Oh everyone loves a rant post don't they? I however, shall keep it short and sweet as I don't want this to become a moany negative blog. But I recently read a piece by another blogger and fellow journalist which got my goat. It basically was complaining about the many young hopeful writers she gets emails from, asking for 'free advice'.
She says 'it's rude to pick someone's brain for free' unless it's 'mutually beneficial', because despite helping people out occasionally, she also gets paid to do such things and that she'd probably give them a wrong answer anyway. I find attitudes like this somewhat irksome, as when I started out in journalism, I was advised to get in touch with as many industry professionals as possible. Some of them ignored me - but a few were kind enough to reply and I won't forget that. One particular journalist was quite brutal in her criticism of my work, but then finished with saying she thought I had talent, which spurred me on to pursue a career I might not have otherwise done. Another editor whose work I admired took the time to write me a long email about breaking into beauty writing, which proved to be very useful advice.
Now at the grand old age of 29, I'm starting to get young writers e-mailing me for feedback on their work, which I'm more than happy to give. I appreciate what this other blogger says, that writers don't always have time to reply, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's rude for anyone to ask at all. As long as you're polite, courteous and patient, then it's not a massive ask to presume an established expert in the field you want to go into might give you a few pointers here and there. After all, it doesn't take long to send a few sentences or glance over an article.
From my own experience, if someone is truly passionate about what they do, they would enjoy talking about it and get a lot out of using their wealth of experience to help others. To say it has to be 'mutually beneficial' really depresses me, as it paints a really sad picture of our industry. Established writers should take it upon themselves to nurture and mentor growing talent - and it may actually benefit them in the long run (you don't know where these people might end up in say, five or 10 years time).
I think professional people - especially women- in industries should be helping each other up the ladder and not looking for what they might be getting out of it. Yes we might be too busy to respond sometimes, but if the person is polite and courteous, there's something really fulfilling in replying to someone and getting a response along the lines of 'thank you so much, it really means a lot.' And as most of us learned as kids back in Primary School - there's just something nice about helping others isn't there?
She says 'it's rude to pick someone's brain for free' unless it's 'mutually beneficial', because despite helping people out occasionally, she also gets paid to do such things and that she'd probably give them a wrong answer anyway. I find attitudes like this somewhat irksome, as when I started out in journalism, I was advised to get in touch with as many industry professionals as possible. Some of them ignored me - but a few were kind enough to reply and I won't forget that. One particular journalist was quite brutal in her criticism of my work, but then finished with saying she thought I had talent, which spurred me on to pursue a career I might not have otherwise done. Another editor whose work I admired took the time to write me a long email about breaking into beauty writing, which proved to be very useful advice.
Now at the grand old age of 29, I'm starting to get young writers e-mailing me for feedback on their work, which I'm more than happy to give. I appreciate what this other blogger says, that writers don't always have time to reply, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it's rude for anyone to ask at all. As long as you're polite, courteous and patient, then it's not a massive ask to presume an established expert in the field you want to go into might give you a few pointers here and there. After all, it doesn't take long to send a few sentences or glance over an article.
From my own experience, if someone is truly passionate about what they do, they would enjoy talking about it and get a lot out of using their wealth of experience to help others. To say it has to be 'mutually beneficial' really depresses me, as it paints a really sad picture of our industry. Established writers should take it upon themselves to nurture and mentor growing talent - and it may actually benefit them in the long run (you don't know where these people might end up in say, five or 10 years time).
I think professional people - especially women- in industries should be helping each other up the ladder and not looking for what they might be getting out of it. Yes we might be too busy to respond sometimes, but if the person is polite and courteous, there's something really fulfilling in replying to someone and getting a response along the lines of 'thank you so much, it really means a lot.' And as most of us learned as kids back in Primary School - there's just something nice about helping others isn't there?
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