll hear from people who are getting full requests all the time, but I think different books just pitch differently, especially across different genres. There are manuscripts that rack of dozens of full requests but get no offers, and before I got my offer, I had only gotten two other full requests. Don’t be afraid to get more opinions and rework your submission package if you’re doubting it, but also don’t assume your package is broken if you’ve put in the work and genuinely feel it’s the strong pitch for your book, just because it’s not getting a huge request rate. You don’t need a lot of interest, you need the right interest.

Success Story Interview - Ali Rowan

Query Letter: