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Topic: When to ask about that Spec piece?
| Author | Message |
| megmuck | Posted – 4/14/2008 12:36:58 PM | show profile Hi folks - Here's a question about *another* spec piece. I've been sporadically trading e-mails with an editor at a city weekly paper for several months; he had been encouraging me to send ideas, but hadn't found The One yet. Finally, I found a topic that he liked, so he asked me to write about it on spec (bleah!). Well, I put the piece together within two days after he asked for it and submitted it a week ago. I feel a little antsy about it because it's a topical piece (a comparison of a political candidate and a TV character), and I think I have a fair chance of selling it to another alternative paper if he doesn't want it. So, when should I inquire? It's taken him at least a month to get back to me in the past. I don't want to wait that long this time -- but I have a feeling I'll ruin my chances if I bother him. And here I was thinking I was getting better at marketing... m. |
| candylilacs | Posted – 4/14/2008 12:44:44 PM | show profile I'm a big believer in two weeks. Then the follow-up e-mail. If no response to that in a few days, then you call and say, "Hi, this is megmuck, I hope the XXX piece is what you're looking for." You should get an idea from that. If it's lukewarm, I would consider it a wash. (oooo my metaphors worked!) Good luck, c. ------ http://www.mswritesguide.blogspot.com |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 4/14/2008 1:22:28 PM | show profile Gah!!! Why do you let the editor hold all the cards? You just wrote on spec. At the very least, he owes you a prompt answer. Phone today and say, "Hello. Just wanted to check you got the piece and to see if you plan to use it because if you're not I'd like to try and sell it elsewhere." In the mean time, you send it out to the other possible places. It is highly unlikely, they're all going to want it. If they do, sell it to the first taker and pitch other brilliant ideas to the late bidders. You will look like a hot, in-demand writer. Stop waiting around for others to get back to you. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 4/14/2008 2:11:06 PM | show profile Hmmm, this is the second spec piece you've written, albeit for different publications. If you're comfortable with that, more power to ya, but I wonder if maybe your time wouldn't be better spent going after contracts? Just a thought. It may have been quick, but enough "quickies" add up to hours that you could be writing pieces for which you know you'll get paid. At any rate, I'd call. |
| megmuck | Posted – 4/14/2008 3:28:24 PM | show profile I was blindsided OK, I've been acting like a ninny - but frankly, I'd never been asked to write "on spec" until these two requests came to me inside of a week of each other -- and I've been freelancing for over ten years! I've *always* gotten contracts or no's. I hadn't fully considered their effect on my life. I'm also struggling with the fact that I've never worked in-house for a publication, and I don't think I completely understand them. I have some steady clients I've been working with for years -- a nonprofit newsletter, a University web publication -- but they seem to operate in a very different manner from magazines and papers. Ah, the joys of working with dying media... m. |
