Model Breakers Apr'21: Fear of Rejection, Chapter Highlights, Favorite Books

"The book's greatest strength is the sheer number of immigrant stories you have collected..."

Dear Readers, Happy April!

I’m quite nervous about seeing my first book came to life.

While I did all the hard work, the last mile was quite challenging to tread.

I ended up doing nothing for the book this past week because…

I was scared that my message wouldn’t go anywhere.

I was scared that no one would reply to my cold emails.

I was scared that the outreach would take up too much of my time.

I even rescheduled my editor’s weekly call, hoping that it’d make me feel better. Yet, the fear didn’t go away until I confronted it by writing this letter to you.

Thank you for being a part of my author community. Your support meant a lot to me.

I hope this note would encourage you to stand up for your life’s work too!

What early readers are saying about Model Breakers

Ashley is my college best friend. She was the chief editor of our college’s political magazine, always had tons of critical feedback, and is one of the most well-read people I know. Here’s a nugget she texted me a few weeks ago:

Revealing Chapter Design for Model Breakers

Eva Huang Did It Again!

I’m so grateful for all my talented friends who came together to bring Model Breakers to life. If you are interested in the story behind each design, check out the tweetstorm below:

Charlene @hsinleiwang

Challenge the beliefs that keep us quiet. Appeal the rules that limit your dream. Share the ideas that you were too afraid to say out loud. Speak up for the community. I can't wait to see your beautiful blossom in life.

What I’ve Been Reading Lately

As mentioned in my content diet, I read 2-3 books every week, so I thought to share my March Favorites with you:

1. Passionate Marriage by David Schnarch

2. The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner

3. Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

4. Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life by Wayne Dyer

5. It Didn’t Start with You by Mark Wolynn

6. Rising Strong by Brené Brown

7. Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

8. The Third Door by Alex Banayan

Finally, if you know any podcaster/journalist who may be interested in featuring the story of Model Breakers, I’d really appreciate an introduction to charlene@hey.com. ❤️

Warmly,

Charlene

Model Breakers Mar'21: Final Manuscript, Cover Sneak Peek, and More Love

Launch Outreach, Five Page Book Highlights, Asian American Podcast

Dear readers,

I’m excited to share that Model Breakers has been copy-edited and approved for publication in April.

I also received a few cover designs this week, but they were so bad that I just wanted to cry. Fortunately, Eva Huang came to the rescue! In a few hours, she created this lovely cover and made me feel excited about design again.

“無論何時何地 都可以綻放自己最真實的模樣” — Eva Huang

Isn’t this gorgeous?

I love how the cover teases out the energy and potential of the book. Just as Eva said, my hope is to help everyone embrace their authenticity and fully blossom in life.

What early readers are saying about Model Breakers

“A brave book about the Asian American experience and Charlene’s personal journey to understand, and to break out of the straightjacket of the Model Minority myth. There are many insights here about family, careers and how it feels when your success is defined by others, and demanded by all. These insights are painfully earned and rarely shared. A timely, liberating story full of uncomfortable truths.” — Khanh Nguyen, vice president at Google

“Model Breakers confronts the tough questions of identity and stereotypes with insightful research, deliberate exercises, and compelling personal experiences. The future belongs to model breakers, and Wang has written an important playbook to help us embrace our full potential in life.” — Laura Huang, professor at Harvard Business School and international best selling author of Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage

“Model Breakers takes inspiration from the struggles of Asian immigrants in the US to build a practical guide for growth and success. Wang's focus on the deep struggles of the marginalized communities has not only developed a guide for immigrants but for many that feel out of place in their environments.” — Racha Ghamlouch, co-founder of Digital Digest  

What’s Next?

1. Launch Outreach: I’m looking to invite journalists, podcasters, and publications to my publishing journey. If you (or anyone you know) may be interested in Model Breakers, please share the five-page book highlights and kindly make an intro to charlene@hey.com.

2. New Podcast: I’m starting a podcast series to spotlight Asian Americans who have explored their joy and authenticity in life (e.g. Grace Chiang, Christina Qi, Julia Xu). If you have any dream guests in mind, please send me some recommendations and I will make it happen!

That’s it for the week. Take care, everyone!

Warmly,

Charlene