What I Can and I Can’t Do For Writers As A Writer

Every once in a while, I’ll get an email from a freelance writer that asks me to do something I can’t or don’t do. It might be in the form of a pitch to write for me, or it might be a CV to… Well, I really don’t know why someone would send me a writing CV out of blue, but they do.

Well, let’s go over for my abilities, services and well, capabilities about the matter:

I can’t hire you as a writer.

I am a writer. I’m a one-person business. I’m not an agency, so I can’t hire you as a writer.

I can’t find you work.

Learning to write great pitches, differentiating yourself and landing jobs are things you have to do yourself. I can offer you advice on how to do what, but I can’t feed you jobs.

Yes, I might refer work to writers, but those will be the writers whose work I know well. In other words, one semi-customized email from you won’t get you referral work from me.

I’m open to business partnerships.

If you want to be my researcher:

• I can be your proofreader or social media manager.
• I can be a brainstorming partner, offer career management tips, and I can help you become more productive.
• I can also be your virtual assistant.

So we can exchange services.

I don’t accept guest posts on this blog, unless….

Unless you are John Grisham. Or Kathryn Bigelow. What? I’m not going to turn them down!

The truth is, I am not fond of asking for guest posts because I can’t pay writers at the moment. And this blog has a very specific goal: helping writers make money while writing (about) what they love. So asking writers to write for free doesn’t sit well with me.

If you are in love with my blog and my writing, I can write for you too, and that will be payment. Eye for an eye in a positive context. Go over the content on my site, how I format things and the style. Then send me a pitch. But as of this post, yours might be the first “outside” post ever.

And of course I’ll promote the hell out of the post. Duh!

But still, go pitch that idea to a publication that pays first.

I help with social media.

I offer help with social media. If you have a specific question, shoot. The free mentoring is all over the blog posts. Email me, or tweet me a question, and I’ll gladly answer.

I mentor.

I offer mentoring. Most writers I know have a strong support group, me included. Some of these are free FB groups. Some of these are private FB groups I was invited to join after purchasing an awesome course. I run two writing groups myself:

Writers Helping Writers    Writers help each other pretty much everything writing-related. However, I try to keep this group about non-fiction

Logline Buddies Logline Buddies is where you come for fiction-related questions, especially to fix your loglines.

Again, email me, or tweet me a question, and I’ll gladly answer. If you’re not following me on Twitter, I’m @zoeyclark.

But if you need more time and attention, you can hire me as a mentor. E-mail me for my fees.

I provide script reading and coverage.

Yes, you can hire me to read your script. However, even though I follow the industry, I am not in it yet. So I’m not going to give you a pass, consider, or recommend.

But I have read and watched a lot. Like really a lot. And I am always studying structure, format, subtext, dialogue and beyond. So if you are new to screenwriting, you can benefit from my expertise.

I haven’t won anything yet, but I was asked for a treatment after a pitch. I was a semi-finalist with a TV pilot, and a feature of mine got a Consider from a SpecScout reader.

The advantage of working with me is that I’ll do my best to see your story through your eyes. I also answer follow-up questions. E-mail me for at pinartarhan@windowslive.com for my fees.

If you want someone more experienced, I can gladly refer you to the names and companies below. I have worked with them at least once, and I still use them whenever I need professional reading.

(I don’t get a commission for recommending these people and companies.)

Lucy V Hay

Coverage Ink

Selling Your Screenplay

SpecScout

So there you go. I hope I could help. : )