7 Excuses to Stay in Touch with Editors and Clients
A mentoring client recently told me she was going on vacation and was wondering if being unavailable for a month would hurt her career.
Au contraire — I think a vacation is a great excuse to keep in touch with your editors. Whenever I go away, I e-mail all my editors beforehand — even ones I haven’t worked with in a while, or editors who I’ve built a relationship with but haven’t written for yet — to tell them I’ll be away and unavailable for assignments between dates X and Y.
Then, when I get back, I e-mail them all again to let them know I’m back and ready for more work if they need someone.
When I do this, I often get replies from my editors that they’ll have work for me soon.
Editors and clients typically have a stable of writers, and if you want to be the one who garners assignments, you need to be top of mind when those assignments come up so it’s you they think of.
Here are some “excuses” you may have to stay in touch with your editors and clients:
1. You’ve moved. Of course you’ll want to send all your editors your new address!
2. You have a new phone number or e-mail address. Ditto.
3. You’ll be unavailable for new work for a while. For example, if you’re going on vacation, moving, on maternity leave, or booked up with work.
4. You scored a writing coup you want to share. For instance, you broke into an impressive market or won an award.
5. You have an opening in your schedule. I like to let my editors know when I’ve finished a batch of deadlines and am open for new assignments.
6. You have a new website you want to share. Send editors and clients there to get a look at your clips, client list, and more.
7. You’ve just added a bunch of clips to your writer site. This shows that you’re a successful freelance writer who gets lots of work — and shows your editors and clients what you can do!
I typically write to my editors every month or two — not every single week. Just enough to remind them I still exist without coming off as a stalker.
What excuses do you use to stay in touch with your editors and clients? Share your insights in the Comments below! [lf]
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Feb 23, 2012 Advice, Editors, Marketing, Networking
These are great suggestions, Linda. It’s so important to keep yourself top-of-mind with your clients. I send out handwritten cards twice a year, usually at Thanksgiving to thank them for their business and in the spring just as a friendly hello. The cards I choose are eye-catching and unique (and how often do you get a handwritten card in the mail?), so they are often saved, propped up on the desk or pinned to the bulletin board to be admired. I consistently get at least a project call or two within a few weeks of these mailings.
Jessica, what a GREAT idea! I’m totally stealing it.
Do you put your business card in the cards? There’s some controversy over whether that’s a smart business decision or just tacky.
I’ve been wondering the same about including b-cards in mailings that are more “social” in tone (as opposed to an LOI or similar). Looking forward to hearing what others think.
I never include business cards in the ‘Thank you’ type cards I send, but I ‘do’ try to follow up with something more business related within 2-3 weeks to make that connection.
Thanks for your input, Scott!
I agree with Jessica. I send holiday cards around Thanksgiving thanking them for giving me the opportunity to write for them (with a business card included) of course. I also send a handwritten thank you note if they’ve referred new clients to me.
Steal away! I don’t put my business card in the mailer. Sometimes I’ll write my phone number and a note saying “Call if there’s anything I can do for you” or something along those lines.
Good to know, and nice approach…thanks!
The only tip I would add is to stay in touch with editors not only when you (the writer) experiences change, but also when the editors do. I have reached out to new editors, or editors transitioning departments, just to say a friendly “hello” — presenting myself as someone who has written for that department before and just wanting to introduce myself.
I’ve found that having some “institutional knowledge” can help when the editor is navigating new waters…and they’ve always seemed grateful for a writer who might understand the nuances of their publication/department, sometimes even better than they do!
Great idea! I actually mentored one of my editors who wanted to go freelance. She ended up getting another editing job and gave me more assignments!
Excellent post Linda, and great addition, Mikalee! I’m in touch with some editors on Twitter, which I hope help keeps me in mind, but emailing is something I have been terrible about as, very Britishly, I never want to bother anyone and always assume an editor I’ve worked with once won’t be interested in the details of my career. In fact, I’d be interested to know if there’s a cultural divide when it comes to emails of the “just wanted to let you know I was published in the NYT” variety.
I am going to make more of an effort in future, though.
Hmm…I couldn’t tell you if there’s a cultural divide there. I don’t send long e-mails, though…just quick notes about anything new.
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Fantastic article. As someone who’s been on both sides of the game (An editor receiving tons of freelance pitches/emails, and now a freelancer sending those pitches), I know it’s a very fine line between pestering and keeping in touch. Dropping an email every few weeks with some sort of info (new clips, new address, vacation, etc.), is a great way to stay in touch without coming off as annoying at all.
Good to hear it from an editor. Thank you!