Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Giovanna Lennox

Success Story Interview - Giovanna Lennox

An Interview with Giovanna Lennox (Santina on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Claire Cavanagh of The Rights Factory.

04/16/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Giovanna Lennox:
THE PENETRATION TEST is my steamy contemporary romcom. Where Billie, a female tech entrepreneur is hired to go undercover and find technology vulnerabilities by performing in-person undercover ‘Penetration Tests’. Her first step? Get into the building. What she didn’t anticipate was being swiped in by none other than Weston Knight and presumed to be a new employee. Tied to her strict client deadline and hoping to save her dads house from repossession, she finds herself working undercover to see how far the corporate fuck-up goes.

I decided to write it on a whim. I love STEM romances, but as an IT programmer I struggled to find any books with realistic scenarios.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Giovanna Lennox:
I wrote the novel in around 6 months! June - December 2024. I haven’t written anything else.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Giovanna Lennox:
6 months!
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Giovanna Lennox:
The first rejections really sting! Towards the beginning of drafting the book, I entered a big 5 publisher competition and got to the final shortlist. It made me realise that I need to believe in my book and concept and keep trying.
QT: Is this your first book?: Giovanna Lennox:
Yes, although I have plans for others already.
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Giovanna Lennox:
None whatsoever.
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Giovanna Lennox:
I try and write a little a day without stopping.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Giovanna Lennox:
I reread my last chapter and keep going. I find writing start to finish without skipping chapters helped me draft the whole book in a few months and made the editing process easier too. Editing only took a month or so because it was already fairly clean.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Giovanna Lennox:
Just my beloved friends who have the same taste in romance as me!
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Giovanna Lennox:
Thorough plotting of the chapters and timeline and it helped the book come together much quicker when I began writing.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Giovanna Lennox:
This was my first querying experience and the whole process took around 3 months.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Giovanna Lennox:
Around 90!
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Giovanna Lennox:
I looked up MSWL’s and tried to find agents looking for romance and ended up with quite a large pool of potential agents.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Giovanna Lennox:
I did this in the beginning of querying but felt like it cluttered my query letter, so kept it very basic towards the end.
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Giovanna Lennox:
Write what you know. Bring your own experiences into the story and write something with a really strong hook. Then keep going! It only takes one agent to see your potential.