The Vent with Kyla Zhao and VALLEY VERIFIED
In Which Kyla Zhao Hops Aboard the Ventorship to Discuss her New Book
Today we are thrilled to announce the start of a new feature aboard the Ventorship: The Vent. Imagine a visiting author has joined us on the open seas via a gorgeous Chris-Craft accompanied by Charlie’s Angels music, and we’re all gathered in the theater in cushy red velvet seats to listen to them discuss their new novel. That’s how it will work in every new installment of The Vent, highlighting an author and various vents they’ve had throughout their career to further emphasize our theme here that no matter where you are in your writer journey, there’s something that we’ve all been through that ties us together.
Without further ado, here’s our very first The Vent author, Kyla Zhao, discussing her latest book, VALLEY VERIFIED!
Ventorship Captain, Jason June (JJ): When you started your writing journey, what was the biggest frustration you encountered as you tried to find an agent and/or went on sub to editors for the first time that you wish you could have vented about?
Kyla Zhao (KZ): My oversight in not creating a separate email account for my author-related communications! Instead, I naively stuck to the same email address that I also use for subscribing to newsletters and shopping sites. So every time my inbox pinged with a notification, I would excitedly open it, praying it was a querying/submission update. And almost inevitably, my hopes were crushed as the new email would turn out to be some 10% off coupon. A discount is great but hearing back from my dream agent/editor would have been even better. Even worse: I started querying and also went on sub right after graduating from college and before starting work—so I had plenty of time to obsess over the state of my inbox and every notification.
JJ: How about once you got your first book deal? How did your frustrations (if you had any) change, and what would you have vented about or did vent about to author friends?
KZ: Taxes!! I don’t think anyone likes doing their taxes, but a few factors made it especially tough for me:
I had just graduated from college and was new to the workforce, so I barely had any experience with filing taxes.
I’m a foreigner, which came with more rules and complexities.
I also have a full-time job outside of writing, so I found myself being completely boggled by an avalanche of different tax statements and requirements.
Two years later, I’m still not sure I’ve fully grasped the taxation system for authors and other creatives… It’s very much still a learning process for me.
Another thing I have to tackle is doing self-promotion as a shy introvert. Being a creator means it’s hard to promote the work I’ve created without also promoting myself. Of course, I can always choose to not be so active in book promotion. However, my publishing team has invested a lot of time and effort into my work, so I want to do everything I could to complement their efforts and give my books their best fighting chance. That means being a lot more present and active on social media, pitching myself constantly, worrying that I’m annoying people by regurgitating the same spiel about my book repeatedly. Some people make book promotion look so effortless and even fun, but this is something I must consciously work on.
JJ: Tell us about your latest book, VALLEY VERIFIED! And (I bet you know where this is going) what’s the biggest vent you’ve got about the process of creating this book?
KZ: Oof, coming up with the title. For my debut novel The Fraud Squad, I swear the title leaped into my head fully formed since Day 1. But it was such a struggle deciding on the perfect title for my second book. In total, over a couple of months, I brainstormed and pitched at least 40 different options to my publisher.
When I look back on my suggestions now, I can see them getting increasingly unhinged as I was running out of time and still nowhere close to finalizing it. And although my publisher was kind enough to extend the deadline a couple of times, the decision still came down to the wire.
But in the end, I’m so happy with the title I ultimately chose: Valley Verified. It’s very catchy and packs a punch. The funny thing is, Valley Verified was one of my first pitches! But I guess I had to think of 40 other not-so-great titles in order to appreciate how awesome this one is.
JJ: Any words of wisdom you have for writers whether they are at the beginning of their journey or multi-published?
KZ: Comparison is the thief of joy! It’s so easy and tempting to measure yourself against fellow authors and wonder why you fall short. How did they get an agent so quickly? Why couldn’t I get the six-figure book deal from a Big 5 publisher? Why didn’t I hit the New York Times bestseller list? Why did my second book perform worse than my friend’s second book, even though I had a more successful debut? You could literally play the comparison game forever and all that does is cause you grief. Instead, I’ve learned to focus on what I can control—the quality of my work—and just let everything else take its own course. I also remind myself that I started writing because I love stories and wanted to share my stories with others; any accolades or awards are just icing on top, but they were never what inspired me to become a writer.
JJ: Thanks so much for joining us aboard the Ventorship, Kyla! Author-passengers, read below for more info about Kyla and VALLEY VERIFIED!
About VALLEY VERIFIED
Imagine The Devil Wears Prada meets Legally Blonde, but this time Elle Woods is tackling the cutthroat startup world. In VALLEY VERIFIED, Zoe Zeng is forced to leave her fashion job and take on a new challenge at a Silicon Valley startup, where she must secure an eight-figure investment that could make or break the company—and her future. In the cutthroat land of tech bros, this fashionista will have to tackle judgmental coworkers, tech billionaires and her own insecurities to prove she’s more than what meets the eye.
VALLEY VERIFIED is available as a print book, eBook, and audiobook: www.linktr.ee/kylazhao
About the author
Kyla Zhao writes novels starring women of color in the workplace. Her first book THE FRAUD SQUAD was a buzz pick by Good Morning America, a #1 new release in Asian-American literature on Kindle, and featured by media outlets such as Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Buzzfeed and so on. Kyla was also selected by Forbes for its 30 Under 30 list and Tatler as a Leader of Tomorrow. Her second novel VALLEY VERIFIED came out worldwide in January 2024.
Kyla now works in Silicon Valley after graduating from Stanford University in 2021. A native Singaporean, she’s still trying to understand why Californians adore hiking and Patagonia fleeces so much.
Newsletter: kylazhao.substack.com
Instagram: @kylajzhao
TikTok: @kylazingaround
Twitter: @kylazhao_
Authors, the Ventorship is looking for traditionally published writers to be featured with their latest book release in a future edition of The Vent! Email me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com with the subject VENTORSHIP to let me know you’re interested. All you’ll need to be featured are answers to the same four questions asked above, as well as an author bio and information about your book.
If you’d like to vent about anything author/writing related, write to me at heyjasonjune@gmail.com with the subject: VENTORSHIP. I’ll give you my take in a post, and we’ll crowdsource author opinions in the comments. You’ll remain anonymous, and any haters will be thrown overboard. Ultimately, I think you’re going to be buoyed up by author love and support as we realize we really are all in the same boat 🛳️
The first vent about the naivety of using your same email had me leaping over to my mail account to fix-up my author email! I have been on the fence about that decision for a while, so thank you for spurring me!
The Ventorship just keeps getting better! Thank you!