Ok, I just got an email pitch that gave me a headache.

I see a lot of pitches in my line of work, some of them exceptionally good and others that are, well, not so much. I am always astounded at how often people think they can just throw something out there and hope for the best. Let me be clear here: hope is not a marketing plan.

I respect the fact that many people pitching may not be native English speakers, which is completely fine. Candidly I’ve seen some exceptional pitches from folks who’ve never even set foot on US soil. This isn’t about whether or not you can write English, it’s about whether you choose to. Professionalism shouldn’t come and go with your mood swing or energy level. Not feeling totally fired up to do your own marketing today? Too bad. Most authors don’t wake up that way anyway. They sit down at their desk, suck it up, and do the work. If you want people to take you seriously as an author, think beyond your own goals and your own world.

Really, at the end of the day it’s about respect. If you don’t respect the person on the receiving end of your email to spell check or language check your note, then why should they bother to respond to you?

What got me so fired up about this today? Check out the pitch I just got. And yes, names and other identifying information has been removed to protect the super slacker:

“Hello,

I am in the middle of finishing my first book in Nutrition ,may be  around 1 to 3 months to be finished.

I am writing to you to offer you this book for sell as I do not have neither the fame nor the money to publish it and find the people to read it ,So I thought that you might be interested to buy the book and this might be benefit for each other and for the people who need to read in Nutrition as 

I benefit from the money.

your benefit by both the money and fame. 

people benefit the information in the book. 

 that is it if you are interested in email me for more details”