4 Latina Authors on Breaking Into the Book Industry

Writing involves two worlds: the creative sphere, where a writer often spends months and years crafting a book, and the business side, where the goal is to sell a book and earn back your advance. Balancing the two can be difficult enough without the added pressures of being a Latine author whose story might not be readily accepted by major publishers.

Amid several reckonings with racial inequity in the past few years, the literary community has turned its gaze to the publishing world. Twitter conversations around book deals and what types of stories are given importance resurfaced issues that major publishing houses are still grappling with. In 2018, The New York Times reported that only around 11% of published books were written by people of color. A 2022 report from PEN America further captured the lack of diversity in publishing. In the report, one publisher shared, “Booksellers would often use the phrase ‘I don’t have that shopper’ when turning down her pitch to stock a new book from a writer of color.” 

In this gloomy climate, Claire Jimenez, author of Staten Island Stories, says sustaining in this industry — and watering your literary dreams — is all about remembering why you do what you do. Her new book started as a short story that Jimenez first wrote a full decade ago, until a professor suggested she turn it into a full-fledged novel. Fast forward to today and What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez has been named a most-anticipated book of 2023 by USA Today. Still, Jimenez recalls that early readers gave mixed feedback on the story, such as not understanding characters’ reactions and “how they talk,” their Nuyorican slang. Similarly, Ella Cerón, author of Viva Lola Espinoza, remembers editors commenting that her novel had “a lot of characters,” because of how she mirrored them after her large Mexican family. 

Despite the ongoing setbacks that Latina authors have faced in getting their stories told, movement is happening. Author Elizabeth Acevedo’s novel Clap When You Land is being adapted into a television series, and her novel With the Fire on High is set to be adapted for film. Acevedo, who was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation in 2022, will also release her first adult novel, Family Lore, later this year. Meanwhile, Hulu is set to release a drama based on Xochitl Gonzalez’s novel Olga Dies Dreaming, starring Aubrey Plaza.

Beyond book deals and production adaptations, there are other defining moments that can make a career — and many firsts for Latine authors are still happening. In 2022, Ada Limón became the first Mexican American United States Poet Laureate. And on January 18, 2023, Cuban-American YA and children’s books author Meg Medina was named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, the first Latina in that role. 

But long before the big book announcements or prestigious titles, writers must wrestle with the page — and hold strong to the importance of their stories. Refinery29 Somos spoke with four Latina authors whose stories prove there’s no straight and narrow path to follow your creative dreams. Amid bleak data and continuing assumptions about what makes a worthy book, these authors are forging ahead with their stories. Below, they share more advice as Latina writers who are getting their stories told despite the odds, naysayers, and setbacks. 

“My book just came out last week, and I started in 2013 — so literally 10 years. When I was doing it, it was just like, ‘Oh, I'm going to do this thing on the side, and it'll be cool if it eventually becomes a book that everybody can read.’ I didn't really have any kind of expectations for it. I would write, leave it alone for a while, then pick it up and add to it. Just as inspiration came. I finished the draft in 2015, and again, it just kind of sat [there]. But it wasn't until 2017 or 2018, where I was like, ‘I have this, I should do something with it.’ And that's when I started to feel like, ‘Let me work toward this actually getting published and being out there for people to read.’ I didn't really have any expectations for it when I started. It was more of an outlet, something cool to do on the side.”

“As I was working on the book, I went to a lot of writers’ conferences and writing classes and established relationships with other authors, and the main thing that they always talked about was, ‘Don't let the rejections discourage you.’ When I got to the point of querying agents, I went into it like, ‘Don't be sad if you get rejections.’ I was prepared for it. I know some people go through, like, terrible situations, but for me it wasn't that bad at all. I got a lot of rejections, but the agents wrote back with such nice feedback. And I appreciated their honesty. A lot of them told me [that] because it was an Afro-Latino topic, they didn't know what to do with my story. They were all very candid about that, which at the moment I was like, ‘Well, what? There’s this big push for diversity. Why wouldn't you?’ Now, looking back, I'm thankful for it because I'm happy with my agent, who understands the need for it and was able to push for it.”

“My character is Black Panamanian. I don't see that anywhere else. Even reading books with characters of Latine culture — from what I see, it's mostly Dominican, Puerto Rican, and that seems to be the main thing you see. So I feel like I have this lane that isn't really full. I'm providing what is missing because, just like me, there are other Black Panamanian people, there are Panamanian people who want to see themselves reflected in books. There are people who have no idea about Panama and Panamanian culture. And it's a pleasure for them to read about characters like that. Just knowing that I'm kind of filling a void is what helps me to keep going.”

