Interested in interviewing me, having me speak and be part of an event, or having me write something for your magazine, newspaper or anthology? Splendid. Here's how to go about that.
First: Please do not call me on the phone without an invitation to do so. If you call and interrupt my workflow, you will get uncooperative, monosyllabic John Scalzi, and he's not much fun to talk to. In nearly all cases, our initial contact is best handled through e-mail.
Interviews: I am generally available for interviews, but I need to have them on my schedule. For formal interviews, the best thing to do is e-mail me at "john@scalzi.com," tell me who you are, for whom you are writing the interview, and how you wish to conduct the interview. Please do not send questions for interviews in your introductory e-mail. At this point in time, I prefer to be interviewed by way of e-mail, but I can do phone or live interviews with appropriate lead time. Note that I do not generally travel for live interviews; you'd need to come to me, or come to where I am making an appearance.
If you are a journalist working on a story with a short deadline, you may send questions along with your initial contact and/or include a phone number where I may reach you.
Speaking events: I am generally available for speaking events, on the subjects of writing, science fiction, science (particularly astronomy), technology, film and music. I typically charge for appearances and expect my hosts to pay for travel and incidental expenses when applicable. The fee varies contingent on the nature of the event and the organization hosting the event.
If you are interested in having me speak to your event or group, please contact me at "john@scalzi.com" and tell me who you are, the organization or event at which you wish to have me speak, and the date and time of the event. Please do try to ask me to your event at least three months in advance of the speaking date so I can have adequate time to fit the event into my schedule.
Science fiction conventions: I go to science fiction conventions often and am generally very happy to participate on panels and other programming; please feel free to invite me to be a guest! Please be aware that my ability to participate at any one convention will be constrained by a number of factors, including my work schedule, previous appearance commitments, and the ability to foot the transportation and lodging costs associated with attending conventions. If I am unable to attend one year, it is not necessarily indicative of a lack of interest in future years.
Generally speaking, it is best to invite me as early as planning allows to help me schedule my convention appearance schedule. Please note that I generally attend Wiscon on the Memorial Day weekend and Worldcon whenever it happens to fall in any particular year, so short of a Guest of Honor invitation, I am unlikely to accept an invitation to a convention scheduled against those conventions.
To invite me to your convention, please contact me at "john@scalzi.com" and tell me who you are, the convention you represent, and the location and dates of the convention.
Other literary events: I may be available to appear at book fairs and other literary events, time permitting. Please contact me at "john@scalzi.com" and tell me who you are, the event you represent, and the location and dates of the event. The earlier you send along information, the better.
Non-fiction work: I am available for non-fiction work and have expertise and publishing credits in the fields of writing, science fiction, film, music, video games, technology and business. I have also worked as a humor and opinion columnist. As I worked at a newspaper for years, I am comfortable working to deadlines.
If you are interested in having me write a non-fiction article for your outlet, it will help me quite a bit if you have some idea of the general topic on which you wish me to write, as well as the suggested length. It will also help if you approach me well in advance of the article deadline, particularly if it's an article that includes interviews and research on my part.
Please contact me at "john@scalzi.com" and tell me who you are, the outlet you represent, and the general topic and length of the proposed article, and your payment rates.
Fiction work: My primary focus in fiction is in novel length work, but I will occasionally write short fiction for anthologies whose subjects interest me, or when the fiction work is specifically commissioned by a magazine. For these, I require a very long lead time (9 months+) so I may fit them into my schedule.
Editors, please be aware that if you approach me about writing a short story for your magazine or anthology, you are commissioning the work; I don't typically write short fiction unless the purchase has already been agreed to. For this reason, I don't have any previously unsold short fiction lying around that I can sell to your magazine or anthology.
(I do apologize if this sounds horrendously arrogant of me. But the point is that the economics of short fiction are very bad, and the time I spend writing it can generally be more profitably spent writing other things. To be blunt about it, given what I can make writing non-fiction or for corporate clients, I can argue that it costs me money to write short fiction. So I don't write it unless I know it's been sold.)
If you are interested in commissioning fiction work from me, please contact me at "john@scalzi.com" and tell me who you are, the magazine or anthology you represent, and the general topic and length of the proposed story, and your payment rates.
Other stuff: Something else you're interested in having me do that's not here? Send me an e-mail and explain yourself.
Thank you for your interest!