Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Calliope Paige

Success Story Interview - Calliope Paige

An Interview with Calliope Paige (authorcalliopepaige on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Nikki Carrero of The Rights Factory.

01/21/2026

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Calliope Paige:
TOUCHED A NERVE is a book about a chronically ill girl who is navigating the treacherous American Healthcare system and lands in physical therapy for her mysterious pain. There she runs into her fiance's older brother (who supposedly hates her??) where she learns that sometimes the people who see and understand you the most are not always the person who's promised to love you in sickness and in health.
So many things inspired this book: my own struggles of being passed around from gaslighting specialist to the next while impatiently waiting to meet my deductible, one traumatizing proposal, my love for the romance genre, and the amazing experience I had in physical therapy (if only my insurance would cover more sessions).
QT: How long have you been writing?: Calliope Paige:
This is so cliché, but honestly, forever. Before novels, it was poetry, and before poetry, it was short stories and plays for English class, and before that, it was Wattpad fanfiction, and all the way even before I knew how to 'write' I would be scribbling in Lisa Frank journals and dreaming of writing 'The End.'
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Calliope Paige:
It took me a month to write my first draft. I was writing all the time, words pouring out of me, I felt unstoppable (and when I should have been working) and just so hyper focused on finishing.Then it went through beta readers, more edits, and at least another solid draft before I started querying.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Calliope Paige:
I mean, of course. Rejection sucks. Especially when they come in batches of form rejections. I still don't know how to explain this, but I just felt so strongly that my writing was meant to be traditionally published. I stayed the course for younger me. It was The Dream TM, and reality sucker punched me in the face last year, and I rediscovered how much I loved to write. Ask anyone in my core bubble---it was literally all I could think or talk about. I just knew I had to keep going, even if it wasn't with this novel.
QT: Is this your first book?: Calliope Paige:
No, it was the second I wrote (last year) if we don't count my Wattpad novels (and I don't think we should).
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Calliope Paige:
I've taken creative writing classes in college and joined all the clubs throughout high school. Most of my formal training had an emphasis in poetry, specifically slam poetry (iykyk).
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Calliope Paige:
Yes, but I don't recommend this. There were so many neglected chores. I woke up, went to work (wrote a little bit), and then when I returned home, I wrote until I couldn't see straight or severely needed a bathroom break. I wrote every single day for as long as I could.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Calliope Paige:
I think this book went through three drafts (first draft, developmental edit, and then a line edit).
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Calliope Paige:
There were roughly eight people that beta read this book.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Calliope Paige:
I'm a certified pantser who's learning to like plotting. I had the general idea for the book, what I wanted to happen(ish), and then self discovered a lot of character choices along the way.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Calliope Paige:
I queried from the beginning of June 2025 and signed with my agent January 2026. This was also the second book that entered the query trenches, and I learned a lot of lessons from the first book. I fear it was a canon event to query too early for my first book.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Calliope Paige:
For this book, I only sent out fifty query letters.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Calliope Paige:
Not only did they need to represent this genre, but also other genres that I was interested in writing about. I checked agencies and MSWL pages to make sure that the agent could be a good fit for me. In the end, it came down to whether they were trying to expand their client list of disabled, queer, or neurodivergent voices/stories.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Calliope Paige:
This may be a hot take, but I did not tailor each query to every agent unless something really stood out to me about their wishlist. Truthfully, I had more fun in my signatures (being respectful, of course, but showing a little bit of voice). EX: Your obedient servant, C. Paige; Show Girl; Signing off before I make another grammatical error; Born This Way).
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Calliope Paige:
I know we've all seen this a thousand times in rejection letters but: publishing is subjective. Everything about art is subjective. What was 40 agent's no was another's "this book is a work of art and I've never felt so seen." So please keep going, keep writing, keep trudging through the trenches because your champion is waiting for you to query them.

Success Story Interview - Calliope Paige

Query Letter: