Success Story Interview - Jessica Gaffiero

An Interview with Jessica Gaffiero (Jessicaag98 on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Daisy Chandley of Peters Fraser & Dunlop.

09/04/2026

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
I wrote this book after failing to get an agent for my first, which was a multi-POV romantasy. I wanted to stay in a similar genre but make the next one simpler, so I went with one POV. I wanted to do a fairytale retelling that wasn't too common, so I chose Rapunzel. And I wanted a mythical creature that wasn't already everywhere (e.g. vampires and fae) so I chose a siren.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Jessica Gaffiero:
Since I was a child. When I was in year 2 I used to write short stories and have my teacher read them to the class (much to their dismay). Hopefully my writing is better 22 years later!

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
Not long, honestly. About three months.

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
When I failed to land an agent for my first book I felt like giving up. Querying is really deflating and frustrating. But I did get some lovely feedback from agents, and one in particular emailed me saying she loved my writing but the book wasn't for her, and that she'd love to see more from me. If she hadn't sent that email I don't know if I'd have written this book. So I'm thankful to her for that.

QT: Is this your first book?

Jessica Gaffiero:
Nope. Second.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Jessica Gaffiero:
No. Except my experience of writing since I was six.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Jessica Gaffiero:
Haha, not at all. And my partner always says this blows his mind. I write whenever. A lot of times I just type it out in my notes app on my phone.

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
Re-write? Never, really. Everything that happens I came up with once and didn’t change except for polishing.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Jessica Gaffiero:
Nope. I didn’t trust handing my book over to strangers. But my mum read my first chapter and liked it so that counts for something right?

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
No. I make it up as I go along.

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
This book: three weeks. My previous book: four months.

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
About 40. I didn’t batch query like people recommended as I’m too impatient for that.

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
List fit and agency prestige mostly. As well as having a look at publisher’s marketplace and seeing if the agent has sold in my genre recently and whether it was to a big 5 publisher.

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
Yes, I did. I had a look at their wish-list and incorporated that into the top bit of my query if it was applicable.

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

Jessica Gaffiero:
I’m not gonna say the generic ‘never give up’. I’m so glad I did give up on my last book as I wouldn’t have signed with Daisy otherwise. So feel free to give up, just make sure you write another book afterwards.

QT: Would you be willing to share your query with us?

Jessica Gaffiero:
Of course. This is exactly what I sent Daisy:

Query Letter:

Dear Daisy,

Rapunzel, but make her a siren. EVERY STARVING INCH is an adult dark fantasy romance about a woman held captive in a coastal fortress as her mother’s weapon, who eats the hearts of the men she compels. Your taste for the dark and boundary-pushing runs to Under the Skin, a predatory female creature luring men to their ends, and this book is that appetite given a love story. It’s complete at 86,000 words, standalone with series potential, for readers of Carissa Broadbent’s The Serpent and the Wings of Night and Kalie Cassidy’s In the Veins of the Drowning.

When the whip lands, Naiah sings louder. A siren locked in a coastal tower, she has been raised as a weapon by the only woman she has ever loved. Isobel holds the key, the whip, and a promise: compel one more man and Naiah will finally be allowed the sea. The men she breaks for Isobel never survive it. She paints their portraits afterwards, her own blood for the red at every throat. She has never failed.

Then Harlow crashes through her door, foul-mouthed, and completely immune to her voice. He’s been sold to the fortress by his own family, the dynasty that drove her kind from the seas, and he should be terrified of her. Instead he watches her fangs come down and moves closer. He feeds her his bloody knuckles and asks how he tastes. He teaches her to read by writing her name on a window while the sea rages behind the glass.

If Isobel discovers Naiah can’t compel Harlow, the sea disappears and everything she has endured to earn it was for nothing. So she teaches him to fake it, to wear the glassy eyes and loosened spine of a broken man under Isobel’s practised gaze. But every night they spend building the lie strips another layer off the cage Naiah has mistaken for love, and the hunger he wakes in her has stopped pretending it isn’t want.

When Isobel orders Harlow dead, Naiah’s body refuses, the first disobedience of her life. Now she must choose between the freedom she has bled twenty-three years to earn and the man she cannot compel and cannot stop wanting, knowing that even if she saves him from Isobel, no one can save him from her.

EVERY STARVING INCH is my debut novel. I wanted a monster romance where the woman is the monster and the man is enthralled by watching her eat hearts, so I wrote one.

The full manuscript is available on request. Thank you for your time and consideration.