What It’s Really Like to Get a Literary Agent: ft. Crystal Leigh

January 21, 2026

Featured Guest:

Crystal Leigh

Crystal Leigh is a tech worker by day and a writer of contemporary romances with social agendas by night (and weekends). She’s on the board of Romance Writers of the Rockies and is RWR’s 2025 Volunteer of the Year. A member of the 2027 cohort of Stanford’s Novel Writing Certificate Program, she’s currently querying her sapphic, feminist, Formula 1 romance. 

📸 Instagram: crystal.writes

What does it actually look like to land a literary agent?

In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the querying process and what happens behind the scenes—from submissions and full requests to the emotional rollercoaster of waiting, rejection, and (hopefully) that long-awaited yes. This is the stuff you don’t always see on social media: the uncertainty, the strategy, and the reality of navigating the traditional publishing path.

We also talk about what agents are really looking for, how platform and positioning play into the process, and why getting an agent is just one step in a much bigger journey. Whether you’re actively querying or just starting to think about traditional publishing, this conversation offers an honest, grounded look at what it takes—and what comes next.

In This Episode

• What the querying process actually looks like (beyond the highlight reels)

• How authors get literary agents—and how long it really takes

• Full requests, rejections, and the emotional highs and lows of querying

• What agents are looking for in today’s market

• The role of platform, audience, and positioning in getting representation

• How to handle feedback (or lack of it) from agents

• The difference between “good writing” and “marketable writing”

• What happens after you sign with an agent

• Common misconceptions about traditional publishing

• Why getting an agent isn’t the “end goal”