Best Practices for submitting to Asian American Book Club
Welcome to Asian American Book Club, where you can settle in with a glass of wine and talk books, books, books but on your own schedule.
What kind of writing is invited? Almost anything as long as it’s generative, interesting, provocative, educational. In other words, no AI generated book reports. Excellent, creative, insightful writing is where it starts. Serious subjects are great, so is humor. Something on the dishy side is great too, especially if you know something a lot of people don’t. We have Asian American authors, professional book critics, but what’s your unique take? The place to try out your creativity — essays, book reviews, commentary, lists — is here!
Anything goes at Asian American Book Club, as long as it focuses on Asian American (women’s) literature. What does that mean? Tell me about a “forgotten” or “underappreciated” AAPI book. What book helped you first see yourself? Are you an author? What issues have you faced in a white woman dominated industry? Tell me the five best AAPI woman-authored books for Valentine’s Day, for a marriage, for a divorce, for coming of age. What book do you wish someone would write? Were you traumatized by The Five Chinese Brothers? What does AAPI women’s lit look like in sci-fi? Do you want to interview an author? Are there good books to read when you travel to special places in Asia? The possibilities are endless. It’s a conversation!
Asian American is a loose term for diasporic Asians and as such includes transnational literature (e.g., Asian Americans writing about Asia and vice versa) as well as work in translation.
You don’t have to be an Asian American woman author to write here, just write about them and their books.
If your story is accepted, as curator I can nominate it to be “boosted.” If the boost committee picks it, it will be pushed to readers across the entire medium.host site. (read here)
Your stories must meet Medium’s quality standards. Spell check them. You don’t need to be a professional book critic or book person, but be a professional writer — spell check and read it over. Importantly, when you write it, make it evident why YOU are the person to write this piece. Having an activist background, being an avid reader, being a teacher, having read all the author’s books, this all counts.
Response time: I’m one person and also teach and write as well so give me a few weeks before you query about your piece. Given the volume it’s unlikely I can give you much feedback.
HOW TO SUBMIT
- Follow the publication
- Sign up as a writer here and even better, show your engagement by commenting on a published story. We want writers who will also want to be engaged in the community.
- Write your piece: Just write! Pay attention to details such as spelling, grammar, and formatting to make your submission polished and professional. Adding copyright-free photos is so easy! Click on the camera icon and it will help you find free illustrative media through Unsplash.
- Submit Your Article — PLEASE READ
See that publish button? Do NOT hit it. Medium’s boosting program favors unpublished drafts. Instead hit those three dots next to the publish button and the bell. A drop down menu will appear.
Click on “Share Draft link” (blue) so that you get the link below.
and send it to me at Marie Myung-Ok Lee (@AsianAmericanBookClub)
If your piece is accepted, you’ll receive a notification that we’ve added you to the publication as a writer, plus possible editing suggestions.
Then you will “add to publication” and choose Asian American Book Club.
That’s it! We want to have a nice mix of different pieces (reviews, essays, lists, etc.) so your piece may be scheduled to appear in a few days to a few weeks.
We have a lot of great writers submitting stuff, so if at first you don’t succeed, try try again!
If you are interested in being paid on a royalty schedule based on views,
Join the Medium Partner Program:
To become eligible for the Medium Partner Program and start earning money from your writing, you’ll need to apply for membership. Go to your profile settings, select “Medium Partner Program,” and follow the instructions to sign up. You’ll need to provide some additional information, such as your tax details and preferred payment method.
This is a good article explaining it (and medium.host in general): https://smartblogger.com/medium-partner-program/
You have to have published an article within 6 months, but you can publish a dummy one full of Lorem Ipsums, join the program, and put it back in draft.
