| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Beginner Issues > Topic: Emailing clips (messages undeliverable) |
Topic: Emailing clips (messages undeliverable)
| Author | Message |
| Magazine Mania | Posted – 7/12/2007 4:37:09 PM | show profile Most of the freelance writing gigs that I've applied for recently ask that 3-4 writing samples be EMAILED only. I normally save my published clips as pdf files, but I'm finding that emails aren't going through, of course, because the files are too large. I end up sending three emails for one job submission. Does anyone have any recommendations on a better way to submit all clips in one email? I normally don't send a Word file unless the announcement specified this is how they want to receive clilps. Am I wrong to think that the finished article, with graphics, makes a difference...or does an editor not pay much attention to the visuals? |
| zftcg | Posted – 7/12/2007 5:02:49 PM | show profile You could try a service like Pando (http://www.pando.com/), which allows you to send large files as links rather than attachments. But I think the other party has to download the software as well. |
| missprint | Posted – 7/12/2007 5:54:21 PM | show profile I would try a free hosting site (I have used www.wetpaint.com, but there are hundreds out there). That way you can upload your .pdf file to a Web site, and simply send the employers the links to the site |
| Village Gal | Posted – 7/13/2007 7:44:09 AM | show profile Make a web site, scan in the clips, make it easy for the editors. |
| chucho | Posted – 7/13/2007 10:56:44 AM | show profile Sending PDFs is not the best way to go about it, but there should be a way to reduce the size of the PDFs. I would avoid the use of big-attachment services (like my favorite: mailbigfile.com) simply because you're "tasking" your potential employer to go to a site and download your files (you should avoid putting people to task when you're supposed to be making their lives easier). Also keep in mind these sites often have a time-limit for downloading, so not only are you tasking your potential client, you're giving them a deadline to do it. I just had this problem with a contact where I was trying to send him a 10MB Powerpoint summary and he didn't get to it before the seven days that the attachment was available for download with the free service.) I ended up just uploading the PP slides to my website, which is what I should have done from the start. (I am a first (and last) time Powerpoint user.) Best thing to do is create a website. It's much easier for a person to click a link in an email with your story popping up than to send them to a website to download your PDfs. (Assuming, of course, their IT systems department has allowed them to go to a website for downloading files. You never know what websites will be blocked internally.) Village Gal has the right idea, however if you're having problems with your PDFs being too large to send in one email, you may find yourself with a problem that your scans are too big (taking forever to appear). It sounds like you need a primer on file-size optimization. Acrobat Pro makes down-sampling PDFs easy, though there might also be freeware that does this as well. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 7/13/2007 7:35:42 PM | show profile There are still people who don't like or are firewalled off from messages with attachments. In my signature, I have links to 4 of my stories that are online. (Have to keep checking because sometimes they get archived or whatever) I always say "Links to a few of my stories follow at the bottom of this email. I'd be happy to send you a resume and clips." |
