Meet Brian Zepka | Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian Zepka and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian, how do you define success?
I’d say my metrics for success are what have changed the most since becoming a creative. I am an author so when I first set out on my publication journey I thought I would define my book’s success solely based on indicators like the pace with which my book was acquired by a publisher, monetary size of my book deal, amount of copies sold, number of trade reviews, and so forth. After all, I chose traditional publishing so more people could read my work. But my definition quickly expanded once I started interacting with the reading and writing community as an author. I write for teenagers and kids, many of them queer, and they have their own metrics for success—sleepless nights, tears, and laughs. Everything shifted after I started receiving messages from readers about how my book was their favorite read of the summer, helped them come out to their parents, or made them feel less alone. While traditional publishing metrics certainly matter, I now know I can also consider my book a success even if it doesn’t meet many of those thresholds. My ultimate goal is to move people with my words so when teen readers are compelled to reach out to me or share my book with friends and family, that tells me I’ve done my job right.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I write contemporary young adult fiction with light sci-fi or speculative twists. My debut novel, The Temperature of Me and You, was published in 2022 by Disney Books. It follows a lonely gay teen with a burning desire for love who meets a new boy in town with mysterious explosive powers and who is on the run from an evil corporation. The protagonist also works at Dairy Queen and tries to save his high school’s gay club. I love when sci-fi elements meet slice of life. I’m most excited about the book’s unexpected reach. It’s currently in development for a television series and was published in Brazil and Spain. I traveled to Brazil to help launch the book there and seeing readers from a different country connect with the characters so deeply was truly life changing. Younger, closeted me would have never thought a story about a gay teen from the Pennsylvania suburbs would be so universal. I’m proud I could make that space for readers.

Getting a book published was not easy. I started writing in college as a creative outlet with no intention to publish my work. I was devouring YA books at the time and just loved reading, writing, and being immersed in those fantasy worlds. It was a bit of an escape from my real world which was full of very stressful courses (I was a biology major) and my gay identity crisis. It wasn’t until queer books started popping up on the YA shelves, like Simon vs. the Homo Sapien’s Agenda by Becky Albertalli and More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera, that I thought maybe my stories were worth publishing.

I wrote two books before The Temperature of Me and You. I tried to get one of them published through a previous literary agent but it never sold to a publisher. I also lost representation from that agent soon after when she moved to a different literary agency. I was devastated and frustrated. I really thought about giving up because writing is such a big time commitment. But I started again at step one and wrote a new book, got a new agent, and could not be happier that The Temperature of Me and You was my first book for the world.

Patience is an easy lesson learned. Everything in the publishing and film industry moves ten times slower than you would think. There are also a lot more voices at the laptop once you become a published author. People had reactions to my first story and it can be a challenge keeping those at bay, good or bad, either adding more of something to or cutting it from my writing. While writing new stories, I’ve found myself deleting scenes or dialogue because of something I saw in a review, on social media or in reactions to a show or movie. And I hate that! I’m constantly trying to self-correct and write what comes from my heart. I’ve realized that the more I try and cater my writing to outside voices the more my story becomes bland and boring.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Best time ever is a high bar since I’ve only been in Santa Monica for a year. But I’ve had some time to explore the west side and find some amazing places. My favorite spot is the beach so my recommendations revolve around that. In no particular order, throughout the week we would… get sandwiches from Bay Cities Italian Deli for lunch on the beach, do a sunset happy hour in Manhattan Beach at Shellback tavern, have dinner at R&D Kitchen on Montana Avenue, hike the Santa Monica Mountains, hangout at the Waterfront Venice, and go book shopping of course! I frequent Diesel Book Store in Brentwood and Zibby’s Bookshop in Santa Monica.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Probably my literary agency here in Los Angeles, Verve! I’m from Pennsylvania and had very few, if any, legitimate connections to the film and publishing industries. I pitched my literary agent through a cold email and she replied, read my book, and signed me for representation! Ten months later we had publishing and dramatic rights offers from Disney. Talk about luck. I’m so thankful. The agency has grown over the past few years and I’ve been able to work with new agents as well, which has been exciting. I like having a “literary team” to brainstorm ideas with and get feedback on my ideas. My work has only improved.

Website: https://www.brianzepka.com

Instagram: @brianzepka

Linkedin: @brianzepka

Twitter: @brianzepka