Success Stories: Congratulations to Allie Baker on signing with TWO agents!

The journey behind how we met and started working together is a very unique one; can you recap it for the readers?

AB: It was years in the making, and I truly think it was meant to be! I originally found you through your Outer Banks fanfiction. I read a throuple fic series you wrote, and I fell in love with it, which actually became very relevant to our work together years later. I discovered I had also read and admired your original fiction. In 2020—at the height of lockdown insanity—the idea for my first manuscript came to me. I had the hook, I had the characters, but I had no idea where to start. On a whim, I sent you a Facebook message asking if you had any advice for new romance writers. You messaged me back right away and recommended the Story Genius course. That became the foundation of my fiction writing journey and where I found my first book coach, who shepherded me through early drafts of my manuscript.

Three years and many drafts later, I saw that you were hosting a romance writers’ retreat. The spots were all booked, but we kept in touch and I did your JaNoWriMo group that year. When it came time to query my first manuscript and draft my second—a throuple romance—I knew you were the exact person I wanted to work with to take my writing to the next level, and so I signed up for book coaching.

So, it started with smutty fanfic and ended with an agent deal!

That is my favorite quote ever! I would love for that to be the Cinderella story of all my clients, please and thank you.

Speaking of that first book you wrote--that later snagged you an agent--can you tell us a little bit about it?

AB: 

ONLY FRIENDS is a dual-POV contemporary romance about two childhood best friends, Jamie and Elle, who team up on Jamie’s budding OnlyFans business to save their apartment from a crushing rent increase.

As they work together, their own relationship gets hotter—and messier—than the porn they’re peddling. It’s a M/F queer romance with a Type-A Black Cat heroine and a Golden Retriever neurodivergent bi+ leading man.

The hook was inspired by a Buzzfeed article I read about male OnlyFans performers and the women who pay for their content and engage with them through DMs. The premise of the article was, “Why do women pay to be in parasocial relationships with sex workers when they get unwanted dick pics for free all the time?” Everyone interviewed said that it came down to connection. Women were looking for safe connections on their own terms, where they were in control and nothing was asked of them for once. That struck a chord for me.

I started interviewing sex workers and performers. Everyone I talked to said the most important part of their job was making people feel seen and special, which felt like the basis for any good romance. I also had not read many positive portrayals of sex work, and barely any depictions of male sex workers—especially not as romantic heroes. I wanted to read that story, so I wrote it.

You received this offer after completing an R&R (revise and resubmit). It's always a tough call, deciding whether to revise for an agent, and I know many authors wonder if it's worth it and if it ever works. Clearly for you, it did work, but you couldn't know that when you first did the revision. How did you decide whether to do the R&R or not?

AB: For me, it was an easy decision. The R&R came from one of my dream agents, Deidre Knight. Deidre and my co-agent, Tyler Knight, had wonderful things to say about the manuscript and really understood my vision and the characters. Their major feedback was that they wanted more buildup before the inciting incident. The hardest part was changing my opening line, which I adored, especially since it had endured through years of revisions. However, my agents’ feedback made the revision much stronger. I’m so glad I trusted my instincts and took a chance on the R&R.

You had the unique experience of being offered rep by an agent TEAM, not only the individual agent you'd originally queried. Take us through that process. Did you have any questions or concerns about being repped by two people instead of one? What has it been like to work with two agents instead of one? How do they divide the workload? 

AB: When I received the news that my agents were interested in working with me as co-agents, I saw it as a unique opportunity and advantage. I have not one, but two passionate champions for my work. On our offer call, my agents assured me that they will work together closely and both be involved in every step of the process. Both my agents provided feedback on my manuscript and have been extremely engaged. I feel lucky to have two incredible agents who bring different perspectives because they are each at different points in their careers.

Many people write several books as they learn and level up, before the one that finally snags an agent. For you, it was always this book, but you studied under several book coaches and editors and kept writing new versions of this story to apply what you learned. What did that look like for you?

