gurganus didn't publish his first novel until age 42. >> what's the rush? know more as you get older, you develop more. your heart is broken many, many times and that is essential to getting your driver's license as a writer. and boy, can we drive! ( laughs ) >> reporter: taking your time, in fact, is another lesson they try to impart here, even as the publishing industry looks for the next big and often young thing. marcus burke says he's already been approached by agents, but he's not biting, at least yet. >> there is a pressure to publish. but at the same time, you only get to come out once. so first impressions are very important. if the work isn't right, you can get charged up for people to look at you. but they aren't going to look for very long. >> reporter: and as everyone we talked to put it, "if you're in it for the job, the fame, or god forbid, the money, it's probably best to find another line of work." >> woodruff: according to a report out today from the naacp, states are spending increasingly large sums of money on prisons at the expense of p