Unravel Me: Back to the Beginning of Us
BY Ashley Wilda Query Letter
I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in young adult literature, and because you are seeking poetry with heart.
The poet narrator is a deep thinker who explores the dark and light sides of everyday emotions. But when she loses an important relationship, she must process a tsunami of grief, unraveling the relationship back to its beginning in order to decipher what the future could hold.
Unravel Me: Back to the Beginning of Us is a 7348-word collection of young adult poetry. I am the author of "Run like Water, Burn like the Sun" (The Messenger2015), "Revenge" (After the Pause 2014), "Purple Rain" (Juniper Tree Anthology), "Hold Me Under" (Second Star Magazine), "A Year of Holding On" (Cloud Streak Press), "Hawk Girl" (Terrene), and "Violated Silence," "Tree of Memories," and "The Natural, the Essence of Things" (InkStain Press), all published under my real name, Ashley Wilda. I am a writer living in Virginia and a recent graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts' MFA program in creative writing for children and young adults.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
About
Age Range
Young Adult
Genre
Poetry
Word Count
8,300
Book Link
Book did not sell; instead, my second book, THE NIGHT FOX sold, which you can find here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/720480/the-night-fox-by-ashley-wilda/
Agent
Liz Nealon
Query Stats
Number of Queries Sent
~15
Number of Full Requests Received
1
Number of Offers of Representation
1
Number of Months Spent Querying This Novel
1 month
Years Spent Writing Before Getting an Offer
5
Number of Manuscripts Queried Before This One
0
Publication Status of The Book Queried
Went on Submission but was Shelved
Years Spent Writing Before This Book was Published
8
Note to Querying Writers:
The book that landed my agent was an illustrated young adult collection of poetry. Upon signing with her, she recommended I finish the full-length novel I was also working on. We pitched them as a 2-book deal, but Penguin only wanted the novel, THE NIGHT FOX. The poetry book was shelved, and my second novel, CLEAVE, sold on spec to Penguin in 2023.