AB: It was a LONG journey! Six years, two book coaches, one developmental editor, and many critique partners and beta readers. I think it ended up being seven drafts—and counting! I worked with my first book coach on the initial three drafts, and she taught me the fundamentals of fiction writing and gave me the confidence I needed to keep going when I thought I couldn’t do it. Then, I worked with a developmental editor to sharpen the character arcs and pacing. At one point, my manuscript was 130K words; now it’s 74K. You and I began working together on my query package, and then you edited the manuscript as I started getting feedback from agents. Together, we elevated the prose, cranked up the internal and external stakes, and dialed in the pacing even more. Every edit got it closer to my agents saying yes.

I still remember that query package! It was so polished and voicey, and the hook wasn't just good--it was so close to my personal taste that I was disappointed I hadn't written it myself! I absolutely understand why it nabbed you an offer.

 Was there anything you’d point to as a turning point or turning points where you really leveled up your writing? Was there anything specific you learned or changed during the edit we did together that you think helped this ms's chances?

AB: Pacing has always been my biggest pain point. Did I mention my manuscript started at 130K words?! One of my biggest lessons was to take a hard look at every scene, paragraph, and sentence and examine if it was moving the story along—both from a plot and character development perspective. I killed a lot of darlings that I loved as character beats but that I didn’t need because I made that same point elsewhere.

On a line level, I now have your voice in my head when I write asking, “Can you trim this banter by two exchanges and still say the same thing?” The answer is usually “yes.” You also helped me vary my scene types and set-ups and ensure I infused setting and natural movements into my dialogue blocks. Otherwise, I could write two characters bantering in the same apartment without moving a muscle for ten pages.

That was one of the more interesting edits we carried out together, actually. When you were asked to tighten up the pacing in the middle portion, you'd already cut so many words that more cutting wasn't the answer. And we'd already checked to make sure the scenes were all purposeful, so I knew it wasn't that. When I read through it, instead, I noticed that you had a lot of the same scene type happening back to back. And though it was a really fun scene type, we found that changing up the scene setups and locations added more interest to keep the reader going, and allowed us short new scenes to increase the stakes on several different subplots.

Now for my favorite part. Tell me about the call. How long had you been querying? Where were you when it finally happened? Did you receive multiple offers? How did you know this agent team was the right fit for you?

AB: I had been querying for just over a year when I got “the email” asking to set up a call. I was in my childhood home visiting my parents, and I was so shocked I jumped out of my chair. The very next day, I had to fly to London for a huge work event for my corporate job. I got off a red eye, ran to my Airbnb and took the call from there.

It ended up being one of the wildest weeks of my life.

As I prepared for the work event, I sent out all my agent nudges, took another offer call, reviewed contracts, and ultimately signed with my agent team. I received one other offer from an amazing agent, but I chose the agency with more experience and connections in the romance space. I also loved their passion for the story and their confidence in the manuscript. I knew I was in good hands with them.

I was extra excited for this offer, because I knew Deirdre Knight had sold Heated Rivalry, so I thought she would be the perfect champion for both this spicy romance and your upcoming MMF throuple book!

So, after all that, what’s your #1 lesson that you want to pass on to other querying writers?

AB: This tip isn’t new but it’s a cliché for a reason:

Get deep into your next manuscript while you’re in the querying trenches.

It was the only thing that kept me distracted and motivated while fielding rejections.

My other tip is to invest in yourself as an author long before you get an agent or a publisher. If you can, set aside a budget for a book coach and/or a developmental editor. Having publishing professionals review my work, in addition to critique partners, was instrumental in upleveling my writing. Even if you don’t have budget, you can invest time. Schedule writing blocks into your calendar and treat writing like a job, even if you’re not getting paid for it. It took me a long time to finish my first manuscript because I treated it like a whim or hobby for the first couple years. It took me years of writing before I even called myself a writer!

When I started to take my role as a writer seriously, I saw serious changes in my productivity, work, and confidence.

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A copywriter and event marketing specialist by day, Allie Baker has a not-so-secret identity as a romance writer.

Previously, she lived out her 13 Going On 30 and Devil Wears Prada dreams as a magazine editor at Us Weekly, Self, and Food Network Magazine, among other titles. She now writes queer, spicy love stories that show that happily ever after doesn’t have to look a certain way. She lives by the beach in Los Angeles with her puppy Riggins (of Friday Night Lights fame).

When she’s not writing in her sweatpants, she’s going on global adventures to inspire material for writing in her sweatpants.

You can find out more at: https://www.allielbaker.com/