Getting Published Without a Literary Agent:
Isabel Yap, Author of Never Have I Ever, on Writing, Publishing, and Finding Your Creative Community.
Isabel Yap is a poet and speculative fiction writer whose debut short story collection, Never Have I Ever, will be published on February 23, 2021, by Small Beer Press. She grew up in the Philippines, and many of her stories are set in Manila. The collection comprises thirteen short stories spanning different genres: science fiction, contemporary fantasy, horror, and fabulism. She explores Filipino identity, queerness, and the struggle for belonging within this unique and compelling collection.
Give Yourself Permission To Try
Poetry was Isabel’s first creative form, and her writing career started primarily as a poet in Manila. Transferring to Santa Clara University in the United States for her junior year of college was destabilizing; she felt like she was leaving her writing career behind. When she moved to the US to study, her major was business. As someone concerned with financial stability, writing didn’t seem like a viable career choice. Regardless, Isabel would set herself “writing homework” by minoring in English and taking creative writing courses. Earning the credits for these classes was her way of giving herself permission to spend time writing.
Upon graduating, Isabel said her “plan was to stop writing and focus on a career in tech.” A friend, however, suggested she apply for writing workshops in California. This led to Isabel discovering the Clarion Workshop, where Kelly Link was teaching that year. As a fan of her work, Isabel applied. She wasn’t truly aware of the workshop’s prestige when she applied, which was a good thing: “I didn’t intimidate myself out of applying,” she said. Upon being accepted to Clarion, she pushed back her start date at a tech company and completed the six-week course in San Diego. The Clarion Workshop catalyzed her short fiction writing career in the US and put her on the path to getting published.
Find Other People Who Take Your Writing Seriously
The Clarion Workshop initially helped Isabel find other speculative fiction writers who treated her as a fellow author. “Having other people take you seriously really matters,” she said. Being part of a community of writers continues to be an essential part of her process; since the start of the pandemic, she joins a standing virtual morning writing session with some friends. Every weekday morning, Isabel and her friends will write together while in a group video chat. Having trusted friends to bounce ideas off about characters and stories has helped unblock her when she feels temporarily stuck. Twitter is another place that Isabel interacts with fellow writers, which feels either inspirational or draining depending on the day! “Community is super important; it is what keeps people writing in a lot of cases,” she said.
Mentorship has also been key to Isabel’s career, and it was at the Clarion Workshop where she was encouraged by professional authors to keep writing. Following the workshop, Isabel started submitting her stories to speculative fiction magazines, and they began to be published. Several years later, Kelly Link — who ran Small Beer Press with her partner Gavin Grant — reached out to see if Isabel might be interested in collaborating on a collection. Initially, Isabel was shocked and couldn’t believe this was a serious offer. Fortunately, Kelly was persistent, and over the course of two years (2018–2020), Isabel worked with Small Beer Press building the collection. During this time, she also completed her MBA at Harvard, where she enrolled in creative writing classes to help her stay focused on writing.
Given her existing relationship with Kelly and Gavin (and the fact she has an MBA), Isabel was comfortable negotiating the terms of her contract without an agent. She recognized that this is an unusual route and that many traditional publishers only work with authors who have a literary agent representing them. Additionally, most authors want a literary agent to help ensure they get a good book deal.
Write the Story You Want to Tell: Not The Story You Think The Market Wants
After getting published in several different magazines — including Tor.com, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Interfictions Online, and Uncanny Magazine — agents have reached out to Isabel to ask if she has plans to write a novel because novels sell more easily than short fiction. She did some soul-searching, asking herself: “Do I want to write a novel because society says to write a novel, or because I think I have stories to tell that need to be that long?”
After writing more than 200 short stories, she was surprised at how difficult she found the process of writing a novel, an undertaking she’s currently in the middle of. Her advice to other aspiring novelists: “if it feels incredibly difficult and super bizarre, that is just how it feels, apparently!” As someone whose short fiction has crossed different genres (science fiction, fabulism, horror, contemporary fantasy, and folklore), she felt initially confined by the pressure to conform to a specific set of genre expectations in her novel. However, many of her favorite books sit at the intersection between literary and genre fiction. Ultimately, she knows how a book is shelved typically comes down to marketing more than anything definitive about the writing. “I can’t feel pressed-in by the market or audience; I have to write what I want to,” she said, adding, “chasing the story the market wants is never going to be the solution.”
Never Have I Ever will be published on February 23, 2021, by Small Beer Press. For more details on how to purchase a copy, visit Isabel’s website.
To discover new stories and get recommendations to help diversify your bookshelf, visit @pollyturnsthepage on Instagram.
Are you an aspiring author? What questions do you have about the writing and publishing process? I would love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments.
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