There’s
a right way and a wrong way to ask writers to help your writing journey. I
learned the hard way, making most of the usual mistakes.
But
despite the above linked post, my experience is that the right way is to not
ask anything of a writer who is barely an acquaintance. Even more so if the
writer is a complete stranger. Published writers, especially successfully
published writers, don’t have the time to wade through the writing of others as
they get many (repeat: MANY) such requests.
The
bottom line is that unless you are close personal friends, or the writer offers
without solicitation (rare, but happens. It happened to me 😊) they can’t blurb (which would mean
also reading your work) and any general advice they give can be found on the
Internet.
If
you are real friends in real life (Facebook doesn’t count. Not ever) or taking
a course with a writer, which includes feedback to your writing, other writers
farther along on the path are our inspiration for aspirations, not personal
assistants.
Enjoy
meeting authors without asking them to bear your burdens.
4 comments:
Good advice, Mirka. At the least, you should admire/love the author's work and support it if you're going to ask them for a favor.
Yes, it's a tricky part of authoring/publishing. I hated that one WFH publisher required 40 names/contact info of people who would be willing to receive a free copy of my book and hopefully write a review (that can't be required, of course). I didn't ask people I didn't know personally, but just put out a general request. It still felt very awkward to me.
I've blurbed now for several people. I find writing blurbs harder than writing a 1st pb ms, hehe. But some are merely acquaintances (we're connected on social media) with books on similar topics, and the editors suggested reaching out to me, etc...
So I'm happy to help, although I'm "no one" in this business.
Always tricky asking for favors, even from people you're close to.
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