Today we’d like to introduce you to Y.y. Chan

Hi Y.y., thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I started my self publishing journey in 2020 after I made New Year’s Resolution to write and publish a book. Before that, I was an English teacher at a primary school in Hong Kong. I had always been interested in writing my own stories and sometimes wrote stories for students in worksheets and assessments. I had dreamt of becoming an author for a while, but hadn’t seriously considered the possibility until I took a break from full-time teaching. I didn’t realize that self-publishing was a possibility before. I had been doing private tutoring for about a year after I quit full-time teaching, and during that time, COVID had made it difficult to continue face-to-face lessons. Many students switched to online lessons while others decided to stop altogether until social distancing regulations eased up. I started to have a lot of free time on my hands so I decided to seriously pursue writing and look into how to get published. I came across an online program called Self-Publishing School and was connected with a coach who worked closely with me. We had regular coaching calls to help me through every step of the process. I was able to complete my first draft within a few weeks, get the story edited and hire an illustrator very quickly within three months. After successfully launching my first picture book in May 2020, I went on to launch my first chapter book in the following month. I enjoyed the process so much, I decided to try publishing a reading journal as well by combining a wide range of reading activities I had gathered and designed while I was teacher. I have so many ideas from my experience as a teacher and I realized that so many of them could be turned into books – fiction or nonfiction.
As of now, I have published three picture books, one chapter book, two journals, a nonfiction chapter book, which I co-wrote with another author as well as a collaborative cookbook with other authors. During the last four years, I have connected with many passionate authors and writers in the community and we have been a big part of each other’s journey. I couldn’t have made it this far without their support and encouragement. I am currently working on some new stories and have plans for creating other educational content books as well.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. It may be easy to write a story and get the ideas from my head to paper, however, there are so many steps after that I hadn’t considered before. One of the hardest things is marketing and selling the books I have written. I am an introvert and often shy away from a lot of social interactions or situations where I would need to get up and speak to a large group of people. Even though I am a teacher, public speaking isn’t exactly something I enjoy doing outside of the classroom. It’s really not easy to do self-promotion of your own books if you are not willing or comfortable getting up in front of people and talking about yourself so I have struggled with this part of the journey a lot. Although I have conducted a few school visits and storytelling sessions, I have not actively been seeking them out or advertising myself in this way and mostly rely on online ads and social media. But even these are not easy for me to do. I find these tasks tedious and would rather spend my time reading or writing new stories. However, I know that without actively marketing and selling, my books will not reach the right audience. I’m learning to put myself out there more, ask for help, and say ‘yes’ to opportunities that will allow to share about my books and my writing. It’s uncomfortable, uncertain and a little scary but I know it’s a necessary part of the process so I’m trying to step out of my comfort zone more.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?

I’ve worked as an English teacher for over 15 years. My experience and roles have varied from an all boys’ primary school and co-ed school setting, teaching full classes up to around 40 students, to small group workshops and one-on-one private tutoring. I have also taken on leadership roles as a subject panel chairperson and the head of department. I have been involved in developing the English curriculum of a new school in mainland China and am proud to have been part of their founding year’s faculty. I am probably known for my ability in English writing and proofreading, planning ahead, submitting work on time, and attention to detail. Several colleagues have sought my advice on how to be an effective and efficient leader. I have always been a perfectionist and often strive to do every task to the highest standard possible. I also found that I am actually good at doing administrative duties and paperwork. While this is one of my strengths, which made me a reliable and efficient teacher and team leader, it has also impacted my physical and mental health. It was difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance. I was often the last person to the leave the office and turn off the lights. I actually resigned from my role as the head of English department a few months ago, and decided to pursue a different path, focusing on my writing and publishing, where I could align my values and beliefs with my passions and interests, and not be burned out in the process. I’m still passionate about education but I don’t believe that schooling is the only way to do that. I’m looking forward to discovering other ways to teach and educate young minds without the constraints of a classroom and school setting. Additionally, I would love to get into editing and proofreading for other writers and aspiring authors. I love reading and have a lot of experience in marking and proofreading from my time as a teacher, so I would love to make use of that skill and connect with other writers to expand that my circle.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?

Something surprising is that I once wanted to be an artist or designer, even an architect, before I applied to study education in university. I went to several art classes and tried to create my own portfolio for university applications but realized how difficult it was to produce high quality and original art pieces that stood out from the rest. I didn’t end up pursuing it and thought I’d just keep art as a hobby instead. However, after a few years, I lost interest and rarely opened my sketchbooks again. Now that my work schedule is more flexible, I’m hoping to rekindle this long lost passion and start drawing again. I’ve actually signed up to a few online courses on illustrating using Procreate. Hopefully, I can illustrate my own books one day too. I have a lot of different interests and passions that sometimes it’s hard to know where to focus or put my time and effort into.

Contact Info:

• Website: Https://www.yychani.com
• Instagram: Https://www.instagram.com/yychan_author
• Facebook: Https://www.facebook.com/yychanauthor

Image Credits

Pearly L. Illustrator