An Easy Way to Increase Your Chances of Getting Published

{flickr photo by: CosmoPolitician}

A Boot Camp Success Story

This weekend drained me. Instead of biking or catching up on my reading, I did something insanely crazy.

I signed for a weekend boot camp.

And no this one did not consist of me dropping down and giving anyone 20.

I signed for a writer’s boot camp.

What I Learned from a Freelance Writing Boot Camp

On top of the fact that 5 hours a day learning about making money from freelance writing is tiring, but not as boring as you’d think, I learned something life changing.

The thing that I learned ended up paying for the class and then some.

Here’s the mind blogging info:

After you query a publication, wait 12 days and then call the editor.

This was shocking to me because me and my boot camp classmates were always told that editors were too busy and then an email should suffice.

Most of us believed that two weeks of a non-response meant a rejection.

So we didn’t even attempt it.

For me, it was all of the above and the added fear that calling an editor, after I had been warned repeatedly about how busy they were, was not an option.

But after I took the class, I wasn’t so sure.

I figured I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. If the editor was already passing on my pitch, then I would just get the answer I was expecting.

Guess what happened?

The editor was super nice, thanked me for taking the time to call and offered me the assignment.

I can’t help, but wonder what would have happened if I assumed a non-response was a rejection. And I wondered how many other queries might have been accepted had I faced my fears and contacted the editor.

It’s a lesson learned.

Are you already doing this? How has calling editors helped you get more assignments? Do you think that this only applies to some publications?