December 21, 2008
Ronnie,
Your a la carte service works well for me because it allows me to work at my own pace rather than try to meet a deadline. A la carte service also fits my budget.
Thanks again,
Ron T.
December 13, 2008
Dear Writer’s Relief,
Your team has been so encouraging over the last year. You inspired me to keep at it when the going was tough—that is vitally important. After I stopped submitting in September, I got a few final rejections, but one was handwritten and urged me to keep trying. It said—DON’T GIVE UP! So I decided, again, to give the British market one last go. I quickly changed my spelling and…tried two. One was a publishing firm in Kent, and they’ve accepted my novel! I still can’t believe it…And, it’s largely thanks to your encouragement and presentation! They’ve decided to call it Sweet Dreams and they hope to have it on the market early in the New Year.
Kind regards,
Roberta D.
December 3, 2008
Dear Ronnie,
Writer’s Relief did exactly what they promised. In just a few days, my story was sent to 27 publications, followed by two acceptances and a request to see more of my work.
Thank you,
Mary R.
November 16, 2008
Dear Ronnie,
I am a new client with Writer’s Relief and am very pleased with the services rendered thus far. Writer’s Relief so effectively targeted the appropriate journals for my work that I received an acceptance within one week of mailing my story out! I see Writer’s Relief as a terrific tool for helping me to enter the marketplace and develop relationships with editors that I can eventually nurture myself—what a fabulous service. Thank you, Writer’s Relief!
Sincerely,
Vanessa H.
October 16, 2008
Dear Ronnie,
It was back in February, I believe, when I first sent my work for Writer’s Relief’s Review Board. I was thrilled to be accepted. Since then the floodgates have opened. I have had five poems accepted, one of them a semifinalist for the Nimrod annual poetry competition. I never thought I would enjoy the degree of positive response so quickly, but, of course, I didn’t know then how incredible the team is at Writer’s Relief. They have been outstanding in getting my work to the right publications and editors. An equally wonderful surprise is the camaraderie and genuine caring I have experienced. I feel I have some real friends in the trenches with me, always encouraging me. Writer’s Relief is a terrific service and well worth the expense. I recommend it to any writer who wants to get published.
Sincerely,
Robert G.
October 5, 2008
Dear Ronnie:
Since using your service, I was able to get together with four publishers who promptly accepted five different poems of mine, restoring my faith in the value of the submission process. As a result I am developing a way to be in touch with writers’ markets throughout the English-speaking world, in other words, outside the U.S. I’m starting with Canada. Bless you and your wonderful workers, Ronnie!
W.E. R.
September 29, 2008
Many thanks to Writer’s Relief for their helpful suggestions re: sending my poems. I received three acceptances from mailing to 30 journals. This is an excellent result in such a competitive market. I appreciate the good marketing advice I was given by Writer’s Relief.
Ellen K.
September 20, 2008
Dear Writer’s Relief Staff:
I have received editorial and agent-procurement assistance from Writer’s Relief for about two years. The service has been very satisfactory in every respect. To me, personally, the proofreaders have been very helpful, especially Ms. Joi, who has shown exceptional editorial ability.
Ilmars B.
September 18, 2008
My need is to write and that does not leave me time to research the publishing market or keep track of all the business associated with sending out poems. The Writer’s Relief staff has allowed me to publish. They have listened to me and surprised me by very quickly understanding what I am doing. Often they can explicate what I have done far better than I can. The people I have worked with have been exceptionally skilled and efficient. But what has made their help and support delightful has been their humor. Along the way I have also learned of their compassion toward others, both clients and members of the staff.
I have had, and am having, poems published in a number of journals that I knew nothing about before receiving help from Writer’s Relief.
Alita P.
September 18, 2008
Dear Ronnie:
I have recommended Writer’s Relief to several writer friends as an effective way to get work out into the world in a professional way. I have had 16 poems published so far. Your staff is knowledgeable and helpful, and their process keeps me organized.
Judy B.
September 17, 2008
I have been a client of Writer’s Relief for nearly two years. Thanks to your services, I was able to get an essay accepted by a first-rate literary journal without spending several days collecting addresses and preparing pitch letters. I highly recommend your services to writers who are just getting started and to those who are established, but seeking different markets for their work.
Sincerely yours,
Kim H.
September 15, 2008
Dear Ronnie,
I’ve done two packets with you and had two poems taken. I was a finalist in a prestigious poetry prize contest, I wouldn’t even have entered had an editor not called me and asked me to submit—an editor whose magazine I wouldn’t have sent work to, had you not sent me their way. It’s slow going getting poems out there—and, of course, I hope to have more taken next time—but I’m glad you are helping me with the legwork of finding places to submit to. There’s a psychological burden you’ve lifted from me as well—it helps to let you guys think about where to send—not that I haven’t sent to places on my own, but somehow it frees me to allot that job to you in my mind—and therefore to rest more inside and just do my work.
So, thank you for what you do.
All best,
Kate F.
