Success Story Interview - Ebba Elliott

An Interview with Ebba Elliott (eforouhari on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Christine Goss of FinePrint Literary Management.

05/16/2025

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

Ebba Elliott:
RED KISS (new title tbd) is a romantic suspense novel about two black-market agents who must fight their growing attraction as they compete in a treacherously sexy game of cat and mouse with one monumental goal: steal from the Palace of Versailles. This manuscript is a love letter to all my favorite things: heists, adventures, and France. I've always been enamored by movies full of illegal adventures intertwined with comedy (Ocean's Eleven, Mission Impossible, the Heat). Recently, I've wished there were more books out there with these sorts of fun-loving characters, but with a heavy dose of romance included! Heist and spy stories are such a fun escape, and if I can't be the one scaling buildings or stealing priceless jewelry, then I want to be reading or writing them.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Ebba Elliott:
I've been writing since 2023. I wrote my first novel over the summer of 2023, another in the fall, and wrote RED KISS in the winter of 2025.

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

Ebba Elliott:
From the first word to the final edit before querying, it took me almost exactly three months. The story came easily and I was lucky enough to have a lot of free time!

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

Ebba Elliott:
So. Many. Times. I cannot stress enough how many days I had after getting stuck in the middle of the chapter, overwhelmed during a pile of edits, or a full list of query rejections that made me want to give up (there were, in fact, a few weeks where I did call it quits, until I found the excitement to continue). And sometimes, those breaks were necessary to help me see ideas in a new way, or to remind myself how much I wanted to be published. That's what drove me the most - I wanted so badly to share my stories with other people.

QT: Is this your first book?

Ebba Elliott:
No. I wrote a (very half-assed, very poorly written) YA fantasy manuscript in 2023 that went through one sloppy round of edits. In 2023-2024, I worked on a new adult heist novel that went through substantial edits and actually resembled a full-fledged book by the time I finished it.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Ebba Elliott:
Nope! Everything I've learned is from reading other books.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Ebba Elliott:
When I'm writing a first draft, I like to write a chapter a day (which on average ends up being around 2,000 words). I hate picking up the next day in the middle of a chapter, because I loose my groove and mindset for the scene. When I'm editing, it's pedal to the floor until it gets done.

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

Ebba Elliott:
RED KISS went through four edits before I queried it. I started with a developmental edit, then a beta reader developmental edit, a line read edit, and a proofread. When editing, I love printing out my book and writing notes on the paper. It's so exciting to see how big the stack of papers are the first time, and it's even more satisfying when you finally flip to the last page.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Ebba Elliott:
My sister's friend was kind enough to edit my manuscript and provide thoughtful feedback. Editing can be expensive, especially for a project that might not go anywhere. I paid for an editor during the last book I queried, but decided to take what I learned from that experience and tried to correct as many things as I could myself for RED KISS. Luckily, my sister's friend was able to catch errors and give great suggestions, and the manuscript was in a decent place to query.

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

Ebba Elliott:
I will vaguely outline about the first half of the book before I start writing, mainly because I'm impatient and can't wait to start actually writing. Sometimes, the chapters have a detailed outline for each moment, along with dialogue ideas and little brainwaves I have, other times the notes are just one line and I figure it out as I go. Once I get into the book and get a better sense of the characters I'm writing, I'll go back and outline the second half.

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

Ebba Elliott:
I was incredibly fortunate to only query this book for roughly a month before my agent offered representation. My other two manuscripts were queried for months (and funnily enough, I received a rejection the other day from a 2023 email). The first book I queried was sent to roughly 100 agents, and all of them (for an incredibly good reason in hindsight) passed. My second manuscript went to only 25 agents, and while it received 8 full requests, all of them passed (also for good reasons).

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

Ebba Elliott:
RED KISS was sent to 71 agents in the span of roughly one week (which likely was not a wise move, and a safer strategy would've been to send queries out in batches to leave room for feedback edits). I had some immediate rejections (one agent passed twelve minutes after I sent the query - a new record!). When I queried the agent I signed with, she requested a partial ten days after receiving the query. A day later, she asked for the full, and four days after that, I had an email in my inbox asking to set up a call. We chatted for thirty minutes five days after the email, and two weeks later, I signed the contract. After months of querying before with nothing to show, it was the biggest relief - and moment of excitement - when I finally had a request for the call (I'm not sure I've ever screamed louder in my entire life). A lot of querying comes down to luck - had she not been open to queries, I might not be here writing this.

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

Ebba Elliott:
I relied heavily on Manuscript Wishlist to help narrow down agent preferences. If any agent had a genre, key word, movies, books, songs, or themes that matched RED KISS, they were an immediate query. Because I sent out so many emails, I kept a long, color-coded spreadsheet to help keep track of who I had queried to avoid repeats at agencies, and who I had yet to hear back from.

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

Ebba Elliott:
Yes! I always tried to include one sentence in the beginning of my query about why RED KISS would be a good fit. If the agent had something specific in their MSWL that tied to my manuscript, I would directly quote their words. If not, and they were interested in something a little more generic, such as "romance", I'd only mention that.

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

Ebba Elliott:
Read these success stories! These interviews are great for many reasons. Hearing about everyone's success (whether it be quick, or over ten years) was some of the best encouragement to keep going and work hard to experience this moment myself. Ryan T. Pozzi has a great interview with some really heartfelt advice. Secondly, if anyone is struggling with their query letter, find your genre and read, read, read the queries listed! It's a fun way to know what makes up a successful query, and to see what other peers are writing about. And finally, the list is a really interesting way to see what types of stories agents have offered representation for, how the genres compare to their wish list, and how you might leverage their interests to your advantage.

Query Letter:

Dear ___,

I am seeking representation for RED KISS, a commercial, high-stakes romantic suspense. The manuscript, complete at 88,000 words, is as sexy as Eliza Jane Brazier’s IT HAD TO BE YOU and as action-packed as Ally Carter’s THE BLONDE IDENTITY. Based on your interest in ___, I think you’d be a perfect match.

After a miserable year living in a town with more cows than people, Irena Fèvere vowed to never become boring. Working in a tiny cubicle at twenty-five? Yawn. Spending the night in an even smaller Paris jail cell to acquire classified information? That’s more like it. An operative for hire, Irena will jump at any opportunity to do something unexpected, something dangerous, something fun—so long as it distracts her from a past too painful to process.

What she doesn’t expect, though, is a mystery man with a familiar yet devastatingly handsome face and a voice as smooth as silk to bail her out of jail—or the instant, undeniable connection between the two of them. At least, until they’re pitted against each other by an underground organization to accomplish one monumental task: stealing a seventeenth-century sword from the Palace of Versailles. Locked into a battle of wits—and temptation—Irena and Atwood have no choice but to chase each other across the City of Love, leaving behind a trail of red left in their wake. Sometimes it’s blood. Sometimes it’s lipstick-stained kisses. And sometimes, it’s her red-bottom heels left in tatters.

Her life and heart on thin ice, there’s only so much running Irena can do. But as their feelings push to the surface and gunshots threaten to shatter their tentative alliance, Irena and Atwood must realize the key to staying afloat isn’t in their future—but in a past neither of them expected to share.

I hold a BA in communications and French from ____. I’m interested in building a career of romance-centered books inspired by Mission Impossible, Ocean’s Eleven, and The Heat. I’m obsessed with exploring new places—especially if they’re in France. I’ve been to the Palace of Versailles twice. I haven’t stolen anything. Yet.

The full manuscript is a standalone novel with series potential and is available upon request. Thank you for your consideration.