Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Piper Smythe

Success Story Interview - Piper Smythe

An Interview with Piper Smythe (piperjsmythe on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Morgan Hughes of FinePrint Literary Management.

05/20/2026

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Piper Smythe:
My book, titled PREY OF PARADISE, is a YA romantic fantasy reimagining of "The Most Dangerous Game," about a girl who finds herself trapped on an island where dragon shifters hunt humans for sport. I am a huge fan of fantasy retellings of literature, and I've always wanted to do something with that particular short story, especially with a little slow-burn romantic tension thrown in.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Piper Smythe:
I know the cliche answer is "as long as I can remember," but it's true. When I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, I won a prize in a PBS Kids writing contest for a story I wrote about a ballet school for chickens. I've been chasing that high ever since.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Piper Smythe:
This particular book actually had a previous incarnation as a gigantic 150k word fae romance I wrote when I was fresh out of high school. I queried it then, even though I didn't fully understand querying or publishing, and nothing came of it (possibly because of the ~300 instances of "I released a breath I didn't know I was holding" within). Years later, in 2025, I was in a writing slump and decided to reread some of my old manuscripts for ideas, and I realized that even though the plot, pacing, and characters weren't quite there yet, the story had a pretty decent premise, so I reused the hook (magical creatures hunting mortals for sport) with new characters and a brand new plot!
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Piper Smythe:
I received my first rejection on this manuscript within the first 15 minutes of querying, and immediately swore I'd never write another book. Two days later, I got a full request, and life was beautiful again. It's a rollercoaster, but I found a lot of encouragement following along with other writers' querying journeys. I highly recommend finding a writing community, either in person or online. It really helps you stay grounded.
QT: Is this your first book?: Piper Smythe:
Third, if you count its past life. Between the two versions of this story, I queried another romantasy project in early 2025 and didn't receive any requests, but it was great practice and helped me find my narrative style. Even though those two books weren't picked up by agents, I wouldn't be where I am without them.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Piper Smythe:
I have a BA in English Lit and an AA in Creative Writing. I took a lot of workshops in college, in everything from poetry and playwriting to dystopian fiction. I don't think you need a degree in writing to be a good writer, but it was the only thing I could ever imagine studying so extensively. I kind of like the aesthetics of being an engineer, but unfortunately I hate math.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Piper Smythe:
I try to write whenever I'm in a good mood. Sometimes I do yoga or cardio beforehand to get some endorphins going.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Piper Smythe:
I have a terrible habit of editing as I go, so I don't have multiple drafts as much as one single draft that gets constantly reworked throughout the writing process.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Piper Smythe:
I can't write a single word until I have a document with every single scene, beat, and theme neatly outlined. Once the outline has been written, the drafting process is usually very fast. Honestly, the outlining takes me longer than actually writing the thing!
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Piper Smythe:
I queried my previous book for about four months before I decided that it wasn't ready and started outlining PREY. I finished edits in October 2025, sent my first batch of queries in November, and received my first offer of rep in April 2026.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Piper Smythe:
I sent 71 queries total, in roughly three batches, each spaced about two months apart. I received very little interest in the November and January batches, possibly because of the holiday proximity. All offers I received came out of my March batch.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Piper Smythe:
I made sure that all agents I queried represented my genre, and if they did, I checked their wishlists to see if the types of books they were looking for in YA fantasy were similar to mine, since the genre is a very broad umbrella. Agents will often write on their wishlists that they're looking for books that can comp to X, Y, Z in a particular genre. I write very commercial and plot-driven, so if an agent had literary-leaning comp titles on their wishlist, I probably wouldn't query. My book also has an 18 year old protagonist, so I tried to query agents whose comp titles were in the upper YA/crossover space. (And when I was querying an agent from the UK, I changed "pacey" to "pacy" haha)
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Piper Smythe:
Only if I saw something on the agent's wishlist that was very similar to my book, or if the agent had made a post mentioning that they were looking for manuscripts with specific elements that I had. Sometimes I also personalized to give my query a little personality and make it clear that I was paying attention and had done my research. One agent's profile mentioned that she was a hardcore Swiftie, so I added a line about my romance subplot having Reputation era energy. Another had actually represented one of my comp titles, so I made sure to highlight how my book was similar without being TOO similar.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Piper Smythe:
The most helpful advice I received is not to overthink the rejections. Many agents have lines in their form rejections about the manuscript having interesting elements but ultimately not being for them, and it's easy to think "well, if it's so interesting, why don't you like it?" Try not to overanalyze the exact phrasing like you're Nicolas Cage in National Treasure, searching for a hidden clue the founding fathers left behind. It's best to accept the pleasantries and move on to the next query.

Success Story Interview - Piper Smythe

Query Letter: