Intro
Since my last post people started to ask about my various projects but showed particularly more interest in the book deal. Since this is my first book publishing experience, I decided to archive and share with those who are also curious about a similar journey for themselves.
The things you should know before you start are:
- My book is about elements of empowering work culture I learned during my time at Facebook. But I initially pitched a book about my year off. My goal is to eventually write about both.
- To my surprise, I signed a contract to write a book in Korean.
- I’m still in my rough draft stage.
- I was terrified of signing the contract because of all kinds of reasons. And in some aspects, it’s even harder than I thought, but I’m really glad I signed it.
Now that you know these facts, I’ll dive into the 5 dots that later connected and led me to the book deal.
Dot 1: Observations at Facebook
As I was nearing 7 years at Facebook, I had more and more people who came to me and asked “Hey can I grab coffee with you to learn how to navigate at Facebook?”
The protocols around ‘what to do,’ and more importantly, the culture around ‘how to do things’ at Facebook have been mostly done through word of mouth. This was due to the company’s fast growth and adaptability, but also the autonomy to define one’s own path.
This gave the “company veterans” more advantages who already know the “Facebook way.” At the same time, the newbies had a higher barrier to entry. As Facebook has been my first Silicon Valley tech company, I had a pretty long period of adjustment to its work culture – but when I finally did adjust, I had exponential growth and success at work.
So as I was leaving the company, I thought about writing these learnings down somewhere, so that others can experience a smoother onboarding to the work culture than I did. I had also thought that prospective employees may also find such knowledge helpful in choosing a workplace whose work culture aligns with their values and styles.
Dot 2: Observations of the Korean Workplace Culture
As I was transitioning to South Korea as part of my sabbatical, Chelsea, a former colleague, and friend, shared her experience working in Korea in recent years.
Since COVID she came to Korea to stay close to her family and freelanced for various Tech companies here. She shared her observations from those experiences: “A number of leaders are more curious about ‘how’ to work than ‘what’ to make. It seems as if the companies have talents and products, but they struggle with the operational foundation to bring their vision to life while keeping the employees happy.
When I started to meet company executives and consultants in Korea, I heard similar stories myself. I also noticed that people tend to look at Silicon Valley to model after the operational and cultural design found there.
On the other hand, I heard many employees say “I want to quit my job.” There was a strong pattern of exhaustion, and it was clear that something about their work setup didn’t meet their needs. So there seemed to be a two-pronged problem.
As I was thinking about this, the Head of Product at a Startup (당근마켓), also the owner of a renowned Korean Tech blog, confirmed the value of sharing experiential tips from my time on Facebook. He also added that there’s one book that everyone reads to learn about managing teams — it was Julie Zhuo’s ‘Making of a Manager.’ Julie happened to be my first long-term manager at Facebook and had a profound impact on my career. I also helped her edit one of the chapters of the book!
Dot 3: Independent Book Publishing Class
Our first Airbnb in Seoul was in a neighborhood called Hongdae, which I already knew prior is a creative hub. What I didn’t know was that it also was editorial heaven with independent bookstores, publishers, book cafes, and bars for writers scattered all around.
Since one of my bucket list items in life is publishing a book, I signed up for a “Self-Publishing A to Z” class from a nearby bookshop. And I also recommended it to my cousin who was already an author of 3 books but was also curious about self-publishing.
The two-day class had a homework activity where you had to write a book pitch to a publisher. By then I had mildly considered an essay book with drawings from my year off. (Thanks to a couple friends like Chris and Leah for the nudge) So in my pitch, I included things like my author profile, motivations, table of content, and target audience.
During the critique, the teacher mentioned that I may have two separate book ideas here. One about my work prior to the sabbatical and one about the sabbatical itself. The principle is that the simpler the concept the better – and she also thought that writing about my work life may also add an interesting layer to a potential book about my sabbatical in the future.
After the class, my cousin said to me: “I think your pitch might be close to ready for publishers. If you could split the two stories and email them to me, I’ll share them with one of the publishers I know.”
So I did. The next day I worked on separating the two and sent the email – which was quickly forwarded to one of the publishers. The publisher asked for an in-person meeting immediately.
It turned out that this particular editor published the Korean version of Julie Zhuo’s Making of a Manager. There are hundreds of publishing companies in Korea – what a small world it is!
Dot 4: Blog as Sample Writing
To prepare for the meeting I reached out to an editor friend whom I had just seen at a dinner with high school friends. I told her about my upcoming meeting with a publisher, and the pitches I wrote and asked for tips for preparation. Later that day her company also proposed a meeting with a possible book deal.
So suddenly, I had two meetings scheduled. While I didn’t have any sample writing in Korean, they said my blog writings in English were good enough signals. Since they are publication powerhouses with an impressive team of editors, they said “I could write in Korean like I’m speaking now and in the style, I have on the blog (they call my style “concise and honest”) and they can help with syntax edits.”
Eventually, both companies showed interest in both of my pitches, because the topics were very high in demand, particularly in Korea right now.
Dot 5: Teacher’s Advice
Between the two book concepts, I decided to start with the book about my learnings at Facebook. There are quite a few reasons but one important one was the advice from the teacher in my self-publishing class.
“As you start your book writing journey, you may be inundated with too many topics and don’t know which one to start with. Pick the story that you can finish the fastest. Get your first book done, and then move on to the next. Your goal is not to make a best-seller book, but to finish one book.”
My sabbatical was still ongoing but my chapter at Facebook came to a close, so the latter was the faster option for me. Furthermore, writing about my experience at work felt like a perfect vehicle for reflection, one of my three themes for the sabbatical (travel, reflect, and explore).
When I made the decision, it also occurred to me later that the sabbatical year needed to be fully lived, before I create a narrative around it. So the decision on my first book was confirmed.
Doubts Before the Decision
My dream-come-true thrill quickly faded when I had the contract in front of me. It was instead replaced by a flood of doubts: What specifically should I write about? How should I frame it? Will I actually be able to write a whole book? Let alone in Korean which I haven’t done since high school for homework and love letters? And I also personally committed to writing a post a week for my blog in English – If I go back and forth between the two in two different languages, will the quality suffer for both? Am I over-promising (to myself and others)?
As I usually do with difficult decisions, I went to nature, collected advice from those who’ve been there, and stepped away from the decision too. What tipped me over to make the leap was that the sabbatical might be the perfect time to take on such a challenge. I had full control of my time and I simply couldn’t find a better time to start something so hard.
One Line at a Time
Turns out my doubts were quite valid, and writing a book is even harder than I had expected. But as I learned from writing the blog, you have to get the bad drafts out in order to get to the good stuff. And to get there you must write, consistently.
Once I did that, somehow I already got to the 5th chapter out of 7. I look back on the first two chapters and think ‘wow I have so much to edit’. And by the time I get to my final chapter 7, I bet I’d look at my current chapter and say “I can do better.” And this thought keeps me going – How cool is it to see yourself visibly transform?
If I ever get to my second book, I’d have the same thoughts when I look back on my first.
So as my teacher said, my goal is to finish my first book, not to write a best-seller. My goal is to provide actionable help to readers and take this entire experience as a vehicle for reflection and growth for myself. Only then will each line become more fun and less work.
P.S. About the Book
If you’re curious, I’m writing about 7 empowering elements of the work culture that made me stay at Facebook for 7 years. When things got hard at Facebook and I had interview offers from competing companies, I remembered looking back on a few specific experiences that made me think “These foundational parts of the culture make me more optimistic about my time at the company, and the work that we do” My hope is that people in leadership can establish a culture that empowers people better, and that makes everyone feel more meaningful each day.