Your attitude toward others is 99% of the game in the writing world. If you are an author who thinks that they already know what I'm about to say, please bear with me and read this message anyway.
I recently received a request from a webmaster. They wanted me to write free copy for their writers website. This website eventually will offer new writers the opportunity to 'pay' for a spot on their website in the hopes that publishers and editors will read the work and then ask the author to write for them. (sigh) Now I know that this has been tried numerous times before and it just doesn't work. Editors have no problem getting quality writing and authors should never pay to have their work put on a website. I politely sent an email to the webmaster that requested him to take my name off his email list. In return, I got a really rude and sarcastic email telling me that if I wasn't interesting in participating in their project I shouldn't put my name and contact information on my own website. Interesting. I wrote a polite reply back but the whole thing left a really bad taste in my mouth. I will never write for this site and I certainly will warn others against it if someone asks me specifically about them by name. (No, I won't use the name of the group here - sufficient it say that an author should NOT ever pay someone in the hope of being published. That is one of the oldest scams in the book.)
Just remember this -- how you approach an other author, publisher or editor will flavor that person's reaction to your words for a long time to come. As Christians we should take the high road and attempt to be kind to those who might not know better. In any case, a kind word goes a long way to build a bridge -- and you just might need that bridge later in your career.
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