Words on the Page

An Open Letter

Posted on by lwidmer

Dear Clients Who Want Me to Work for Nothing: How do I say this? You know when you hired me you were getting the best possible writing out of me. I wouldn’t give anything less. But lately I’ve had something on my mind, something that’s uncomfortable to bring up, but I can’t ignore it. Clients,…

Upping Your Game

Posted on by lwidmer

If you regularly work the $1-an-article jobs, ignore this post. Better yet, leave freelancing and get a “real” job that pays minimum wage – you’ll be light years ahead of the game and we won’t have to keep preaching to one more person why that kind of “work” is sucking the life out of journalism….

Plagiarism Explained

Posted on by lwidmer

The ad read: “Seeking a writer to create 12 business start-up how-to articles. Articles target couples thinking of starting a business together, explaining everything from picking the right business to marketing and more. Articles should be approx. 3 pages in length.” I applied. The response came. It read:“These projects pay $6 per page (approx. 420…

Funky Town

Posted on by lwidmer

I’m in a funk today. When work is completed and the desk is thin with more work, I get like this. But I’m not going to dwell on it because it’s boring. Keeping it short today. I saw my parents over the weekend and my mom was relating a story about someone from her class….

Going Professional

Posted on by lwidmer

Amie over at Written Expressions has a neat discussion going about talking about someone else’s work in a negative light and getting called on it. We’ve all done it at some point, and some of us have lost jobs (well, there were other things going on there, but yes, I did lose a job), lost…

Banding Together

Posted on by lwidmer

Some very interesting discussion is going on over on the Certified Professional Writers Association on LinkedIn. What options can we choose to help improve our profession and stabilize earning power among the ranks? I highly suggest you join the discussion (and the group – group leader Leon Sterling is a staunch supporter of protecting freelancers’…

Client Boo-boos That Become Yours

Posted on by lwidmer

I was listening to a friend lament about a client who is a blamer. Apparently this client, a woman, doesn’t make mistakes, nor does she forget anything. My writer friend knows this because the mistakes and forgetfulness of this client are passed right down the food chain into said writer’s lap. I sympathize. I’ve been…

Using Scammers as Bait

Posted on by lwidmer

My guest blog is over at Devon Ellington’s Ink in My Coffee today. Go on over and check it out. Here’s a new one – I received a message on my phone last week, a bit convoluted, but basically the caller was asking about an organization I was part of (?) and mentioned he wanted…

The Value-added You

Posted on by lwidmer

Maybe it’s because work has arrived again. I went cruising a favorite job listings site yesterday, but I couldn’t bring myself to apply to anything. In one job listing in particular where price wasn’t mentioned, I knew by the wording that it would be a huge waste of my time to A) craft a solid…

The New Etiquette

Posted on by lwidmer

Maybe it’s just rotten luck, that there are too many email filters, or that people move around more than their email accounts can keep up. There’s a reason why my emails to editors with story ideas go unanswered. For every ten emailed ideas I send out that aren’t used, I get zero responses. And it’s…

Tony Ratcliffe

It is not only in the writing industry, Lori. In business, I find a lack of response to email, phone calls, or mail. Even applying for employment, you find the "no phone calls please" and "only those selected for interview will be contacted." For the latter, what happened to the protocol of being able to ask questions about a position before applying? On the other hand, when parties are willing to communicate, email has sure made it easy to ask a quick question and receive a quick response. Checking spam folders for legit mail that has been caught needs to be a daily practise in business. I know, some gets deleted before even reaching a spam folder, and that can be a problem. That's why the courtesy of an acknowledgement is very much appreciated by me.

Devon Ellington

I don't do business by phone, because I loathe the telephone. Everything is in writing.

I give 2 weeks beyond the stated guidelines, then send a follow-up. If I don't hear within a week of the follow-up (although 48 hours is what I was told is proper etiquette to respond to business email), I send another email clearly stating that I'm pulling the query and selling it elsewhere.

Everything I've got needs to earn its keep in a timely manner. And the email stating it's pulled either gets immediate response or, at least, if the editor kicks up a fuss when it appears elsewhere, I've got documentation that I pulled it.

Editors don't have jobs without writers. It's co-dependence. Neither side has all the power.

Paula

It's not just e-queries, Lori. Over the years I've sent out thousands of snail mail queries, with SASEs, and maybe 10% of those SASEs ever made it back to my mailbox. I've always pictured editors or editorial assistants stockpiling SASE stamps for their own use. At least with unanswered e-queries I'm not losing money by subsidizing the publishing industry's postage needs.

Most editors call or e-mail when assigning a story, so why pay 44-cents for each potential rejection? It's never made sense to me, but I still send a SASE when required.

