I’m writing this after a week in which I’ve been invited to travel for three four (another quite interesting one came in while I was writing) multi-day workshops, read and blurb three books, write several pieces for journal special issues, and participate in a round dozen or so TV broadcasts, podcasts, journalistic interviews etc, in addition to carrying out my ordinary academic responsibilities to students and colleagues.

I’m not even slightly complaining – it’s flattering to be asked to do stuff, and none of these are unreasonable requests. But I’m getting to a stage of my career where I simply couldn’t do most of the things that people want me to do, even if I devoted myself to doing it full time. Furthermore, I am not a particularly well organized person, and I don’t have an assistant to run my life for me. Even managing this flow of requests is becoming a substantial time commitment.

To ease the burden – both for me and for people asking me to do stuff – it’s probably long past due time for me to lay out some general rough guidelines, so as to partly standardize the process of addressing incoming requests.

Requests for me to travel

Family commitments mean that I can only commit to two or three multi-day travel events a semester. Combined with the ongoing flow of requests, I have to be highly selective, and I’m usually booked up several months in advance. If I say no to your workshop, this is likely why – I’m asked to participate in many more interesting workshops than I can reasonably attend. I try to prioritize workshops where (a) I think I can be specifically useful (rather than e.g. serving as a talking head) or (b) where there is a highly unusual mix of people (one of the best workshops I’ve been at recently combined working scientists and social scientists with science fiction writers).

I can be a little more flexible with invited talks, so long as I can slot them in amidst other commitments, but likely can’t stay for more than one night, and there too, I tend to get booked up very quickly.

If your invitation requires intercontinental travel, I ask for business class flights. This is not because I am a grand poobah, but because of my height and limited time budget. I’m 6’4″ tall, which means that I don’t sleep unless I have a little room to stretch, adding a couple of days of recovery time after long-haul trips. But I am also usually amenable to giving talks via Zoom or similar technologies, which involves less time commitment, as well as being much cheaper and better for the environment.

I don’t stress about honoraria etc for academic talks or talks to non-profits, informal presentations and the like. That’s part of my vocation, and I don’t need financial compensation for it. I do, very occasionally, do paid talking gigs for corporate events and the like.

Requests for me to write

I decline nearly all the requests that I get to write for academic journal special issues and the like. I am already hopelessly overcommitted. I already have multiple ongoing projects with co-authors, and more academic articles that I want to write over the next few years than I am reasonably going to be capable of doing. Most of these articles are strange, idiosyncratic, and likely to be a terrible fit with broader projects.

I am a little less unlikely to turn down non-academic writing requests, but still say no to most things. In general, I’m considerably more likely to pitch a piece I know I want to write to the venue that I think/hope it is best suited to, than to write a piece to order. I also have ongoing editorial relationships with a variety of good places, and am more much likely to go to them than to write for people who I don’t know. For others, requests that are weird and unlikely and plunge me head-first into unexpected and stimulating conversations are more likely to get a yes than requests for me to say versions of what I have already said.

If you want to inquire about trade books and the like, I’m happy to put you in contact with my agent.

Requests for me to read, republish etc

I get many, many more requests from people to read articles, newsletters and books than I can possibly say yes to. Occasionally, I’m able to read pieces from people whom I don’t know, but not very often. Far more often than I would like, I am not able to read pieces by friends or other people who I have reason to care about, simply because I’ve more such requests than I can deal with even when I am working in the friendzone. I’ve spent a long time on the other side of this attention economy, and recognize the disparities, but as one person, with many existing responsibilities, there is only so much I can do. I try to prioritize things that are urgent for people’s careers, especially at the junior level (obviously: tenure review) over things that are not.

If you are asking me about breaking out from academia into trade publishing, I will try to talk to you and read, subject to all the above-mentioned constraints. But I warn you not to expect too much. Much of my advice is likely to be dismal, and my reading of your proposal, if I can make time, may very likely be discouraging. From personal experience, I can say that writing for a broad audience is exceptionally hard for most working academics, since we have been taught a series of bad writing habits. Also, I should warn in advance that personal connections do not count in the way that they do in academia. People in commercial publishing are looking for book projects that will sell in a demanding and difficult marketplace and will bluntly reject proposals that don’t look likely to be hits, no matter who has recommended them. I have an agent, but as a matter of general policy, I don’t pass on projects to her unless they are not only good, but a direct fit with her specific market niche.

I’m being asked quite frequently by people to “restack” their articles on Substack – this is something that I am going to say no to. My newsletter is a highly personal and idiosyncratic intellectual project – on the two occasions where I’ve republished other people’s work, it is because they had written something that was an exact fit with the project. So too for requests that I recommend other people’s newsletters etc – I am not looking to increase readership but to do my own thing in my own way (which is why it is a free newsletter – when you start trying to maximize the number of paying eyeballs, it becomes an altogether different kind of proposition).

Requests for me to chat

I’m asked by more people to have conversations than I can say yes to. I do try to say yes when I can, but I am somewhat selective. If you are a journalist reaching out, I am happy (your deadlines and my schedule permitting) to talk about topics where I have actual expertise, but will decline where I don’t think I’m a good fit (e.g. – the latest trade deal or some other topic that is loosely adjacent to things I know, but only loosely). If you are an academic or in the policy world, again I’m happy to talk as long as it’s on topics where I can say something useful. If you are a student at another university who wants to talk e.g. about weaponized interdependence, I can try to make time, but I do have to prioritize students at Hopkins first, and they very reasonably have demands! When my life settles down, I am thinking of having office hours for the world, where people can sign up for 20 minute slots, but that is probably not going to happen before Fall 2026 (and will depend on my schedule becoming just a little less crazy than it is right now).

I’m also regularly asked to do Zoom conversations and events. I try to do these when I can, but again have to be somewhat selective. Given the constraints on my time, and my preference for spontaneity, I typically do not do advance conversations-before-the-conversation unless there are very strong reasons to have a highly scripted event.