 She submitted the finished product to her agent, who disliked the new manuscript as well, and to various publishing houses, where it was repeatedly rejected.Hilton briefly considered self-publishing and gave a copy of the manuscript to a restaurant owning friend, who brought it to the attention of Zaffre Publishing, who ended up purchasing the book rights and became her new agent.While writing "Maestra", Hilton chose not to include any physical descriptions of Judith as she wanted readers to project their own opinions and ideas upon the character.