10 YA Authors on Not Being a Debut Anymore

The funny thing about being a debut author is that you don’t quite understand what being a debut author means until years later. This process of realization continues to this day, in fact, as I learn more about the realities of the publishing industry and continue to interact with readers and their expectations. I’ve had had three more YA novels published since my debut, Ash, came out in 2009, and one of the oddest lessons I’ve learned is that while I believe I have become a better writer over the years, most readers don’t read to see improvement at the sentence level. They want a story and characters to connect with. With every story or novel I write, the better I can see how to construct stories and characters that satisfy, but the more I write, the more I want to challenge myself to improve craft-wise. Sometimes my goals as a writer clash with readers’ desires to be satisfied. Now I see writing as much more of a negotiation than I did when I wrote Ash, which I wrote solely for myself. I don’t see this as a negative; I see it as a clarification. I think the debut novel is often written and published in sort of a beautiful haze. I’m glad I’ve survived in the business long enough for that haze to burn off, because it allows me to be much more purposeful in my work.
–Malinda Lo

Every book feels like the first book for me.  Every book I publish fills me with fear and wonder and excitement over the unknown. Every book I write is a new experience as I stumble over each word and paragraph, praying I do a good job. Every book feels like an opportunity to speak to readers for the first time. We Are the Ants is my fifth book, but in so many ways it feels like my first. Which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Honestly, I’m just making it all up as I go and hoping no one notices.
–Shaun David Hutchinson

Kind of like becoming a parent, one may go on to publish multiple books, but you only make the transition from non-author to author once. Now that the nerves and doubt and highs and lows of my debut year are over, in addition to gaining perspective, I’ve been better able to integrate what being an author means to me. My advice to new authors would be to be proactive in developing skills that allow you to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty; to commit to maintaining balance in your life; to not be afraid to voice your needs; to not worry about your social media presence; and to read a lot of whatever it is you’re passionate about reading (it doesn’t have to be YA. I promise).
–Stephanie Kuehn

With two books on the shelf and a third currently kicking my butt, it’s become clear to me that it doesn’t get easier. There’s a lot more “writer stuff” (interviews, panels, conferences, signings), but the writing’s the same. As long as you love the process (and I do), that’s good news.
–Lamar Giles

My new books—A Tyranny of Petticoats and Wild Swans—are in new genres and with new publishers, so in a way it feels like debuting all over again. But I come to 2016 with greater confidence than 2012—that these books will find their readers, that I have done the absolute best I could with them, and that I (as an author and as a person) am more than one book or one genre. I’m in this career for the long haul, and that means constantly challenging and reinventing myself!
–Jessica Spotswood

For me, the biggest change—from when I wrote my debut (and my sophomore novel as well) to now—is in my mindset when I’m working, and I don’t think it’s been for the better, necessarily. I know more about storycraft now, which is good, and I can see the trees for the forest and the forest for the trees a bit easier, which is also good. But at the same, some innate love of the work itself—the actual sitting down to write and falling in love with the characters and their world gradually as they take form—has vanished, or at least faded, replaced by a stronger sense of the nuts and bolts of novel writing. I imagine it’s like that for artists of all media, be it painting or songwriting or woodworking, and it’s probably for the best, but I often miss the exuberance.
–Steve Brezenoff

Just like I still see myself as a college senior (almost four years after graduation), I don’t think I’ll ever feel like anything but a debut author, at least not for a very, very long time. At the moment, I still see myself as the new kid on the block, but it’s nice to know the geography of said block. My second novel, Glass Sword, publishes in the next few weeks, and obviously I’m nervous about what this entails. At least now I know what’s coming around, and how things will operate in the lead up to pub day. I’m still very much overwhelmed and surprised by every turn of events since Red Queen debuted last February, and I don’t think that’s ever going to go away.
–Victoria Aveyard

I thought I’d know I wasn’t a debut author anymore when I stopped being so excited by things: seeing my book’s cover for the first time, receiving a blurb from someone I admired, watching my book appear online—seemingly—out of nowhere! But luckily those events have remained exciting each and every time for me. I have gained, though, a sort of calm. Relative calm, at least, as I’ve never been particularly known for any sort of level of chill. With my first book, every step of the way terrified me to some degree. Now I know editorial letters will be painful, but I know I’ve gotten through them before. My first negative journal review slayed me, and now I know that life can go on after one. I realized at some point that being an author was something I was now doing, and that was definitely when I was no longer a debut.
–Amy Spalding

In 2015, my debut, The DUFF, had a resurgence of popularity. As new readers were discovering a book I’d penned five years earlier, I was reminded of what writing was like when I was a teenager and comparing it to my experience now. I’m more prepared for deadlines (even if I can’t always meet them), I don’t think nearly as much about reviews as I did back then, and I know, now, what real, frustrating, painful writer’s block feels like. But one thing hasn’t changed, even six books in: writing is still my dream job.
–Kody Keplinger

Book releases are kind of like human birthdays. For the first one, you have no idea what’s going on because you’re a baby and people are shoving cake in your face and telling you who you have to be friends with and assuring you that you’re having a good time. Then for the next batch you get ridiculously excited and stressed and invite all the popular kids and no one comes. And then eventually you get to the age where you forget how old you are and just want to eat pizza in your apartment with your pants off. Depressing? Sure, but at least you made it to another year.
–Hannah Moskowitz