Years ago, when I started reading books that promised to help get me published, I read them with a heavy heart. With too many of them, the tome was one of gloom and doom. Too many people wanting to write, too many changes in the publishing industry, tortured artist…
This didn’t motivate me and I stayed in jobs where I was doing a bit of writing but not in any field I felt particulately passionate about.
Then, when I was preparing to go it alone in 2004, I came across a delightful book (and I’ve been lucky enough to interview the author a couple of times) which I now recommend to many of my clients: Making a Living Without a Job by Barbara Winter was practical and funny.
I learned a lot about running a business without feeling that I was struggling through a text book. I then came across Linda Formichelli and Diana Burrell’s absolutely delightful The Renegade Writer which is filled with tips for journalists who haven’t taken the most obvious route. What set it apart from the other journalism books I’d read, with their template letters for agents, editors and publishers, was the upbeat tone.
Linda and Diana addressed these templates to Dear Ms Publish Me, or Dear Wondrous Editor.
They also include practical advice from other freelancers and, liking Kelly James Enger’s advice, I bought her books Ready, Aim, Specialise and $ix-figure Freelancing. Again, I was laughing aloud as well as growing my writing business (I puzzled non-writing friends and family by reading especially funny bits over the phone, too).
She recommended Bob Bly’s Secrets of a Freelance Writer and he, too, adopts an upbeat “You can do it!” tone. One of his sample email addresses is DelightfulMessage@yourcompany.com
If you’d like to know more about these books (and others that may be of interest), please visit www.coachingwriters.co.uk for full details.
Whether you read them or not, consider your own query emails and letters. Take another look at your book proposals. Is your message cheerful and happy or is there a sense of desperation?
By focusing on the joy that publication will bring you, you'll feel more motivated, happier and productive.
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