Success Story Interview - Natalie Collier

An Interview with Natalie Collier (natsguest on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Madeleine Milburn of The Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.

01/03/2025

QT: How long have you been writing?

Natalie Collier:
I've been writing seriously since lockdown, so about four years before I got my first offer.

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

Natalie Collier:
Just over two years if you include the time I was plotting and writing out the first synopsis.

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

Natalie Collier:
Many, many times. It's the kind of thing where nothing happens until everything happens. The main thing that kept me going was my writing group, I have a few writing groups and critique partner friends that I've picked up either through online communities (there's plenty, just google around) and also in person writing groups. Watching them grow and cheer me along gave me enough encouragement to at least finish the book, at least edit it until I was happy, and at least just send it out on the query. Then were there to cheer me on when I got an offer!

QT: Is this your first book?

Natalie Collier:
Yes, it's the first book I've ever finished.

QT: Do you have any formal writing training?

Natalie Collier:
No, none. I'm very self taught. I read a lot of writing books but you don't need to read more than a handful to understand the market. Reading in your genre is more important.

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

Natalie Collier:
It felt endless, but I think I had five official drafts so that's five big edits from the first one.

QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?

Natalie Collier:
Loads, probably too many to be honest, more than 10 for sure. Readers are so important to see things you can't, and there is SO much you can't see yourself, but a high quality beta reader is far more valuable than 10 low quality ones that will either tell you it's all amazing and there's nothing to change, or give you nothing helpful to fulfill your own vision.

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

Natalie Collier:
I'm a big plotter and outliner. That didn't help much, I needed to rewrite the book so much and change everything anyway, but the plotting did help loads.

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

Natalie Collier:
About 2 weeks from the first query until the offer.

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

Natalie Collier:
38 Queries

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

Natalie Collier:
The clients they repped, and the deals they were able to get those clients (from things like publishers marketplace or the bookseller).

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

Natalie Collier:
I did, where I could, but it didn't seem to make a huge difference on whether people offered.

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

Natalie Collier:
Make sure you are ready and your book is fantastic. Read loads in your genre, understand what is selling in the marketplace NOW (not 10 years ago, now) so you can critically examine the market like an agent wood. Understand what's selling, what's hot right now and what's been done before. That doesn't mean your book has to be formulaic, but it does mean you have to understand where your book sits in the context of the current market. What is the hook that is unique? How will it stand out? What's the new and familiar about it? Make sure your book is polished and ready before going out. Then try your best to forget about it and write the next book. So you'll either be ready to query again, or you'll come into a contract with a second book ready (which is hugely helpful!). Agents do ask about how you're going on your next book, I had barely started mine but I was at least in a place to talk about the idea.

Query Letter:

I am reaching out to you because you have a strong reputation as an established and successful literary agent, and because I am a fan of a number of your clients including Nita Prose, Gail Honeyman, C.L. Taylor, and Mark Edwards just to name a few. I am seeking representation for THEY HUNT AT NIGHT, my 80,000-word psychological thriller. It will appeal to readers who enjoyed the closed circle mystery of Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party and Lucy Clarke’s The Hike, coupled with the location focus of Jane Harper’s The Dry.

Danielle returns to South Africa after her mother’s death. She and her sister Grace have inherited their childhood home, a house located deep in a wild game park. Danielle wants to sell, Grace doesn’t, but they agree to visit and they each invite two friends to join them on a safari along the two day drive up. But while Grace was their mother’s favourite, only Danielle knows about their mother’s final request: to burn down the family storehouse – whatever is inside. Tensions escalate when one of the group is found murdered on their first morning in the park. In the ensuing panic, they crash their car, stranding the remaining five of them in the open bush.

To survive, they must now reach the house by crossing the Savannah on foot. But the wild predators that stalk them aren’t Danielle’s only worry. Someone is sabotaging their escape. With few supplies, no signal, and only one rifle, Danielle must navigate the onslaught of threats around them – and those from within – if she wants to survive the deadliest predator of all: man.

I’m a Filipina-South African who’s been going on regular safaris since I was seven. My family has on-the-ground experience with every animal in this book, including two months I spent caring for an orphaned rhino at a conservation centre near Kruger national park. I’ve lived in seven countries, landing in Oxford for my degree, before settling in London. I’m an active member of an online and in-person writing group, and I’m currently working on my next thriller based on the disappearing islands of the Philippines.

Thank you for your time and consideration,