AN EDITOR WHO REJECTED MY QUERY GOT MAD AT ME FOR SELLING THE ARTICLE TO HIS COMPETITOR!
If Online Newspaper editor says no, is it wrong to pitch it to others who may or may not overlap in coverage area?
WHY I KEPT WRITING FOR MY LOWEST PAYING CLIENT – Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan
When I launched my freelance writing career over two years ago, I had no clients and my only clips were from content mills. I needed to start somewhere so I contacted the editors of local newsletters. Finally, one editor gave me an assignment profiling a records storage company in 700 words for $75. The pay was pretty low for the time I’d need to invest, but I said yes. I did my best work, researching the company, asking questions, getting photos, etc. The editor loved the piece and ran it with almost no changes…
CHRISTMAS TREE UP, CHRISTMAS TREE DOWN!
We were finally able to round everybody up to go get the Christmas tree. Grampa picked out the perfect one and we raced home to decorate it. I cooked honey baked ham (with Justin’s honey coating recipe), cheesy mashed potatoes, and fried okra while the children had fun hanging lights and ornaments. Just before bedtime, I filled up the tree stand to the rim with water.
The next morning, I walked in the living room and, right in front of me, it came crashing down…
WORLD’S WORST QUERY LETTERS
Today, I’m going to share snippets from some of the worst query letters we’ve received over the past couple of months. Yes, we can learn from others’ mistakes! Featured below are real quotes from query letters submitted to WritersWeekly.com…
WE LOVE OUR READERS!! :)
Thanks for WritersWeekly.com – it’s still the best, most-informative ezine for writers!
Michael
SELF-PUBLISHING: MORE THAN JUST A WRITING GIG – ALLEN TAYLOR
Millions of writers are pursuing their dreams by self-publishing. While I wouldn’t discourage anyone from chasing their dream, I would like to encourage you to think about your dream in a different way…
MY P.O.D. PUBLISHER WENT OUT OF BUSINESS. WHAT DO I DO???
I had a book published by (a small P.O.D. publisher) in the US and it has been on sale since Oct. 2011, I have received no royalties, no answers to my emails, and now all emails are sent back. The editing was disgraceful (no errors fixed, etc.) and they took a lot longer than my contract stated to publish it. I have seen no advertising as was promised. In fact, they did not adhere to any of their contract. I have cancelled my contract, but they are still selling it on Amazon and other similar sites. I really don’t know what to do about it. I’m completely at my wit’s end.
WRITING INSTRUCTORS ARE NOT ALWAYS CORRECT! – BURTON H. WOLFE
Usually, the moral of a story is told at the end. I will tell you the moral of this one at the beginning: If you believe in your own ability to write for pay and your sense of where to send you work, listen to your inner self and let no one, no matter how experienced and successful in publishing, dissuade you from what you believe will work…
Oh, Christmas Tree….Where Are You???
This is the longest we’ve ever gone in the season without putting up our tree. We usually have it up during the third week of November. Thanksgiving came late this year and, each year, it gets harder to organize everyone for a group outing…
Authors Beware! “Gifting” Your Kindle E-Books May BACKFIRE! By Angela Hoy
I received an email from an author last week asking why he never received his “royalties” for a Kindle “gift” ebook he bought for someone. It was his own book and he had documentation proving he’d purchased the ebook version from Amazon. I checked Amazon’s reports and they didn’t show the sale for that month.
I wrote to Amazon and the author was not happy with their response…