All language subtitles for Masterclass N. K. Jemisin Teaches Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing - 15.Surviving The Literary Marketplace

[MUSIC PLAYING]

N. K. JEMISIN: When you get
rejected by a publisher,

you have not failed.

You have actually passed
another milestone.

This is a really, really
hard business to be in.

You need a support network.

Try and find a workshop.

You don't want to go this alone.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Once you've sold a book, yay.

Congratulations.

It's time to celebrate.

Go out and have a
party with your friends

because you've
already crossed one

of the big and really,
really difficult hurdles that

are necessary to break in as a
professional published author.

Yay.

Immediately, you need
to start another book.

Congratulations.

Start another book.

And the reason
that I say that is

because it's going to
take one to three years

for that publisher to get
your book out into the world.

And during that
time, the publisher

is going to be sending
you revisions that they

want you to make, examples of
cover art, things like that.

But you might as well
go ahead and start

working on the next book
because, if you're lucky,

if your book sells well,
the publisher is immediately

going to turn around
and ask you, okay,

so what else you got?

And if you don't have
anything, then you've

missed an opportunity
right there.

The other reason that you
want to go ahead and start

working on another
book is because it'll

take your mind off of the
stress of waiting, possibly

three years, for your
book to come out.

It's a great way to
distract yourself.

It's also a great way to
kind of hone your skills

and improve as a writer.

You may want to
do a little palate

cleanser, of writing some
short fiction during that time.

Short fiction can help
you improve your ability

to hook a reader and
improve your pacing.

There's a lot of
different things

you can do during that
significant lengthy period

of waiting for your
book to come out.

But the most important
thing you can do

is not just sit and
rest on your laurels.

Start your next project.

If you decide to write
another book that's

in a completely
different field, then you

need to understand that if
your first book is successful,

the new book isn't
going to help you.

The new book means
you may need to find

another publisher,
maybe even another agent

entirely, in order to get
that book out in the world.

There are authors who try to
basically create franchises

in multiple genres
at the same time.

Sometimes those authors even
pick different pen names

to sell those different
kinds of books under.

But in a lot of
cases, they've got

an agent for one
genre and an agent

for another, a
publisher for one genre

and a publisher for another.

It just makes your life a
little more complicated.

There's no reason
why you can't do it.

It's just you need to understand
that that's a lot more work.

And you need to understand that
if you have written something--

a follow-up book that's
not in the same genre,

you've effectively scuttled
some momentum by doing

that because you're building
up your name and your career

within one existing genre, and
by writing something else, that

doesn't help you.

An important thing that you
should probably remember

is that you may not sell
your first book, in fact,

you probably won't
sell your first book.

When I was trying to break
in as a debut author,

my first actual book that got me
my agent was The Killing Moon.

I tried to publish this book.

My agent sent it around to
pretty much every publishing

house in New York.

And it got pretty
roundly rejected.

The feedback that
I got was great,

but it was a book that was
pushing some boundaries

in a lot of ways.

And publishers were hesitant
to publish it as my first book.

So during the time,
however, that my agent

was sending that book around,
I was writing another book.

So this is why I also say that.

A really key thing
to remember is

that the average
age for a writer

to sell their first novel
is somewhere in their 30s.

If you've passed the
age of 20 or if you've

passed the age of
30 and you feel

like a failure for not
having a book out there,

that makes no sense.

You're perfectly normal.

If you hit 40 or 50 and you
don't have a book out there,

you're perfectly normal.

It is entirely possible
to create a new career,

and start your career as
a brand new debut author,

at the age of 60 or 70.

It's really a question of
when you write the right book.

It's not a question of age.

You also need to remember
that a lot of the authors that

are extremely popular now, did
not sell their first books.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms,
my first published novel,

was not my first
professional novel.

My first professional
novel is the one

that got me my agent,
The Killing Moon,

so it was really my
second professional novel.

But I'd actually
been writing novels

throughout my teens
and 20-something years.

Most of those were
terrible and will never

see the light of day.

But they were-- the
first book that I

got published was by no means
the first book that I'd ever

written.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Rejection is a huge
part of being a writer.

And you need to own that
as part of being a writer.

When you get rejected by a
publisher, you have not failed.

You have actually passed
another milestone.

And that rejection is
going to teach you things.

And it will help you improve
yourself as a writer.

If you take it well, if you try
and learn what you can from it,

if you don't get
unprofessional and yell

at the publisher that rejected
you, or something like that--

please don't do
that, by the way.

That's a great way to kill your
career before it ever starts.

And publishers do
talk to each other.

But collect those rejections.

Own those rejections as badges--

or badges of courage, if
you want to call it that,

or battle scars, if you
want to call it that.

When I was a beginning
writer, the writing group

that I was in actually
celebrated rejections.

Every 50 rejections, we would
all go out and have a party.

When we had 100
rejections, we all

decided to go out for drinks.

At 150, I think we
hit a strip club.

But I don't know that
that's necessarily

the way you want to celebrate.