“One thing that I have to always remind myself — and this is something that I want to really emphasize this semester with my students — is getting back to why we write, which is that joy, which is that sense of play. When you're playing on the page, the reader will feel it — they'll feel that energy instead of trying to just sometimes make things so technically perfect. Sometimes I see stories that are technically perfect, but they lack heart. They lack this edge.”

“Writing is really not a winner's game. There's a lot of rejection. There's a lot of failure that happens before you succeed. And in fact, I think in order to be a great writer, you have to fail on the page, and you have to fail in real life. Because failing in real life makes you think about conflict, and it makes you think about empathy, and it makes you understand a little bit more about how a story is built. Inherently, the process of writing consists of writing an ugly draft first — and then you write a draft that's a little bit better looking, until you get to the place where the story actually realizes itself.” 

“The United States doesn't really understand the relationship with Puerto Rico or its colonial relationship. They don't understand what diaspora is. … There's a lot of stories that get ignored because people feel as if they can't find a place for them, because they're not imagining that readers are like us. They're not imagining Black or Brown readers. They're not imagining undocumented readers. They're not imagining there's this whole spectrum of readership that they leave out. They're just thinking about white women in book clubs. … I try to remind myself that you always go back to the page. It's always about the story. It's always about your work.” 

“I truly never considered that I could be a writer. I went to college and I had no idea what I was going to do. I was like, ‘Maybe I'll be a personal trainer, maybe I'll be a teacher.’ Then I was a nanny for two years. And then lucked into writing — or stubborn-ed my way into writing, if I can use ‘stubborn’ as a verb — because I started submitting articles to a website online. I wasn't getting paid. And then I found out that they did want to pay me, and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I'll try this out.’

Lola is also my first fiction attempt. I never wrote fiction in college. It's been a very nice, pleasant surprise, but I'm also very much the kind of person [that’s like], ‘You know, I can try this out. Why not?’ And then you figure it out as you go.”

“Rejection is part of the process. I've been laid off twice now for media jobs, and it sucks every time. The second time hurts, I think, a little bit less than the first time. I'm laughing about it now, but it was painful either way. The first time I got laid off, my dad gave me a piece of advice that has really stuck with me. I'm talking to him on the phone and he goes, ‘Oh, I'm sorry. Now what?’ That is the kind of person my dad has always raised me to be. It’s not even having a plan B, it's having a plan J, always knowing that you're the one that you're going to rely on.”

“I always kind of look at it as an opportunity in a weird way. If I have to have a tough conversation, hopefully some other writer down the line won't have to have that tough conversation. ... It's incumbent upon us to not only write our own books and add to the canon, but also champion the books that have existed before. Because if there's been ups and downs for me, I can only imagine what the ups and downs were like for other authors five, 10, or 15 years ago. More people joining us and more people writing is a celebration. It's not a scarcity mindset thing, and it doesn't have to be.” 

“I wanted to be able to hold my book. That's something that I really wanted when I was a kid. Now that I've been in publishing, it definitely can be a machine sometimes. But connecting with other readers, connecting with other writers in a lot of the different spaces that I've been to, has been really wonderful. I don't think I even imagined a sense of community when I was a kid. I thought writers were just poor people living in a little apartment in New York, and they were just like, writing all day long, all day long, all day long. And I was like, ‘That's going to be me. I'm going to do that.’ I will say there's still not a lot of money — that part was true. But the community and just being around people that are like-minded and then finding your readers, too, that's not something I really imagined when I was a kid.” 

“Pretty much everything I've ever done has been rejected by someone before it got accepted. It's just part of the process. Working at literature journals has helped me kind of not take it as personally because I know the kind of process that goes behind it. And also to be a writer, you kind of have to have this sort of dogged belief in your work — even if you're having a bad writing day. It's just kind of believing that you're going to find your right readers. That's the biggest thing. … My dad used to always say, ‘Writers write,’ so I just keep writing. I try to send out my work when I can, but I just keep writing. No matter what, I'm going to keep writing, regardless of whether people publish it or not.”

“Finding the right people has really helped me because there are great editors, there are great publishers, there are people looking for our voices. We are progressing, but we just need to do more. I've been really very lucky to find people that respond to my work. I found community in places like Canto Mundo, which is a Latinx poetry community. They have a retreat, but it's also a fellowship. [Also] Kimbilio, which is a Black fiction fellowship — I found a lot of community there. It's really great to be around writers — Black writers, Latino writers — and realizing I'm not the only person out there. And we promote each other's work. We help get each other's names out there. We read each other's work and critique each other's work.”