Do Your Homework
Warning – rant ahead.
I was on a writing forum recently when I noticed that a lot of beginning writers were asking questions such as “Where can I send this article?” or “What publisher is right for my story?” I wanted to scream out loud.
First, the questions are too broad, too general. For one, none of the posters had seen the works in question. How the hell is anyone beyond the writer to know where some generically-referenced work fits? Also, there were no details in any of these posts that would give the other posters a single clue as to the genre, the focus, the age category, the length or anything else about the pieces mentioned. Just those general questions.
And let me tell you something about those general questions – they don’t indicate someone who is lost or someone who needs guidance to the right sources. If that were the case, these questions would read more like, “Where can I find a list of magazine publishers?” or “How do I find the right publisher for my book?” No, these questions indicated something deeper. The posters are lazy. Yes, I said lazy. While it’s quite alright to ask for help, it’s not alright to ask someone else to do your legwork.
It also shows me that these posters don’t know their profession. Nothing, and I mean nothing, screams rank amateur more to me than someone who would ask such questions expecting someone else to hold their hands all the way to the mailbox. Sure, it’s okay to ask someone to point you to a source or two for that information – we’re not born knowing where to send our query letters – but it is unacceptable in my book for any writer to just hand the reins over to strangers and submit to being led in what may or may not be the right direction.
Over the years, I’ve seen these questions cropping up on freelance forums and listservs. Each time, they’re posted by new or fairly new posters, who eventually disappear and never get that writing career off the ground. No wonder. “Questions like, “Does anyone know who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?” is basic research that any writer has to be willing to do (or a no-brainer that any writer should be embarrassed to even ask). If I can get your answer for you in a simple Google search, I’m not going to give you the answer because you’re not serious about your profession, in my opinion. I will tell you to search for it, though. Beyond that, the success of your career is up to you.
Thanks for posting this. I’ve stopped frequenting several forums because there are too many lazy newbies who aren’t willing to do their own homework, and I’m sick of it.
Just yesterday, on one forum, a newbie wanted to know where to sell her articles, “becaue I’m a good writer”.
Several people answered with resources.
But chickie wanted names and addresses of editors and publications.
Do your own research, honey — we have no idea what you’re writing or what the quality is – from the amount of mistakes in the post, I’d say it’s not so great!
Oh my gawd. I bet we were on the same forum! LOL! Yes, this is the type of laziness I’m talking about. I know there are times when new writers are confused and ask the seemingly stupid questions, when in fact they really mean, “HELP!” Those are easy to spot. But the ones that drill you for more and more info? LAZY!