Are you serious? It’s pretty easy to tell.

I get emails and LinkedIn messages from random people all the time.

They often purport to want to invest in my (one-person) business or offer me some kind of paid service for authors. Yeah, right. Those are pretty easy to see through.

But sometimes they appear to want to hire me as an author coach, editor, or ghostwriter.

Those could be five- to six-figure opportunities. So I don’t ignore them.

How I can tell if you’re serious

I’m honestly going to give you simple instructions on capturing my interest. It’s not complicated.

1. Tell me where you found out about me. “Your friend Megan recommended I contact you.” Or “I read your blog post on writing a book proposal and I can see you have just the skills I need.”
2. Tell me what your book is about. “I’m considering writing a book on customer experience” or “I have drafted a book on imposter syndrome.” I won’t judge you if your idea is ill-formed — hey, that’s what I’m here to help with. But unless you have at least some idea of what your book is about, there’s no point in our talking.
3. Have a web site and a real email address. If you’re trying to build influence, you ought to have at least a minimal website. I’ll check it out to see who you are. And it really makes a difference if your email comes from that site. All the scam emails these days seem to come from gmail. If your email does, too, I’m not going to be impressed. The site is optional, but goes a long way towards improving your credibility.
4. Have a fleshed out LinkedIn profile. In contrast to the email and web site, this is obligatory (and free). If you’re not on LinkedIn, you don’t exist — and I don’t work with nonexistent people. I will check out your profile and your background; if you’re a middle manager at a big company or a freelance consultant, I’d be interested in your ideas, but if you’re a retail clerk at The Gap, I doubt I can help you. I also expect you to have a profile picture; it makes me profoundly uneasy to work with faceless individuals.
5. Post worthwhile stuff. Real writers have probably written a bunch of posts worth reading. They might be on Substack, Medium, or LinkedIn. Or you might have a newsletter. If you write, you’re more likely to be a writer. If you don’t write where people can see you, why should I take your seriously?

Perhaps you think I’m “profiling” people. Guilty. I don’t care about your gender, your age, the country you come from, the color of your skin, your area of expertise, or how good-looking you are. But I do care if you take yourself seriously enough to have ideas, be in LinkedIn, write, and post things. If you don’t, why should I take you seriously?

I’m generous

I give lots of free advice to serious people. I’ll set up time to talk to you. It might turn into a gig for me, or it just might turn you into a friend who thinks highly of me.

That’s not a waste of my time, regardless of whether you become a client.

But you’ll get the cold shoulder if you don’t match this profile. I don’t owe you anything. But you owe it to yourself to get serious before you even think of yourself as a potential author.