But celebrate those rejections
because they are very much

a part of being a writer.

And they are going to help
you become the writer that you

ultimately want to be.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Let's talk a while
about short fiction.

When I first started
out as an author,

I was writing
exclusively novels.

I didn't even read a
lot of short fiction.

I just thought of it as a
completely different art form.

And it is.

The catch is, that
writing short fiction

can be a great way
to sort of break

into a novel-writing career.

It's a way to get your name
out there and well known.

It's a way to get your name
in front of awards committees

and reviewers.

And it can even open some doors
to agents and publication.

Now, an important
thing to remember

is that these days, short
fiction, for the most part,

is not agented.

Most agents will not
represent short fiction.

That's simply because there's
just not enough money in it

anymore.

Short fiction sales,
at best, generally net

you a few hundred dollars--

if you're very
lucky, over $1,000.

If you're a professional author
who's been in the business

for a while, who's got a
lot of name recognition,

then you can command
much higher fees.

My short fiction sells for
a whole lot more than $1,000

these days.

But that's after
many, many years

and a whole lot of awards.

As a debut author, it's going to
be a little different for you.

Typically, short
fiction sells for what

are considered professional
rates within that genre.

Your genre has its own
standard of what is

considered a professional rate.

For science fiction and fantasy,
go and look at sfwa.org,

and they will tell
you what is considered

the professional
rate for fiction.

Those rates are normally
listed per word,

so it's usually $0.06
a word or $0.05 a word,

something like that.

At the end of writing a short
fiction, a piece of fruit

fiction, you tally that
up, multiply it times 0.05

and then you can get an idea of
what that sale turns out to be.

Now, short fiction is
anything less than a novel.

A novel is typically considered,
in science fiction and fantasy,

to be 40,000 words and up.

In actual practicality, very few
publishers are going to publish

just a 45,000-word novel.

Most of them tend to be in the
90,000- to 200,000-word range,

especially in the fantasy.

They can get a little fat.

But anything that's
40,000 words or below

is a novella, a novelette,
or a short story.

And you can sell all of that.

One reason why you
might want to spend

some time on short
fiction is simply

that it's a lot easier to break
in than it is with novels.

As far as markets are
concerned-- and by markets,

I mean people who will
publish your short fiction--

as far as markets are
concerned, short fiction

is an infinitely
smaller investment

and so they're much more
willing to take risks.

You can be more experimental
in your language,

or your narrative,
or your style.

You can try and
broach subjects that

are maybe a little more
controversial than you

would touch in a novel.

And it's more likely to get
published in short fiction.

Also, the markets that exist
out there for short fiction

are much more varied.

There's print markets.

There's online markets.

There's a lot of audio markets.

Podcast short fiction is kind
of the new hot thing these days.

So there's a lot more places
to break in, to build a career,

to build a resume.

And that will help
you in the long run.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

So here's the last
few tips and tricks

that will help you become the
best writer that you can be.

First and foremost, try
and find a workshop.

You don't want to go this alone.

This is a really, really
hard business to be in.

You need a support network.

You also need people that
will help you improve.

So to create a
writing group, you

find other people
who are seeking

the same kind of thing you are.

They all want to publish
novels or short stories.

They all want to publish
in the same genre.

They're all at roughly the same
level of career development

that you are.

They're all beginners.

They're sufficiently
practiced or skilled,

that reading their
work isn't painful.

And they'll be able to
evaluate your work better

because they're at
the same level as you.

And then you can
all grow together.

You may want to
consider participating

in a paid training experience.

And formal training is not
necessarily in a classroom.

You can do it in a workshop.

You can do it as
part of a convention.

Or you can do a full-on
MFA program, if you want.

There's no reason
why you shouldn't.

But if you choose to do an
opportunity where you're

paying for feedback,
just understand

that you can still
get feedback for free

in a lot of different places.

It's just that
you've got to work

a little harder to make sure
that it's a good quality

feedback source.

When I first started
out, I used a couple

of different online workshops,
one of which was paid,

one of which was free.

I learned from both of them.

But I also chose to go to a
week-long in-person intensive

workshop called Viable Paradise.

Now, in science
fiction and fantasy,

there are several
six-week model workshops,

where you go and you just
spend your whole summer there.

And you are learning at the side
of other potential professional

writers.

You are learning from
professional writers,

who come and help you
work on your pieces.

You are creating new work over
the course of the six weeks.

But that's expensive.

And it means that
during those six weeks

you're away from home.

You're away from your job.

There are a lot of costs
associated with doing this.

Viable Paradise, for me at
the time, I was working.

I had a day job.

I couldn't take six weeks off.

I could take one
week off, though.

So I went to a workshop
that was a little shorter.

And it gave me pretty much
what I needed to break in.

You can get this from
going to conventions.

Many science fiction
and fantasy conventions

have a writing
track, where you can

choose to participate in writing
workshops as part of that con.

There's a lot of different
ways that you can do it.