If you are an editor and you are like me, most of your business comes from word of mouth and networking.
Ah, but one has to start somewhere.
That is where the cold email came in for me.
I periodically send out cold emails to biochemistry department chairs and/or graduate program directors at research universities to let them know of the service I can provide to their graduate students who are working on their theses or dissertations. I have gotten a few bites of interest doing this. Most of the time I hear crickets, even after following up two weeks later.
As for negative responses…I can count on the fingers of one hand the number that I have gotten. But, of course, it never feels good to get one. I count it as a blow to my editing business as well as my self-confidence. Today one university warned me that it has a no-solicitation policy. Oh great, so I’m in legal trouble now, too?
*sigh*
How about you? If you are an editor and you wrote a cold email to a person or organization, did you ever receive a negative reply? What did you do about it?