All language subtitles for Masterclass N. K. Jemisin Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing - 13.How To Publish Your Book Seeking Publication

[MUSIC PLAYING]

N. K. JEMISIN: Just looking at
something with your name on it

that you wrote, that you
put out into the world,

and it looks great, that's
a wonderful feeling.

And that in and of itself is
a great reason to publish.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Now it's probably
time for us to start

talking about the actual
process of publication

and how to survive as
a professional writer

if you decide to dip
into these waters.

Now, I've given many
talks on this before.

And I've actually created
some notes for myself.

So I'm going to be referring
to those throughout.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Is it possible for you to
become a published writer?

Yes.

It is possible for anyone
to publish these days

because the self-publishing
boom has sort of

taken over the world.

And you don't even
have to be good.

You don't have to
write a good book.

You don't have to write a book.

It can be a
collection of recipes.

It can be whatever you want to
publish if you choose to do so.

Now, that said,
if you're looking

to make a career as a
professional writer, that's

a different story.

And then we're talking
self publishing

is still a possibility there.

But traditional publishing
and hybrid models

are something we
should talk about.

Now, with the caveat that I am
primarily a traditional writer,

we'll talk a little bit about
the different ways to break in.

But because I am a
traditionally published writer

who has a publisher, I don't do
any of my own marketing or book

jackets or anything
like that, that's

the main thing I'm going
to speak to because that's

what I'm most familiar with.

It's still very
possible to break in

via traditional publishing.

And in fact, if you want to do
certain kinds of publishing,

traditional publishing is
still the best method to do so.

But there's absolutely nothing
wrong with self publishing

either.

It's really kind of dependent
on what your goal is

and what you're hoping to get
out of the publishing process.

I want to warn
people at this point

that we're going to
do real talk here.

And it's possibly going
to be discouraging.

It may be intimidating
or uncomfortable.

I want to be honest,
though, about your chances

and about the hardships
that you're going to face.

And we'll talk positively about,
you know, the benefits, too.

But you know, I'm not--

I'm not trying to sell
you on the thing here.

I'm actually trying
to do the opposite.

If you don't 100% commit
to the idea of trying

to get published, it doesn't
make sense to try it.

It's a waste of your time.

It's a big waste of money.

And it's a heartbreaker that's
kind of waiting to happen.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So the first question
that you want to answer

is whether you want to
publish in the first place.

You don't have to
publish to be a writer.

You are a writer from the
moment that you start to write.

So don't feel like
publication is absolutely

necessary for that process.

But there are some
benefits and consequences

to publishing that
you want to maybe--

maybe consider.

So the pros of
publication are that you

get other people to read
your work, people beyond just

your immediate family.

But you can disseminate
your work more widely

to a larger number of people.

You may be able to have a little
income sidelined from this

if you are moderately
successful.

You don't have to be wildly
successful to get money out

of writing.

You can make a few grand a year
out of this, you know, easily.

It may not be enough to live on.

And you may not be able to
become a full-time writer.

But you can at least sort of
supplement your income with it.

And, ultimately, you
get the bragging rights

and the positive feeling of
having a book of your own

in your hands.

And I'm going to tell you right
now that's a wonderful feeling

to have.

Just looking at something with
your name on it that you wrote,

that you put out into the
world, and it looks great,

that's-- that's a
wonderful feeling.

And that in and of itself is
a great reason to publish.

The problems associated
with publication

or the-- the negative
piece of that

is that you're putting
yourself out there.

You're going to put your work
out in front of other people.

And those other people
may not like it.

And they may tell you to
your face that, you know,

this book is not good.

And after you've put a lot
of period of your life,

like if you've put like
years or months of your life

into writing this book,
you've poured your soul

onto this paper, and you--

you care so much about
it, hearing somebody

say that this book is not
good is kind of like being

told your baby is ugly.

And you know, that-- that's
a hard thing to take.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Another good reason that you
may want to seek publication

is because you can
actually write off

the expenses associated--
associated with this process.

See, becoming published
means becoming

a self-employed business person.

You are taking on the risks as
well as the potential profits

of becoming an artist who is
a professional who makes money

off of your art.

So that means that if you
want to travel going forward

in the future, if you decided
to do a family vacation,

and you add a component to
that vacation that is research,

then you can write off
the expenses associated

with that part of the vacation.

And you'll have to
have a conversation

with your accountant about it.

If the IRS comes for you,
please don't tell them

that NK Jemisin told you to
do this because then they'll

come after me.

But you can write
off some of that.

And so that's a
great way to sort of

make it worthwhile to make
that investment and to try.

You also have to
consider the fact

that you are a self-employed
business person.

And your business might not
inherently be successful.

You might not even be
moderately successful.

You may write off your losses
on your taxes for several years,

and then you're
going to hit a cap.

There's-- there's a limit to the
number of years that you can do

that.

And at that point, you have to
decide if you want to continue.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So an important
question that you

need to ask at the
start of the process is,

how do you want to enter
the publishing world?

I like to use the
metaphor, probably

because I'm a science
fiction writer,

of traveling through space
as the process of trying

to seek publication.

You need a spaceship to kind
of carry you into this place.

It is a hostile environment,
the publishing world, just

like space.

And so you want to pick
the method of traveling

through this hostile environment
that's going to be best for you

and what it is
that you're hoping

to get out of the process.

What kind of
spaceship, basically,

do you want to fly around in?

Do you want to build
the spaceship yourself?

Are you 100% DIY on
the spaceship front?

