Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Rachel Rowlinson

Success Story Interview - Rachel Rowlinson

An Interview with Rachel Rowlinson (rachelkarina on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Ed Wood of The Blair Partnership.

10/14/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Rachel Rowlinson:
SEASTROKE is a speculative/literary horror story about a woman compelled to drown people by the sea's call. It brings my love of the sea/swimming together with my love of folklore and mythology. I've also been enjoying the resurgence in horror fiction (and other media), particularly more feminist horror/femgore and wanted to write something with those kinds of elements.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Rachel Rowlinson:
I started out (like many people my age) with Twilight fanfic as a teenager. I took a long break from writing when I went to uni and pursued a career in marketing but I'd always wanted to write a novel so three years ago, when I hit 30, I decided it was time to knuckle down and actually do it.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Rachel Rowlinson:
I started drafting it properly in Oct 2024, after mulling over the idea for the summer and finished the first draft in March 2025. After putting it away for a month I then revised it from April to August and started querying it at the beginning of September 2025.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Rachel Rowlinson:
Not with writing itself as the process of creating is something I truly love. It's so wonderful to be able to escape into these fictional worlds and characters at the end of a long day doing the day-job (though of course, getting the words down on the page doesn't always come easy). Querying, however, and the process of trying to get traditionally published is incredibly tough and there were definitely moments when I queried my last book (unsuccessfully) where I questioned what I was doing and whether it was something worth putting my time into. Thankfully, I have a very supportive partner and amazing writing groups to talk me down off the ledge.
QT: Is this your first book?: Rachel Rowlinson:
This is my third completed novel. The first was definitely a practice-project that will remain banished to the metaphorical drawer and never see the light of day, though it was an important first step in learning to write. The second is something I can see myself revisiting somewhere down the line if I get the opportunity - I did query this one and had some interest (6 full requests and an opportunity for an R&R) but by the time the R&R came around I'd already queried most of my agent list so I decided to put my energy into something drafting something new rather than risk spending months revising for a potential pass. In retrospect I can see the elements of this project (plot...it's always plot for me!) that need work.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Rachel Rowlinson:
I recently completed Curtis Brown Creative's 3-month Write Your Novel course in London. It was something I decided to invest in after shelving my second novel, and the feedback I got from workshopping with other writers and with the course tutor (Charlotte Mendelson) was truly invaluable in making SEASTROKE as strong as it could be before querying.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Rachel Rowlinson:
I have a full-time job so it's really cramming it in as and when, which means a lot of evenings and weekends. I'm a night owl so I tend to do my best writing when the world quiets down, and I love a long Friday/Saturday session from 9pm-2am when I'm deep into drafting or revising.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Rachel Rowlinson:
My drafting/revising process was a bit messy as I got listed in some competitions so I had to go back and polish up the first 50 pages before the book was fully done. Ignoring the premature edits there, I did one big structural/developmental edit on the novel, two rounds of scene-level editing and a final line then copy edit before querying.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Rachel Rowlinson:
I had sections read by my course-mates and tutor as part of the CBC course I did, then I was lucky enough to have 3 very frank friends offer to read the entire book start to finish and give me incredibly helpful critique.

I was also longlisted for the Bath Novel Award and received 3 helpful pages of big-picture feedback from the prize readers as part of that.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Rachel Rowlinson:
I'd probably identify more as a discovery writer, but in truth I'm somewhere in the middle. With this novel I had a strong idea of where it started up to about the middle of the book so I very loosely mapped key plot points and started writing to get a feel for the characters. Once I got to the middle I sat down and brainstormed where it was going to go and again loosely mapped the plot points up to the end as a guide before writing through. I tend to plan as I go and I will constantly tweak and update my bulleted list of plot points during and after each writing session.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Rachel Rowlinson:
I was very lucky to have a relatively short journey for this novel (though it really doesn't feel short when you're in it). I sent out my first batch of 10 queries (with a mix of different priority level agents) on 1st September and had my first full request the next day. After getting a couple more fulls on the Friday of that week (5th) I felt like the query and sample were working so I sent out to all my remaining top priority agents and then the real waiting started. I had the offer from Ed on 16th September (11 days after he'd requested the full). It doesn't sound like very long but between the 5th and the 16th I was a total mess, second guessing whether I'd gone out to everyone too soon and whether anyone would come back at all!

On my last novel, I actively queried for around 6 months from June 2024 to December 2024, although my very last full rejection didn't come in until the end of April 2025!
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Rachel Rowlinson:
19 in total. I had 11 full requests, 2 form rejections and 6 CNRs on the query.

For my last novel I sent out 60 before shelving the project. On that one I had 6 full requests and was offered 1 R&R.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Rachel Rowlinson:
Mainly on their fit (based on their interest in speculative, horror or gothic adult fiction) and recent sales record (which I looked at in Publisher's Marketplace and through researching their list).

I also looked whether they were representing any authors I thought would be comparable - and mentioned that in the personalised line I added to most queries where I thought there were books on their list SEASTROKE would sit well besides.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Rachel Rowlinson:
For most yes. I normally added a line saying which of the other authors' books on their list SEASTROKE would sit well besides and why (e.g. for having similar elements of folklore). Sometimes I pulled out a specific thing they'd asked for on their manuscript wishlist if it was relevant. I also had a few agents like content about the novel or follow me on social media so I made sure to mention that as a reason for reaching out when querying them.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Rachel Rowlinson:
There are so many great resources out there to support with writing a good query now, as well as reading these success stories/example query letters I also listened to "The Sh*t No One Tells You About Writing" podcast where they critique submitted query letters. Gina Denny also does query letter critiques on her YouTube/TikTok channel and you can watch her playlist of past videos to see how to craft a compelling hook and pitch as well as what other information to include. There are also various author-Youtubers who have uploaded and talk through their query letter on their channels (I found many "How I got an agent videos" helpful for this and comforting for showing the time it takes and rejections along the way).

If you can, getting someone else to read your manuscript and your query letter will give you valuable feedback on things you just can't see yourself anymore because you're too close.

The main thing really is looking after yourself while your querying. It's really tough and there's a lot of waiting, silence and rejection along the way. QueryTracker is fab but I would try to limit how often you look at it - I tried to keep to once at the start of the day and once at the end to see where I was in the agent's queue (tried! I didn't manage to stick to this.) Distract yourself as much as you can and don't worry if you can't write while querying - I couldn't, I caught up on a lot of TV series I'd missed while drafting instead.