7 ways to annoy an academic freelance writer

Academic freelance writing can be a hard career to build. When you want a mentor to learn from, or someone’s help who has been in this industry longer than you have, you need to remember a few things. Most professionals are very busy, and some are easily annoyed. There will always be those few who love helping people and open up to you, just as there will always be those who think it’s a waste of time and hate bothering to answer your questions. You probably won’t know who is whom until you start contacting them, so there are certain ways you should go about doing this.

How NOT to Contact a Freelance Writer

In any industry, there are successful people, beginners, and people everywhere in between. For you to become one of the successful, you might be curious about their daily lives, their tips and ways of coping with rejection. There are plenty of friendly, helpful people out there, but you still have to contact them in the right way.

1. Don’t mess up their name. This doesn’t include typos, but you should be proofreading your email before clicking send anyways. Make sure you aren’t addressing a writer as a Mrs. when they aren’t married or aren’t female. It’s always better to use their full name if you don’t know him/her in person.
2. Avoid asking too many questions. A professional freelance writer is busy, and even if they want to help, they can’t hold your hand the whole way. Just ask your most burning, important ones.
3. Don’t insult them. This should be obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people will write passive aggressively or say just plain mean things in an effort to get them to respond.
4. Don’t forget to add something personal. If you start with something specific, you admire about them. Or if you remember from some of their work, they’re more likely to want to help you.
5. Freelance writers are annoyed if you ask a stupid question. If it’s something you could easily read off their blog or find out from their bio under an article, then don’t bother asking.
6. Don’t bring up controversial subjects regarding academics unless you really know what you’re talking about. Even then, some freelance writers don’t want to talk unless you’re on the same side of the issue as they are.
7. Don’t invite them to co-write something with you. Unless you already know them of have worked with them before, let them approach you.