Success Story Interview - Heather Hollister

An Interview with Heather Hollister (hkaywrites on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Uwe Stender of Triada US Literary Agency.

08/13/2026

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

Heather Hollister:
My book is an isolation trope YA Thriller (think AND THEN THERE WERE NONE but for teens). It's my favorite trope to read so it was only a matter of time before I attempted it myself.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Heather Hollister:
About 6 years.

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

Heather Hollister:
I wrote the first half between April and July of 2021, then took an extended break while I pivoted to fanfiction. I finally returned to it in November 2025 and finished revising in June 2026.

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

Heather Hollister:
Absolutely! Unlike with fanfiction, I was aware that there was a good chance that I was putting all this work into this project for nothing, that it would never get picked up by an agent or a publisher. And there's still a chance it'll die on submission. But what kept me going was the overwhelming love I had for this story and its characters. Even if I was the only person to ever read it, I was okay with that because it was the exact story I wanted to read.

QT: Is this your first book?

Heather Hollister:
It's my first original novel, though I've probably written around 8-10 novel length fics over the last 5 years.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Heather Hollister:
Nope! Everything I've learned about writing has come from reading voraciously.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Heather Hollister:
I mostly write on the weekends since I'm more productive with bigger blocks of uninterrupted time, but I developed a habit of waking up every morning at 5 AM to work on this story once I was in the revision stage.

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

Heather Hollister:
My second draft was essentially a re-write since there were a lot of structural and pacing issues with my first draft. The third draft was mainly for cleaning up typos/grammar issues and adding a few clarity polishes. That's the draft that I queried.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Heather Hollister:
Yes, two of my trusted friends read it and gave me invaluable feedback.

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

Heather Hollister:
I outlined the essential plot beats in bullet points (2-3 per chapter) and left the rest to my imagination.

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

Heather Hollister:
I got my first offer after 3.5 weeks. This was my first time querying.

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

Heather Hollister:
50, even though I told myself I'd pause after 40 until more responses came in. But I found the process weirdly addicting and couldn't stop!

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

Heather Hollister:
I started with agencies first. Between looking up my favorite authors and reading Publisher's Marketplace, I had a good idea of which agencies were currently making deals in the YA space. From there, I checked agent bios and MSWLs to see who'd be a potential fit.

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

Heather Hollister:
The only thing I "tailored" was genre. Some agents on QM were accepting YA Mystery while others accepted YA Thriller/Suspense, so I updated my query depending on the agent I was submitting to. I ended up with 17 full requests, none of which came from personalized queries. I firmly believe that personalization is useless unless there's a genuine connection like a referral or you met the agent at a conference.

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

Heather Hollister:
Remember the goal is to have an agent fall in love with your book, not your query package. I see a lot of emphasis online about constructing the perfect query letter or how to improve your sample pages. But truthfully, none of that matters if the book isn't ready. It may be wrong for the market, the writing may not be quite there, or there may be something structurally wrong with the story. Often these things can reveal themselves through the query. So if you've been workshopping your package and still aren't seeing the results you want, it may be worth taking a step back to check that your story has clear conflict, stakes, and a marketable hook.