Five Ways Professional Writers Eliminate Rejection
by Angela Booth
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Published on this site: December 2003 - See
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If you're writing for publication, you're offering something
for sale. Not everyone will want to buy it. This is only common
sense. There's no such thing as rejection, there's only writing
which has yet to find a home. If you submit a piece of writing
enough times, it will sell. Professional writers understand
this.
When you're a writer, you write, just like a potter makes pots,
or a real estate salesman sells plots of land. However, there's
a difference: if you let yourself feel too personally involved in
the selling process, you can come to feel as if each rejection is
a rejection of you, rather than of a piece of writing. This is not
so, no one is rejecting you. If they say that they cant use
your writing, then this is what they mean.
Writing is a business. Its up to you to find out how this
business works, so you dont get elated or depressed when you
sell/ dont sell. In my writing courses, (http://www.digital-e.biz/ecourses.html)
I advise students to create a production and marketing plan, because
this gives you direction and a method of
working. This is all you need. You write, and you sell.
Rejection? What rejection? Here's how to eliminate "rejection"
from your vocabulary.
One: Understand And Research Publishers And Publications
Let's create a scenario. You're Gloria C. Writer, and you want
to write a saleable nonfiction article about landmines. At this
stage, you have two ways you can proceed. You can write your article
first, and then find a publication which may give it a home, or
you can find the publication first, and then write your article.
If you have all the information you need, you may want to write
a first draft of the article, so that you can discover the approach
that you want to take. If you're a new writer, this is the best
way to proceed. You gain confidence with every word that you write,
and since all writing involves rewriting, you'll feel better once
you know you have something to rewrite.
On the other hand, you may decide that you're more comfortable
proposing this article to several publications first, before you
write the article. In this case, you write around 100 to 200 words
of an ARTICLE QUERY, or PROPOSAL LETTER.
Then you find a likely market for the piece and send it to the
editor.
There are many market guides for writers. One of the best known
is the Writer's Market, published by Writer's Digest Books. The
online version costs you $US29.99, and if you're serious about selling
your work it's an investment you must make:
http://www.writersmarket.com/
The three guides I find most useful are:
The Writer's Handbook 2004, The 2004 Writer's Market, and the Writers'
and Artists' Yearbook 2004 (UK and Commonwealth markets). Please
note that I've stipulated the CURRENT edition of each book. Yes,
you'll need to update your guides each year. If you write and sell
what you write, this will not be a problem.
Each guide will pay for itself many times over. All are available
from your local bookstore, or at online booksellers.
If the first editor you send your proposal to either doesn't want
it, or fails to respond, send it to the second editor on your list.
Two: Have A Writing Business Plan
It's December 2003. This means that you need to be thinking of
your writing business plan for 2004. What will you write? Where
will you sell it? How much time can you devote to writing? How much
will you earn?
Sit down TODAY and spend ten minutes working on your writing business
plan for 2004. Sit down every day and work on it --- by thinking
and researching markets --- until your writing business plan is
complete. (Don't take forever over this. It took me half an hour
in total.)
Three: Have A Writing Marketing Plan
I wrote about writing marketing plans here, in "Create A Marketing
Plan (For Your Writing)" ---
http://www.digital-e.biz/articles/art_marketing26.html
Four: Work Your Plan, Even When It Doesnt Seem To Be Working
Persistence counts. You will sell simply because you show up at
the right time with the right abilities and the right piece of work.
It's a numbers game. If you write enough, and market it diligently,
you will sell. That's all there is to it. Please believe this. Keep
writing, and sending out your work.
Five: Expect To Succeed
"Tackle everything with a feeling that you will utilize all
the power within you to make it a success," says Dumont in
his self-help classic book "The Power of Concentration".
This book is free at Project Gutenberg:
http://gutenberg.net/etext98/prcon10.txt
,
if you haven't read it, download it today and follow the advice,
it's invaluable.
If you expect to succeed at your writing career, you will.
To read more articles by Angela Booth, visit the Digital-e
Web site--Information for writers and creatives. Ebooks, free
ezines, Creatives Club. Love to write?
Turn your talent into a business! http://www.digital-e.biz/
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