Heather Carter lives in the St. Louis, Missouri, area (Illinois side) with her husband, two children, and an extremely spoiled cat. She grew up in a small town in Franklin County, Missouri, where she spent her free time devouring books and penning her own stories that just wouldn’t leave her alone. These days, she enjoys crafting romantic and spooky tales on her laptop while drinking copious amounts of coffee and jamming out to her favorite music.

Hi, my name is Heather Carter. I’m a writer from Illinois by way of Missouri, who has a passion for cats, coffee, and the written word.

Being an author was always in the cards for me (though I also wanted to be a famous singer, a princess, and “the mom at the bank who hands out the suckers.”) I’ve been told not to get my hopes up, but that only triggers my stubbornness, so here I am: a former bank teller who now writes books and still loves to sing. I have a tiara around here somewhere, too.

My traditional publishing journey started with a query letter sent July 29th, 2020, which garnered a swift form rejection the following day. Instead of being inconsolable, I printed the Query Tracker email, framed it, and hung it on the wall to signify that I was in “the game,” come what may.

I continued to query, but my AuDHD self also got restless, so in June 2021, I self-published my first book (well, technically second book, but the first was a poorly edited NaNoWriMo fever dream I impulsively published in 2015 and subsequently unpublished. We don’t talk about her.) Of Songs and Saltwater, my gender-swapped Little Mermaid retelling, continues to be a reader favorite.

The querying continued over the course of four more years, pitching four different manuscripts (I was a prolific writer during those early pandemic years!). During that time, I went on to self-publish a few more adult romantasy books. In January 2024, I signed with my first literary agent, and I was over the moon! I printed my offer email, framed it, and hung it beside my query rejection email. Nothing could rip me from cloud nine.

But cloud nine ultimately sank. My book died on submission, and things didn’t work out with my literary agent. I made the agonizing choice to part ways sixteen months later and leap back into the query trenches. I was anxious, depressed, and more unsure of myself than ever. But one thing that stuck was the tenacity.

Over the course of the next several months, I queried not one, not two, but THREE manuscripts, juggling color-coded spreadsheets like burning torches. If you’ve ever queried, you’ll know that it can be complicated keeping track of the different agency policies, who you’ve queried when, proper nudging times and responses, etc… It’s like a fulltime job!

In October 2025, I signed with an AMAZING agent team—Katrina Lemaire and Marisa Corvisiero at Corvisiero Literary agency. They are a dream to work with, and truly worth that scary decision to jump back into querying. We edited my manuscript (a paranormal gothic romance that had been previously queried and then rewritten). It went on submission soon after that, and we got a deal within a few months. (THE ECHOES OF RADFIELD HALL releases August 17, 2027 via City Owl Press.) Soon after that, came the audiobook deal, in which the rights were sold—at auction—to Recorded Books Media.

Hundreds of rejections. Several queried manuscripts. Self-publishing. It’s been an absolute marathon of a journey, but I’m happy for progress along the way. Not just in getting agented, getting a deal, etc… but learning what I’ve learned about the process itself, growing my craft, and making amazing friends.

My advice to anyone thinking of publishing is to research the process. Find your writing community. Give yourself grace, have patience, watch out for scams, and pack a snack for the journey. Or at least stock up on coffee.

King of Stars by Heather Carter

Now settled in the Fae Realm, Sophie’s life has changed significantly. She doesn’t have to deal with her dead-end job in St. Louis anymore, and her small family is happy and secure. Well, besides her haunting dreams. However, her and her family are forced to return to Mountain Castle when Lito is selected to serve on the new king’s council. The same Mountain Castle that nearly cost them their lives a year ago. The voice of another woman’s soul begins to plague Sophie while new visions appear. Sophie must defend her family, but the Dark King will go to incredible lengths to acquire his missing bride.

Buy the book now: Bookshop.org | Amazon