If you are an editor, publisher, or academic offering me work, including speaking engagements: don’t ask me to do anything without telling me of your rates up front. (More details below.)
If you are media, please call or text 847-344-3052 for an immediate response. Include information about yourself and links to websites/your work when requesting an interview. I’ve recently learned that emails may not always get to me here, so feel free to write me directly at nairyasmin at gmail dot com. Please cough a gentle reminder if you don’t hear from me right away. Do note that I prefer phone or zoom interviews, not written ones. I can make exceptions in some cases, but I don’t believe that written interviews are as vibrant as live conversations.
If you are not media: Don’t send me material to read without asking first, and don’t tell me that it’s something that might be of interest to me. Your work will go straight into my trash/bin folder.
I often receive kind letters or emails from readers: I am always grateful for such words, and respond as promptly as I can. However, of late, I have had some strangers looking for more. One such person wrote a series of emails over the course of a couple of hours, practically demanding a “pen pal” relationship: I am not looking for pen pals or interlocutors among strangers. Please don’t write to me in the hope of striking up some long epistolary connection: I have found that people will send queries about my work and never respond with so much as a thank you after I take the time and care to respond. I no longer respond to such emails.
No selfies with strangers. I’m not your friend and I have no desire to be displayed on your wall of parasociality, on whatever platform you are on. Taking a page from Emma Watson: I’m always happy to spend some time talking about my work and yours. I just don’t want to be your IG trophy.
If you would like me to speak or write for you, in any kind of formal capacity (as at conferences or in publications) make sure you begin with what your rates are. This does not include media shows, including podcasts, or public appearances and panels where no one else is getting paid: I’m happy to appear on those for free.
Otherwise: I don’t work for free, for anyone (I turned down Harvard and Yale, more than once, when they asked me to speak without pay). Starting in 2023, I will no longer write without an advance or an absolute guarantee of payment within two weeks of the final draft. For speaking or teaching engagements, I expect either an advance or a written guarantee of payment within two weeks. This policy is necessitated by the fragility of publishing today and the fact that universities and other places tend to be terrible at paying on time: even prestige-driven and well-funded enterprises like Astra magazine can’t last beyond three issues. As for universities: I’ve had to threaten wealthy institutions like DePaul with legal action in order to get paid for even the smallest amounts (“small” for them, not for me).
I’m always happy to blurb books (without pay, of course) but I will need at least two months’ notice and an absolute guarantee of a hard copy of the publication once it’s published. Don’t be rude: blurbing is hard work and unlike certain Very Famous People whose blurbs appear everywhere, I do actually read the books.
In all your communications, approach me with the same courtesy you would offer any white man. Pretend I’m Noam Chomsky.
Again: please contact me directly at nairyasmin at gmail dot com. I’m no longer using a WordPress contact form and any emails you sent me in the past through that may not have reached me. Please resend your email.