How to Make a Living Writing YA Fiction: An Honest Conversation with Ibi Zoboi

Ibi Zoboi (photo credit Nicole Mondestin)

On episode 22 of the podcast, award-winning author, Ibi Zoboi joins me to talk about her career as a YA novelist and author. Ibi is the New York Times Bestselling author of the YA novel, American Street, which among other distinctions, was a National Book Award finalist. Ibi is the editor of the anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America. She co-authored the Walter Award and L.A. Times Book Prize-winning novel-in-verse, Punching the Air, written with Exonerated Five member, Yusef Salaam. Her debut picture book, The People Remember, received a Coretta Scott King Honor Award. And  her most recent books include Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler, Okoye to the People: A Black Panther Novel for Marvel, and her new novel, Nigeria Jones. 

How to Make a Living Writing YA Fiction

During our conversation, Ibi shares her unique journey to publishing success, as well as the sacrifices and compromises she had to make in order to get her foot in the door of the mainstream publishing industry. She also shares her experiences writing for a book packaging company early on in her career. 

If you’re a fiction writer looking to break into the mainstream publishing industry, this is an important and informative episode to listen to and take notes.

Here are some key takeaways from my conversation with Ibi Zoboi.

1. Spoken Word Poetry can be an excellent way to get immediate feedback on the power of your writing. 

2. A supportive community is an invaluable resource for a writer trying to make her way in the world.

3. Reach out to your writing heroes, you never know how happy they might be to offer some wisdom and advice. 

4. Having a sustainable writing career is “a daily balance of  feeding your creative soul vs actually feeding your family.” Sometimes you have to take the jobs that just feel like work, and then you follow that up with the work that you love.

5. Black kids and other kids from marginalized communities need magic in their literature too. So, if that’s the kind of writing you want to do, please get it out into the world. 

If you’d like to listen to my entire conversation with Ibi Zoboi, listen here or you can find it on your favorite podcast platform, including, Apple, and Spotify.

Writing Resources for Your Writing Life from Ibi Zoboi

During our conversation, Ibi mentioned a lot of great writing resources. Here are a few you might want to investigate.

• Ibi Zoboi’s website

• VONA Writing Workshop

• Clarion Workshop for Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writers

• Forbidden Planet Comic Bookstore in New York City

• Nikki Giovanni’s iconic poem Ego Trippin

• Alloy Entertainment

• If you want to learn more about Octavia Butler and her work, listen to our episode of the podcast on Octavia Estelle Butler. It’s really great.

Happy Holidays from the Reed, Write, and Create Podcast

Be sure to visit The Reed, Write and Create online bookshop, where you’ll find a whole shelf of books that make great gifts. Remember a purchase from our bookshop goes to support this podcast and independent booksellers everywhere.

We’ll be back in February. Until then, keep writing and keep creating. Happy Holidays!