Dashboard Literary Agents Success Story Interviews Selene San Felice

Success Story Interview - Selene San Felice

An Interview with Selene San Felice (selenesanfelice on QT) upon receiving an offer of representation from agent Jane Dystel of Dystel Goderich & Bourret LLC.

07/31/2025

QT: Can you tell us a little bit about the book for which you've found representation? What inspired you to write it?: Selene San Felice:
My book is narrative nonfiction. After surviving the Capital Gazette shooting in 2018, I felt misunderstood by everyone—sometimes even my closest family and friends. I wanted a way to tell people what my experience was like so they could be in my head and just get it. But when I started writing, I realized how much I had changed and how much I myself didn't get. Writing the book eventually became less about a desperate need to be heard by others, and more about understanding my own story and what it means to be understood.
QT: How long have you been writing?: Selene San Felice:
I've been a journalist for a decade, but I didn't seriously pursue my personal writing until I started my MFA in 2022.
QT: How long have you been working on this book?: Selene San Felice:
I started writing the book in 2021 shortly after the shooter was sentenced.
QT: Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what helped you to stay on course?: Selene San Felice:
While in the MFA program, I was referred to an agent people told me was a pro in the nonfiction world and worked with journalists all the time. I thought we'd be a perfect match, and since I had a referral I'd be a shoe-in. I got another proposal for a different agent at the same time, and considered that a backup option. I was so confident in my writing and story that I thought it was only a matter of when they'd accept my pitch, not if. Both rejected me essentially saying that no one wanted to read a book about gun violence. That told me that no matter how good my writing was or how important my story, no publisher would want to buy it and no one would want to read it. Thankfully, I realized this wasn't true and that I needed to find an agent who was the right match for me and believed in my story enough to sell it.
QT: Is this your first book?: Selene San Felice:
Yes!
QT: Do you have any formal writing training?: Selene San Felice:
(see MFA and journalism career)
QT: Do you follow a writing routine or schedule?: Selene San Felice:
For a while, I wrote at night after logging off from my journalism job and take at least one day of the weekend to dedicate to hitting my page deadlines for school. Eventually, once my writing became less about just putting what happened on the page and more about digging deep into telling the story, I started to burn out at night. I switched to writing for about an hour before logging on for work in the morning, and that really helped. But I'm not a morning person so that didn't always happen. Then I lost my job and that all went out the window. Once writing the book became my full time job, I still had trouble making myself write. A few things have helped: Making a goal of writing ANYTHING (even a sentence or tweaking what I've already written) every day, shrinking my intentions from writing an entire scene or chapter into "bird by bird," pomodoro timers. Ultimately, having a writing routine is important but don't beat yourself up if it's not working. Know that your routine will likely need to change. And breaks need to be part of that.
QT: How many times did you re-write/edit your book?: Selene San Felice:
I'm revising the first draft but anticipating several rounds of revisions in the publishing process.
QT: Did you have beta readers for your book?: Selene San Felice:
Aside from workshop leaders and peers, I had my girlfriend, my parents and a former Capital coworker read my first draft. Some of their feedback included catching typos and small fact-checking, but the conversations we had about the draft led me to strengthen my writing in revisions and vastly improved my agent pitch.
QT: Did you outline your book, or do you write from the hip?: Selene San Felice:
Both. I worked off of a chapter outline to cover events I knew I wanted to write about, and would hop around writing parts of that. But eventually I had to let that go and just write without the expectation of where something would fit in the book. I ended up throwing out some stuff I had originally planned on being in the book, and including things that came from my free-writing.
QT: How long have you been querying for this book? Other books?: Selene San Felice:
Aside from the previously mentioned referrals, I started my serious campaign with Query Tracker on May 15, 2025. I stopped querying a month later after getting Jane's offer.
QT: About how many query letters did you send out for this book?: Selene San Felice:
37.
QT: On what criteria did you select the agents you queried?: Selene San Felice:
I looked for agents with narrative nonfiction and memoir listed as genres on their website and/or wishlists. When I got a Query Tracker membership, I started scanning the updates to see if newly available agents had those listed in their genres or were added. Then I'd see who in nonfiction they represented and whether I wanted to be among those authors. I also checked QT's fastest responding agent lists and looked to see what comments were on their profile and their response rates. A couple with a record of faster response rates did give me quick and constructive rejections.
QT: Did you tailor each query to the specific agent, and if so, how?: Selene San Felice:
I always started letters saying I was excited to pitch that specific agent because I was either a fan of their authors or I thought my work would fit nicely with other books they represented. Examples: " I’m thrilled to submit my book to you as someone looking for interrogations of power and violence, reclamations of identity, and dark humor," "I’m thrilled to be submitting my personal memoir to an expert in the craft. I hope you’ll agree that my book fits well among your nonfiction titles like X and Y." "I hope you’ll agree that my book fits well among your roster of voicey, darkly funny women-driven stories like X and memoirs of resilience like Y."
QT: What advice would you give other writers seeking agents?: Selene San Felice:
Stay hopeful, stay organized, keep working on your pitch and your story. One thing I wish I had done sooner was get a Publishers Marketplace sub (or quick pass) and check the track records of all the agents I wanted to pitch. They also have an AI tool that matches your pitch to agents you'll most likely want to query. Jane came up very high on that list for me, and there were agents I hadn't seen yet (and a bunch who rejected me).
QT: Would you be willing to share your query with us?: Selene San Felice:
I'm happy to share my query letter with anyone who wants to see it, but I don't feel comfortable with it being posted because I don't want it to be scraped into AI. As a journalist and future author, that's obviously inevitable but I've gotta push back when I can. Feel free to email me at selenesanfelice@gmail.com and I'm happy to send.