When you offer your writing services you are selling yourself. If you have some notion that you are a writer and not a salesperson then carry on with your day job. If you are serious about writing for a living you are the one who is ultimately responsible for promoting your work. Taking on paid writing jobs involves selling and you are selling yourself far more intimately than if you were offering a widget or other tangible product. Writing comes from within you.
My experiences with selling go back over 20 years, so I by now I should know a thing or two. I was told once by a salesman I respected that there are three basic rules to selling:
- See the people;
- See the people; and strangely enough,
- See the people.
Being told “No” just brings you one step closer to being told “Yes”