"Professionals associated with that IP are gonna be like, 'I don't want to work with that person. They seem like a dick.'"

I loved sitting down with the hilarious, prolific, and insightful Mike Chen, who’s turned his nerdy fandom (said lovingly) into a badass career as the New York Times bestselling author of both original commercial spec fic novels (including, most recently, A Quantum Love Story) and contributions to the SFF canon, such as Star Wars: Brotherhood, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Dog of War, Marvel: What If . . . Marc Spector Was Host to Venom?, and more.

We chatted in depth about how he broke into writing for these landmark franchises, the elements that make you attractive to IP (intellectual property) editors, the nuts and bolts of writing work-for-hire books in an established universe (think: deadlines, subsidiary rights, the pitching process…), the role social media can play in getting a dream book assignment, and more.

You can listen to or watch the interview in a browser or the Substack app, or listen to the audio in your favorite podcast player (instructions here). I had a blast chatting with Mike (who does, fair warning, drop some F-bombs), and I hope you enjoy listening in!

Big thanks to Sierra Godfrey, Lisa Pertoso, Isabela Livino, Amjed McDonnell, Jeni Anderson, and many others for tuning into our live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.