Overcoming fear of rejection - it’s amazing what might happen!

Writers, like anyone else, are afraid.  We are most afraid of rejection, but if you don’t ask, you never know what might happen.  Case in point:  I have a contract for a book on starting your own business.  Easy for me to write, with my backgroiund, but the publisher wants me to gather up some "case studies."  Ten of them, in fact.  In other words, I have to conquer my fear of rejection and get out there and ask people to submit interviews.  I don’t know ten people in different fields, so I started to think about people who might have some expertise in certain areas, and who might be willing to share.

Now, this was a total leap of faith, because I didn’t know if I could get all of these people to say yes, but I was on a tight deadline, so I had to just plunge in.  Of all the people I asked, ALL said yes.  This included some friends (easy ones first):, but I also had some pretty big people in the book world that I asked.  For example:

Kathyrn Hendershot-Hurd, author of Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results

June Walker, author of Self-Employed Tax Solutions.  She wrote up a great description of how she started her business, and then she gave advice on keeping tax records.

And Larina Kase, author of The Confident Speaker.  She was very busy, but she agreed to a half hour interview and I got both her personal story and her advice on conquering fear.  Wow! 

Here is what I’ve learned from this experience.

First, get your "gumption" up and just ask. 

Set out exactly what you want the person to do.  Then make it easy for them to do it (like interviewing a busy person).  Be prepared with EVERYTHING (including a recorder, for that interview). 

Follow up to make sure what you have written is approved.  Even the slightest change might be an issue with someone. 

Finally, when you are done working with someone, ASK for a TESTIMONIAL or recommendation.  The more of these you accumulate, the higher will be your credibility.  Get going on this.

AND, don’t forget to include these people in a blog.  After all, a link is a link, and we all need them. 

Be sure to say "thanks" and mean it.  It’s kind of hard to express thanks via email, but you’ll figure it out. 

Again, don’t be afraid to ask - you never know what might happen!