I don’t know about you, but when someone sends a mass email/message asking them to look at their work xoxo, my first response is WTF?

I received a DM…

It read:
Hi I'm a Poet, and I was wondering if you could take a look at my poems at xyz?
Thank you! Much love.

Something like that.

My eyebrow shot to the ceiling.

First of all, I don't write poems. what makes you think I'm qualified to judge someone's poems?

Second, who are you?

Three, rude?

Now, it did pique my interest. I guess that worked. I went and took a look. I am no poem connoisseur, but there are some poems that really move me. Then I saw their other posts saying how so-and-so gave a review of their poems. Cool.

I mean, I have nothing against starting out writers of any medium. I think it’s an incredibly hard work and every push, every encouragement is a godsend. Yet this poet wasn’t going to get anything from me.

Usually I would ignore requests like this, but as I said, I was interested.

"Hi, so… how did you find me?”

Was my response. If they read the first line of my Instagram, they would’ve seen that I’m NO poet. I write and draw. Sometimes I combine and draw comics.

“I was just reaching out to writers in New Zealand, hoping they like my work!

Translation: they just googled some writers/followed some hashtags.

Yeah… nah, you’re not getting anything from me.

I will give them that they had courage to fire a mass email/message, but this is not how you ask for favors.

So… how to ask for favours?

Say their name.
Put something in the message that shows you know something about their work. Come on. Even if you haven’t read my book, at least know the title of my book.
Say why you think they are great for what you’re asking. For example, this poet wanting me to review/give feedback on her poem. Nope. Say something like “Hey, I’ve always loved your work on ____, I was wondering if you could give me some feedback on ____ as you’re quite known in the field of doing XYZ”
Doesn’t have to be Tit-for-Tat, but it would be good if I saw on their page them also shouting out for other authors/writers or writing reviews too.

If you don’t get a reply back, don’t take it personal! People are busy, or they may not be into your work. Different strokes… all that, right? Having courage is good, but let’s go about it right way!