Success Story Interview - Mia Mamone

An Interview with Mia Mamone (miamamone on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Analia Cabello of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

10/13/2025

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

Mia Mamone:
I don’t want to say too much just yet (I’m superstitious!) but it’s a fun, sports-adjacent YA rom-com that was partially inspired by the unlikely way I finally started dating my best friend (now long-time partner). I like to think of it as my YA take on a Disney Channel Original Movie.

QT: How long have you been writing?

Mia Mamone:
About 20 years! I was seven when I wrote my first “novel” (in a butterfly notebook with absolutely no punctuation but a surprisingly well-paced plot) and was always writing stories in WordPad on the shared family computer. I was probably in third grade when I decided being an author was my dream career.

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

Mia Mamone:
I started working on this book in the fall of 2021, and finished the full draft in April of 2025. I’m currently working on edits, so it’s been four years in the making.

QT: Is this your first book?

Mia Mamone:
This is my first book that will see the light of day! Aside from the aforementioned butterfly notebook novel and its daring sequel (which was penned by hand in a Reese’s Pieces notebook), I wrote a 78,000-word YA novel when I was in high school–this time on an actual laptop. That high school book was way too much a thinly veiled version of my own life, but I did borrow a few funny moments (and the main character’s name!) from it in my novel that got me representation.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Mia Mamone:
I have a degree in journalism but have never taken a creative writing class.

QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?

Mia Mamone:
Not really! I was working full-time while writing the majority of the book, so I would go days or weeks at a time without writing, just totally burned out from looking at a screen for 8 hours straight during the workday. When I got laid off from my job in March of this year, I saw it as a sign to really buckle down and finish the book–which was about 80 percent done at that time. I then made a routine of going to my favorite neighborhood coffee shops to lock in for two to three hours each morning to get words on the page.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Mia Mamone:
My partner and my two sisters were my first readers and gave me feedback before I started querying. My partner is something of an expert on college basketball, which is a major part of the book, so he was a huge help with fact-checking those scenes. My sisters are both brilliant and I value their artistic taste and humor so much, plus they know what a good YA book reads like, so their input was very appreciated, as well.

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

Mia Mamone:
This might be the most common question I get when people find out I wrote a book! How I try to explain it is that I had a clear idea of the hook, so the main inciting incident and conflict, as well as ideas about the romantic plot and main characters. I could clearly see in my mind a few moments I wanted to hit throughout (a party scene, prom, a big argument, etc.), but didn’t know exactly what they would look like until I started writing. Some of my favorite scenes and characters were completely unplanned and just came to be as I was writing them. That really is the best feeling.

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

Mia Mamone:
This is the first novel I’ve queried. I started sending queries in early May, sent my now agent the full manuscript upon request in mid-July, and signed with her in mid-August. So it took a little over three months.

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

Mia Mamone:
I queried 62 agents.

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

Mia Mamone:
I started by looking into agents of favorite authors with books similar to mine. Beyond that, I really relied on QueryTracker and Manuscript Wish List to find agents open to submissions who were looking for YA contemporary/romance.

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

Mia Mamone:
I tried to tailor each query as much as possible, but some agents just don’t have a lot of specifics online. In that case, I sent a more general note, but always made sure I was submitting according to their genre guidelines.

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

Mia Mamone:
The process isn’t easy, but it is straightforward. Though some people might have referrals or connections in the industry, most folks are just following the steps of sending cold queries and seeing what sticks. There are so many forums online where you can get advice and find information on the querying process–use those to your advantage!