You want to be your own
personal SpaceX, whatever

you want to call that.

You know, you're self
publishing at that point.

With self publication,
as I mentioned,

you're going to have to be
doing a lot of different roles.

And that's not
necessarily a bad thing.

If you want to control the
way that your book looks,

if you want to make sure
that the book art is

exactly what you want it to be,
and you want complete control

over, that you want the
text to look a certain way,

you want the the type of
paper to be a certain texture,

you want to be
hardcover, and you

don't want anybody else to tell
you that hardcover is maybe

not the best way to
start out your career,

then self publishing is for you.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So there's a couple of good and
bad aspects to self publishing

that I can talk about.

First and foremost,
you're going to get

to keep 100% of the profits.

When you are published
traditionally,

the publisher takes a cut.

If you don't want to give
that cut to somebody else,

then fine.

Do self publishing.

Another thing that you
have to keep in mind

is that it's a lot more work.

You're not just the writer here.

And you're going to have
to wear a lot of hats.

If you have a lot of
expertise in a different area,

if as a hobby you're already
an artist, a visual artist,

if in your day
job you're already

working in PR or
marketing, then it

can be a good idea to be a
self publisher because then you

can combine your talent for
writing with this other thing

that you're already doing.

But if you're going to
have to teach yourself

this stuff from scratch,
you may not want to--

may not want to go that route.

It may be a lot for
you to teach yourself.

And you may not be very
good at those other pieces

that you haven't been doing
as much as the writing.

Another thing to consider
with self publishing

is that you have
limited distribution.

It's difficult to
sell foreign rights

as a self-published person.

You basically need
to be willing to go

to things like the Frankfurt
Book Festival in Germany

and to book fairs
around the world.

And you need to be able to
have a close relationship

with publishers in other
countries and other languages.

And that may not be something
that the average person

can easily do.

So you're also going
to have difficulty

getting into libraries.

There are so many
self-published books out there

that many libraries don't even
stock self-published books.

They can't.

There's just too many.

And so they limit themselves.

And they're able to make
enough room for the books

that they want to-- want to
get out there to the public

by limiting themselves to
traditionally published books.

So if you want to be read
as widely as possible,

self publishing may
not be the ideal.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Traditional publishing is
hitchhiking on somebody else's

spaceship if you want to think
about it that way, you know.

And it can be a small spaceship.

There are lots of
small publishers

out there and small presses.

Or it can be know
basically a high liner,

or it can be something like
a cruise ship among ships

that travel through space.

But what it means is
that you're giving up

a certain amount of control.

You're not flying that ship.

So you're not going to be
able to, in some cases,

stop them from publishing a
book cover that you don't like.

They have marketing people.

And their marketing people
have done their own marketing

research.

And they're going to listen
to those marketing people

before they listen to you on
what that character should

look like.

Now, if you're lucky, and
you get a good publisher,

that publisher will
obviously want the author

to be happy with the end
result of-- of the book.

So they're going to at
least run it past you

and ask you what
you think about it

and hopefully listen to that.

But at the end of the day,
the decision making power

does not lie with
you when you've

chosen the traditional
publishing model.

On the other hand, the risk
doesn't lie with you either.

With self publishing, you
keep 100% of the profits

because you put in
100% of the investment.

With flying on somebody
else's spaceship,

with traditional
publishing, you are not

assuming the bulk of the risk.

The publisher is paying all
these other professionals

to help work with you.

The publisher is opening the
door with the distributor

by having meetings with them,
by wining and dining them,

by establishing years-long
relationships with them.

The publisher is sending
people to foreign markets

to have conversations
with publishers there.

The publisher is
opening the doors

with schools and libraries
and things like that.

So you-- you don't
get 100% of the profit

because all those people
need to make money, too.

In that whole chain of--

of traditional publishing,
there are literally

dozens of people that
are profiting off

of that book as well as you.

But on the other
hand, you know, you

don't have to put
any initial outlay.

All you do is write a book.

The reason I ended up choosing
traditional publishing is

because of a
combination of I didn't

want to put that much work in.

I wanted the bulk of my
work to be in writing.

Writing is my talent.

It's the thing I love to do.

It's the thing I
know I'm good at.

I can't draw a lick, you know.

I don't know how
to do marketing.

I know how to schmooze and talk
to people and have, you know,

normal conversations.

But I don't speak German.

I am not going to be able to
schmooze a publisher in a--

in a foreign language.

So the reason that
I chose to do it

was because I wanted
to be distributed

as widely as possible.

On a personal note, I
grew up reading books

by authors that I absolutely
loved at the library.

I spent hours of time at the
library when I was a child.

And I wanted my books
to be accessible to kids

like me the way
that I got exposed

to reading at the library.

And traditional publication was
the main way to go to get that.

Also, for me, film rights
were a little easier to sell

because I had a
traditional publisher.

Now, at the end of
the day, anybody

that sees a book
in Hollywood can

decide that they want to
buy the rights to produce

that book in a film format.

It's easier for people
in the movie industry

to find books that have a lot
of publisher buzz behind them.

That's that marketing that
the publisher is paying for.

A traditional publisher
in a lot of cases

is able to get you reviews
in really well-known markets

like "The New York Times,"
which I used to review for.

So they're able to build up a
lot of word of mouth and buzz

that will help you get the
attention of Hollywood agents.

So if you really want
to sell film rights,

if you want to sell any
kind of adaptation rights,

be that into a play
or some other format,

you need to be out there as
widely distributed as possible.