5 Easy Actions That Make Freelance Writers Love You (and Want to Work With You)
It’s not hard to build a positive relationship with a freelance writer or a publicist, and vice versa. Yet as in romantic relationships, published stories and so much more in life, the little things matter. Take note of these five things that will make freelancers love working with you—and hence, want to do so more often.
1. Send images via Dropbox.
I feel like a broken record saying this, but please, don’t send images as attachments. In long email chains, they’re hard to find; they clog up our inboxes; they often get distorted; and it’s just plain annoying to have to download multiple images individually and then ask for all captions and credits separately. When you do send images, please label them appropriately with what they are, and include photo credits in the file name to ensure they don’t get lost. This makes it so much easier for us to share these photos with our editors, and we’ll love you for it.
2. Read our emails.
When I reach out with a media request, I always try to include the name of the publication, a link to it, and what issue or date it will be published in, to my knowledge. Yet often as a response, I get asked those same questions again, making it clear that the publicist has only skimmed my request. Those kinds of responses happen all the time and turn me off because they seem so robotic. Other times, I’ll ask for a particular source to answer one specific question, and the publicist will respond by asking me to send along my questions. (What gives here?) We are all busy and trying to work as efficiently as possible, so taking a few extra seconds to read an email in its entirety can go a long way in building a positive working relationship with a freelance writer.
3. Follow through on what you promise.
If I’m working on a roundup piece, I will often send out emails to every destination/hotel (or whatever it might be) at once, with as much notice as possible, providing a specific day and time for a deadline. Too often, I get a response from a PR team saying they’ll have the requested information to me by deadline, but then the deadline passes and I hear nothing. Google Calendar is an excellent way to monitor and manage deadlines, and it’s also easy and free—so this doesn’t make sense to me. If you promise something, be sure to deliver on it to build trust.
4. By all means, respond.
In the same scenario as described above, help us out by letting us know you received the request. It helps to know that you are aware of it and working on it, rather than no response at all (which can lead us to the dreaded task of having to find a replacement for a roundup, that an editor then has to re-approve).
5. Be patient.
I get that you’re excited for potential client coverage in a piece—but don’t appear desperate. Sending one email, then following up every other day for the next two weeks asking if I have a fit for your client does not lead me to light up when I see your name in my inbox. Trust me: I will let you know if I have a fit. If there’s a good angle there, I would love to work with you on a piece—but in due time. It can take weeks, months or longer to find the right opportunity for coverage. Understanding that and staying in polite touch (say, every couple weeks) not only keeps your client top of mind for me, but also helps us build a positive working relationship.
So tell me: Publicists, how do you keep track of deadlines? Do you use a calendar with reminders? What might be going on behind the scenes with missed deadlines that I’m not aware of?
And flipping the script, what are things that freelance writers can do to win your love and affection?