Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Bob Weekes

Success Story Interview - Bob Weekes

An Interview with Bob Weekes (bobweekeswrites on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Chris Kepner of The Kepner Agency.

11/20/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Bob Weekes:
The Revelator is an adult fantasy novel that takes place in a world where reincarnation is law. When a child turns nine they are “bonded” to a past life that determines their class in society. However, if a child is bonded to the soul of a convicted criminal, an elite squad (known as Revelators) hunts them down and forces them to serve a lifetime in prison for crimes they don’t remember committing. The narrative follows Rasha, an accomplished Revelator, who defects and goes on the run with a wrongly accused child. She must unravel a conspiracy and clear the child’s name while fighting off her former squad as they pursue her across the continent.

I’ve always been fascinated by past lives, but couldn’t find the right story to explore it. Then the idea came to me while watching a trial: what if the concept of back-to-back life sentences was literal? What if we had to answer to crimes we (supposedly) committed in a past life we couldn’t even remember? As a teacher, I often see the ways in which society punishes children for things out of their control, and this story was a way to explore those themes.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Bob Weekes:
In general? Since fourth grade, when I ran out of Goosebumps books to read and started writing my own knock-off series called Scarebumps. I’ve been writing seriously (with the intention of publishing) for the past ten years.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Bob Weekes:
The idea came to me around 2018, but I didn’t start writing it for real until 2020. It took me about two years to write the initial draft, and another year to finish intensive revisions.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Bob Weekes:
Not necessarily while writing the book, but definitely during the querying process. Writing is often lonely, and hearing so many “no’s” is demoralizing. I can’t count the number of times I considered giving up on writing over the last ten years. But, luckily, I have a supportive group of family and friends who have been with me for the whole journey, and they encouraged me to keep going.
QT: Is this your first book?: Bob Weekes:
This is the second book I’ve finished and queried.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Bob Weekes:
Yes, I have a B.S. and M.F.A. in English, though that hasn’t necessarily prepared me for creative writing. I’ve learned much more from teaching writing to middle school students over the past 15 years
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Bob Weekes:
As a full time teacher and father of two young children, I find it’s nearly impossible to have a routine. Rather, the routine is about remaining flexible. I write and edit in the “in-between” spaces: while pasta is boiling or beside my kids during bath time or when an episode of Super Kitties is on the TV. I think it’s actually made me a more productive writer. I don’t view writing as this sacred time where all the conditions have to be just right (like I used to). Rather, I’ve learned to jump in and out of it whenever I can.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Bob Weekes:
More than I ever recommend doing. During those two years of drafting, I probably revised each chapter five or six times before querying. Then, once I received personalized rejections on some of my fulls, as well as some revise and resubmit opportunities, I took all that feedback and spent another five months revising from the ground up to fix the common critiques.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Bob Weekes:
Yes. I’m lucky to have an incredible wife with an editorial mind. She’s always my first reader. I also have two brothers and two close friends who beta read my writing. They each have different tastes in novels and give me unique, invaluable feedback.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Bob Weekes:
More than ever, it’s essential to outline a debut novel. Word counts are tight, and tastes lean towards concise, single-book debuts with a strong hook. I had to move beyond my early days where I thought that outlines hindered the “creative process.” The truth is quite the opposite. A good outline results in a more intentional, entertaining narrative.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Bob Weekes:
This book: 22 months. It’s easy to look at authors getting offers after two or four months and get discouraged, but just remember that’s not the norm.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Bob Weekes:
If you add in requeries I did after my second major revision, 186 queries sent, and 172 rejections. I received 17 total partial and full requests, 14 of which ended in rejections.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Bob Weekes:
I scoured Manuscript Wishlists and agent websites, looking for key words that matched my book’s strengths.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Bob Weekes:
I did at first, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. In fact, it made rejection sting worse when I would put thirty or more minutes into personalizing a query, only to get a form rejection back (or hear nothing at all). Many of the full requests I received were from queries I didn’t specifically personalize. I think agents are more understanding of this now, and are looking for the hook to speak for itself.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Bob Weekes:
Outline your book to appeal to agents in the first place. Make sure there’s a strong hook, compelling characters, and concise narrative. Keep it within the acceptable debut word count of your genre to avoid auto-rejections. And make sure it can stand on its own! Aspirations of series potential are fine, but don’t advertise your debut as “the first in a new epic series.” It must tell its own self-contained story.
When selecting beta readers, make sure you include readers who don’t usually read the genre you’re writing. They’ll give you some of the most honest, valuable feedback.
Before you begin querying, have another project ready to start. It’s important to be working on something you’re excited about while querying–it will remind you why you write in the first place, even as the rejections start pouring in.
Don’t skip querying an agent just because they have a low response rate. Four of my fulls, including the agency I signed with, have response rates lower than 5%. Every agency does things differently, and some only respond if they’re really interested. It doesn’t hurt to try!

Success Story Interview - Bob Weekes

Query Letter: