Contact

I get a lot of cold email. Directing it to the right recipient and including all relevant information the first time will help you get a response faster. 

The world is large and round, and I may be in a different part of it than you are. (Often I am in North American Eastern Time, but not always!) Please specify your timezone when trying to book interviews, meetings, or other time-sensitive requests. Do not call me or send me anything in the mail without emailing first, even if your organization has this information on file.

If you are cold-emailing me, it is probably because you think doing so will benefit you somehow. Here are two useful posts about how to consider requests for attention and help from the perspective of the recipient. 

I am not at all picky about greetings and closings, but please make your subject line as informative as possible. (See also: how to spell and pronounce my name.)

When in doubt, it is always worth cc’ing in my assistant Casey, gretchen.mcculloch.assistant@gmail.com, along with one of the following people depending on the request: 

Media requests

Please email my publicist, Shailyn Tavella, stavella@prh.com for all US media requests or if you’re uncertain about who to email for anything media-related. Offers of advance reader copies and other book-related PR requests should also be sent here. (I’m generally very excited to find out about other pop linguistics books, but it’s so much easier for me to have time to read it if you a) send me a paper copy not electronic and b) get in touch well before the publication date, ideally 3-6 months in advance.)

For Canadian media, also include my Canadian publicist, Shona Cook, scook@penguinrandomhouse.com.

For UK media, email my UK publicist, Bethan Jones, BJones@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

For media in countries outside the US, UK, and Canada, still email Shailyn Tavella, who can forward your request to the appropriate local liaison.

Include the name of your media outlet and the topic of your story in the subject line (e.g. “XYZ news – emoji media request re BECAUSE INTERNET”). Do not cc me or contact me through another format, even if you’ve worked with me before — the publicist will loop me in when needed. For the sake of work-life balance, I only interact with media via the publicists — journalists trying to contact me via social media will merely be redirected with a link to this page. 

Speaking

I’ve given talks at many places including South by Southwest, Princeton, Duolingo, and Facebook. (See my professional public speaking reel and examples of speeches I’ve given on my speaking page.) Want me to speak about internet linguistics, the future of communication, or lingcomm at your event, including online events? Please email my speaking agency, Leading Authorities, Haley Rauch haley@lauthorities.com

Podcast / Lingthusiasm

Emailing about Lingthusiasm, my podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics? Please send Lingthusiasm-related correspondence to contact æt lingthusiasm.com to reach both me and my cohost Lauren Gawne.

Fans and students

I greatly enjoy meeting students and fans at conferences and other events! For the sake of work-life balance, the only three places that I interact with fans online are public posts on twitter, tumblr, and instagram; I do not read or reply to private messages, on other platforms, or to fan email. I know you may have a personal question or story that you want to talk about, but unfortunately this is a question of scale, and drawing boundaries on individual interaction lets me retain enough time to make more pop linguistics for everyone to enjoy. 

Please see the many public resources I’ve created for students and autodidacts, including advice on doing linguistics in high school, undergrad, grad school, and linguistics jobs, as well as extensive reading lists about internet linguistics, teaching yourself linguistics, and other linguistics books you might enjoy.

Feel free to tag me on twitter or instagram with your photos of you reading Because Internet, listening to Lingthusiasm, or of things you’ve made such as linguistics baked goods and linguistics handcrafts — with your permission, I may post your linguistics creations to the blog and you can enjoy a tiny moment of linguistic internet fame.

Neither I nor Lingthusiasm has the bandwidth to take on interns. But the good news is, you don’t need to do an internship to do public-facing linguistics! Instead, I’d encourage you to start your own project — I’ve compiled resources on Linguistics Communication, writing books and pitching short-form media pieces, and Weird Internet Careers to help get you started. 

If you’re excited about linguistics and you’re looking for people to chat with about it, I’d encourage you to join the Lingthusiasm Discord to make fellow linguistics-enthusiast friends!

Other requests, including consulting

For other requests, email my agent, Howard Yoon howard@rossyoon.com

For foreign rights inquiries, such as translation requests for Because Internet, please contact Dara Kaye at dara@rossyoon.com

Miscellany

If your message does not fit any of the other categories, or if you’re not sure where it should go, please send it via the contact form below.