You're onto something with the spam filter angle, though, Lori. When querying by e-mail, be careful what you put in the subject line, since spam filters catch words like "opportunity." I remember reading an article in Freelance Writer's Report or on Writers-Editors.com about key words to avoid in your subject lines. Sorry I don't have a link to the specific article.

Lori

Tony, that's disturbing. It confirms a bit my suspicion that business etiquette in general has gone down the toilet. I still hope it's not so, but generally it does prove to be a trend.

Love the system, Devon. It's to the point. "Here's my query. I'm busy, too. Either accept it or I'm moving on to someone else."

I had noticed the same issue in snail mail too, Paula. I guess it's a general lack of manners all the way around. Sad, isn't it?

Good point on the spam folder. I type "Article idea" or "Article Query" in the subject line. It could be the "idea" is getting dumped in spam. Or it could be that they simply don't bother to answer, which I think is just rude.

Eileen

See, this is why I don't write for magazines. The query system is terribly unproductive for writers. They want to hang on to your idea until they get around to deciding whether or not they want it, but they don't want you shopping it elsewhere in the meantime. I think the whole system is just plain rude, if not downright exploitative of writers.

That time is so much better spent building a hand-picked mailing list of prospects in your chosen industry and writing a great sales letter asking for their business. My last mailing landed me over $12,000 worth of business in the following 90 days, plus repeat business after that that comes to me instead of me going after it.

Lori

Wow, that's a great letter, Eileen!

I get why you don't wait for magazines. Frankly, I don't care what their "policy" says – I shop it to several sources. In truth, if you know what you're doing, that query should be different to almost every other magazine you approach. I never submit to one place at a time if I think the idea is timely. Given that most editors don't follow their own protocol, I don't feel badly about it at all. Time is MY money, too.

But there are times, like with fiction writing, where the crossover is common. A friend of mine just had her fiction piece accepted – by two magazines at the same time. Delicious dilemma! She took the first offer after waiting nearly 3 months to hear about the original query. Naturally, they wrote the same week and wanted to publish. I told her to send them regrets and an offer for other pieces. Now she's got two pieces running in two different magazines. That's a great outcome!

Brenda Susan

I have a question about a particular magazine. It's called "More" & it is targeted to women over 40. They have a website that encourages readers to post their own stories for others to respond to.
Do you think this is a new way of getting noticed by the editor? Is it worth posting an entire artcile idea all written up?
Could this be a magazines new way of weeding out the queries they don't want to respond to?
Brenda Susan

Lori

Hi Brenda,

I would think it's more of a way for them to fill their website with free content. Typically magazines are just asking for reader feedback – not uncommon.

I would do this – since you know the magazine, I would send the editors a well-crafted idea to their email address. The minute you post that on their site, it's their property and they owe you nothing. It's much more professional to send it to them in proposal form rather than hope for them to notice it on their website.

Thanks for asking! Did that help at all?

Elaine Swift

I agree with Tony. It's not just the publishing world that seems to have grown ruder.

Non-response to emails is one of my pet-hates. I mean just how busy can people be? A simple 'Really busy right now, will get back to ASAP' would take a second to write but would go down so well.

In my experience journalists can be pretty arrogant individuals: I'm sure ignoring emails makes them feel even more powerful than they already imagine themselves to be.

Keep on badgering!

Kimberly Ben

It's been a while since I've queried magazines, but I agree with Tony that this is a trend happening across the board.

Amie

I sent out a query several months ago via mail, taking care to follow the rules laid out by the magazine, and I got a response–they declined and took their sweet time doing it, but at least they responded!

Lori

REAL mail, Amie? Can we still send letters? :))

It speaks directly to professionalism. Either you're professional enough to follow your own rules or you're not, in which case I may reconsider working with you. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt once or twice, but there's a limit to how much you can attribute to spam or busy-ness or vacations, etc.

Cheryl Bryan

I don't have anything substantial to add to the conversation here. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your comparison: "…underdogs, like elephants, have long memories." Brilliant!

Paula

I do the same thing, Lori: Query multiple magazines on the same/similar topic, but slant each pitch a little differently.

If it's something more specific – like a celebrity profile tied to a specific date or cause – I'll just tell them it's a simultaneous submission. On occasion, when the story is right, knowing their competitors may have received the same pitch has been known to shake editors up enough to reply quickly – and with a better offer. But it has to be an amazing story for that to happen.

Lori

That's why they pay me the big bucks, Cheryl. LOL

Good idea, Paula. Usually, my article proposals are time-sensitive, but I have some very specific targets, so the slant determines who gets what idea. Frankly, I don't tell anyone it's simultaneous. If I've worked with them before, they get first dibs. If not, I'm not taking a chance that they'll act according to an older established practice.