On March 14 of this year I received an e-mail from another photographer referring to himself as “The King of Covers.” The message went on to discuss the number of covers he has photographed and that he was reading my website and wishes to contribute to it.
The first problem was that the e-mail did not even come from him; it came from someone else who is evidentially sending out e-mails on his behalf.
The second problem was that it read like, and most likely was, a cut-and-paste form e-mail. Meaning the same e-mail was probably sent out to multiple people just with the names changed. It was not addressed to me nor was there any attempt at personalization expect inputting my website’s name (and a poorly done job at that).
However the best thing they did was include a way to UNSUBSCRIBE so I would never have to receive an e-mail from them again.
Why would I have someone write for me who couldn’t be bothered to personally write and send me their own e-mail?
Now place this scenario onto your own pitches. Are you making simple mistakes that could be cleaned up to give the recipient reason to respond?
James Patrick
IG @jpatrickphoto
jamespatrick.com
