Reminiscences

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   This is not for people who dream big and aims to be a world-famous writer. I am not qualified to give advice on that. People like J.K. Rowling and Stephen King do. For over decade, I have been earning side incomes as a writer and thoroughly enjoying the process. This has made my life more satisfying and its dark moments more bearable. If you want to do what I am doing, consider these tips: 1. Develop your own niche and pitch your ideas to mainstream newspapers. I have published numerous opinion pieces in major Canadian and Hong Kong newspapers (both English and Chinese) through this strategy alone. The great thing about these channels is that they no doubt have wide readerships. Your pieces may get criticized. Yet it is known to be competitive to publish in these places: you feel prestigious just to be able to associate with high-profile and accomplished people. The downside is that y...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions   I am not an outstanding presenter. I have always been presentable, but was not excellent in public speaking. Recently, I began to take tremendous pride in my ability to give highly effective presentations on what may be considered difficult--and sometimes controversial--topics to classes of 20-50 people from different countries, especially during the pandemic, when my voice was muffled by the face mask I was wearing. I began teaching in Berlin in late 2021. It was quite a surprise that many in-person classes were not at all cancelled. We had to wear face masks. I was very anxious, in part due to the pandemic. The students, all masked, seemed rather relaxed (well, one can always tell from their gazes and postures).  I had not delivered presentations for a while. The prospect of speaking to a class of 20 people brought back junior high school memories, when my mind went blank on the ...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions  In case you wonder why I started this blog at a time when YouTube has become so popular: I seldom have patience to sit through most YouTub e  videos . It is often because I do not have time. In addition, except for film or music videos that I truly enjoy, most videos drain my energies because: (1) they are filled with unimportant and non-essential information, such as ads, unfunny jokes, and subscription requests; (2) YouTubers do not deliver their messages in the most effective and pleasant manner. Some stutter a lot. Many speak smoothly but keep repeating the same points. Hence, many videos are full of redundant materials that often bore the hell out of the audience. Others are not only dull: they are downright irritating or even offensive. Admittedly, I also found some accents very unappealing to my ears to the extent that they gave me headaches (this is not racism at all: I cou...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions My first book: thrill and everlasting pride As my last post indicates, the “desk review” process is the first hurdle to get past in the publishing process. Most email inquiries lead to rejections, as do most proposals. The key to overcome this hurdle, I am convinced, is to make a more rounded proposal that appeals to a broad readership . A failure to appeal to an acquisition editor may not be an indicator of the quality of the proposal: it likely means that the publisher is not a good fit. The editor’s agreement to send it to reviewers is likely a good sign: it indicates a certain level of commitment to your project. What if the reviews are not entirely positive? If the editor is not interested, he would likely stop there and jot you a polite rejection email. An interested editor would allow you to respond to the reviewers’ comments and suggestions—so it is again a good sign . It indicates...

About the author Privacy policies, terms, and conditions In late 2018, I published my first (serious) academic book with Cambridge University Press .   It has remained one of my proudest accomplishments. In my world, the most valuable things are those that cannot be acquired with money. I need to emphasize that I lacked the vital connections that many said are necessary to get one's foot in the door, and virtually nobody guided me through the entire process.  I would like to think that it was because of the wise decisions I made. Here is a summary of my experience and insights: Inquiries to potential publishers I compiled a list of potential publishers for my book manuscript, which consisted of both university presses (mainly the Oxbridge university presses and other major American university presses) and commercial publishers (including Routledge, Brill, and Hart (an emerging publisher of law books)). I crafted my inquiry email, ...