Since being laid off from Twitter, a lot of folks have suggested I write a book. It makes sense given my career and experiences, not just Twitter, but in applied responsible AI.
What they don’t know is I’ve been fiddling with a proposal for years and have backed off from four different agencies because of the deeply ingrained stereotypes that exist of what books are expected of someone like me 1/
First, what is “someone like me”? Hyper educated, liberal, woman, minority, child of immigrants, worked in tech, held a management position.
Let’s break down the feedback I hear. First, it’s “accessibility” - people love smart women as long as they don’t sound smart. People love minorities in power as long as we don’t sound too authoritative.
I get feedback that introducing new concepts and using words like “sociotechnical” is not accessible if I’m not writing an academic book (I’m not) 2/
I make it clear in my proposal that the book I’ll spend my time on is more akin to the impact of Kahneman or Gladwell or Dawkins or Harari (even if I don’t nec like all of them as humans). This is where the “hyper educated” part becomes a liability. I don’t have it in me to write a cute pop tech book.
I guarantee you if people don’t understand a word in their proposals they assume the problem isn’t the author.
3/
Next is “not enough of me.” I understand that I am old and boring and don’t have a constant need to share my lived experience as evidence.
I also notice a trend of trauma voyeurism where women and POC are expected to lay their worst experiences bare for public consumption and evaluation. No fucking thank you.
Of course, where I worked and what I did is interesting as an anecdote or demonstration of first hand expertise. But that’s not what they want is it?
4/
@ruchowdh My suggestion, for what it's wroth, is that you write the book you want to write and consider finding an ally in the business who will help you self-publish, rather than seeking a "publisher."
Killing trees is so 20th century. You have a singular vision. Why not a singular business model?
@ruchowdh I self-publish because of similar issues. The form to fill out includes media appearances and celebrity connections.
They make the narrative. Shackled to spreadsheet thinking.
@ruchowdh I'm sure this is already on your radar screen, and I also risk projecting here, but... if I were to write a book, I'd first talk to David Weinberger and the MIT Strong Ideas series: https://mitpress.mit.edu/search-result-list/?series=strong-ideas
I love what they're trying to do with substance, and I feel like you could write an amazing book within that format/setup, as long as hybrid open access is OK and you're not counting on much income from the book necessarily. Might be worth a chat with David at least.
@ruchowdh could you do a Kickstarter?
Publish it as an epub to lower costs of distribution?
@ruchowdh I’m going to disagree with the suggestions to self publish. Perhaps as a backup plan if you can’t sell the book but given what you describe and the reactions on this thread I would hope you can find the right agent/publisher.
4 agents/agencies you decided not to work with may seem like a lot of no’s but sounds like the decisions to not work with them was largely yours - which is, ironically perhaps, a really good sign for you - many writers I know struggle to even get an agent’s time
@ruchowdh it sounds to me that you just haven’t, yet, found the right agent (or publisher directly) for the type of book you want to write.
I’d suggest talking with authors you know especially who have written the type of non-fiction book you want (sounds like narrative non-fiction not popular tech or academic nonfiction) about their agents and their publishers. And while a good agent is great if you can talk directly to publishers/editors do that as well.
@ruchowdh wow, everything you're saying in this thread resonates with me so much. in so many ways. Especially about the 'be smart but not too smart"
I would love to read a book from you. And if i enjoyed it, I'd buy multiple copies and give them to friends.
@ruchowdh that's... frustrating. I honestly think a lot of these agencies feel they NEED to make these kinds of statements to feel like they're doing something.
It's nowhere near as bad as what you were told, but I've had a similar experience over the last decade of shopping an occasional book proposal. People told me to just keep shopping it, but it just seemed like too much nonsense.
@ruchowdh during the internet boom years i had a proposal for writing about how to build an even better internet (and world), and was told "the market only wants contrarian anti-internet books."
Then when things went to shit for the internet, I tried again, thinking things had shifted, and was told "no one wants books about a good internet"
@ruchowdh This 🧵 was equal parts illuminating and depressing.
Solidarity with you friend, and best of luck whatever you decide to try in future.
Aside your expertise, and your background, then having the experiences of academia, startup, and bigco, etc. made a unique narrative for global audiences.
Go for it R!
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