Behind the Pages: Shannon Luders Manuel Reveals the Untold Inspirations Behind The One Who Loves You
SLM: I probably was working on the book for 10 years before I started looking for an agent. Initially, I’d planned to finish the full draft, but then I had some friends who got a book deal on proposal, so I made the switch. I only had to query about 15 agents, but the responses that I got were interesting. I mean, most of what I got was silence, of course, and that’s standard. In one instance, I was put in touch with an agent and the response that I got was, “I’m already working with a mixed-race author.” And I found out that the author was writing a children’s book about a Latina girl. So, what conflict of interest would that have been?