September 13, 2008
To Ronnie Smith:
This cycle I’ve had work accepted byTightrope and California Quarterly—two magazines I hadn’t even known about before. With Writer’s Relief submission process, it is a lot more efficient and even enjoyable. The staff is smart and supportive. Even though I had published in magazines before, I dreaded opening my mail. Now rejection notes feel like a normal part of the process of finding the right venues for my work.
Hilary S.
September 4, 2008
Dear Writer’s Relief Staff,
I write to express my thanks to Writer’s Relief for the great package that walked me through the preparation and mailings (yesterday and today) to the 30 agents. When the preparation was completed—the outline, book, synopsis, and query—it looked professional, and I have great joy and thanksgiving that Writer’s Relief taught me how to send out a state-of-the-art inquiry, at least that is the way I perceived the mailings. I am so very thankful.
A.S. Barnes (a la carte client)
August 18, 2008
Dear Ronnie:
I now have been a poetry client of your submission service for almost a year and can see that Writer’s Relief is producing superior results to what I could have accomplished on my own.
The bottom line is seven acceptances, by good-quality journals, three for my own poems, four for translations from the Chinese. While these numbers don’t feel overwhelming, they are a great improvement of my unassisted efforts, and, besides the strictly numeric, I have experienced many additional benefits, both educational and psychological.
For instance, I have become far more knowledgeable, thanks to Writer’s Relief, about how the system works—the odds, the protocols, the messages encoded in rejection slips. Your library of journals and guidelines, your generation of submission lists far exceeds my own research capacity. It saves me a great deal of work to have Writers’s Relief provide the cover letters, mailing labels, and duplication-ready copy for me to send out, energy I can now devote to producing new work.
The staff have been uniformly intelligent, supportive, and responsive—a great psychological benefit, because, as we know so well, writing is an isolating endeavor, and the stress of multiple rejections can be very high.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
June 14, 2008
Dear Ronnie and staff,
I just wanted to let you know how happy I am with Writer’s Relief.
The occasion is the receipt of four rejection letters, which would not normally be cause for celebration. Still, you have sent me material to prepare me for the number of rejections I’m about to receive, and I’ve been gratified by the personal nature of some of the responses. I recognize that publishing is a tough business, and that agents have to make difficult business decisions about what they feel enthusiastic for and what’s marketable.
Of the five rejections I’ve received so far, two bore indications that the synopsis and sample pages I sent were read and carefully considered. I feel I’m a strong writer, and to get a fair read of my materials is all I can ask for. I remain hopeful that the project will be picked up soon.
A couple of personal notes of my own: Simone has always been available for virtual handholding and to guide me through this process. As a “newbie,” I deeply appreciate that. Joi’s proofreading was spot-on. Over a long career, I’ve had my writing proofread hundreds of times, by many different editors, and I have to rank Joi’s work at or near the top.
Even though it’s early in the process and I’ve seen nothing but rejection—thanks to the preparations of you and the Writer’s Relief team—I feel I’m ready and that my work will get reviewed by agents who might want to see it. That’s much more than I had hoped for. I’m a happy client.
Anonymous
June 3, 2008
Dear Ronnie:
I want to summarize that my cover letter is dazzling! No, there’s no way that I could have captured EXACTLY what my book is about in so compelling a style. THIS is what I am paying for, what I believe my novel deserves. What I have been unable to give it in the year since it’s been finished. Now we’re on our way. Thank you!
Destiny K.
May 12, 2008
Dear Ronnie and staff,
I sent my nonfiction story to the 27 magazines suggested by Writer’s Relief. I was pleasantly surprised when the first response was an offer to publish in The Big Muddy, a journal of Southeast Missouri University Press. Your system really works and saves a writer valuable time. As you know my background was in television news here in Chicago for many years. I had an article published in the Chicago Sun Times back in 2000, but print is fairly new to me. The help of Writer’s Relief is greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Peter Nolan (a la carte)
April 22, 2008
Dear Ronnie and staff,
Thank you for your positive feedback and support. I was really okay with this (negative comment from an agent) because you guys have helped me publish so much. And because I do have that one nibble from a different agent.
I kept thinking what if I had just put that together without you at Writer’ Relief and hadn’t published pieces or done readings. It could have been devastating.
So I want to thank all of you guys again so much for the support you give me and I’m sure all your writers. When one gets a totally, terrible e-mail like that from an agent on a Sunday afternoon, you have to be really intact to brush it off (I think). And you guys have made me believe that I can transition from academic writing to my own personal kind of writing.
So hugs and many, many thanks all around, because you are so much more than a submission service. I can see that this is a tough process, and I am very glad not to be doing it without you.
Hugs all around,
K. M.
April 18, 2008
To Ronnie Smith:
My association with Writers Relief has borne fruit. I divide my writing life into before Writer’s Relief and after.
I have been writing for over 30 years. Before I became a client of Writer’s Relief, I never published any of my work.
I had seen Writer’s Relief advertisements in Poets and Writers but never considered them seriously until an oft-published friend shared her secret: Writer’s Relief. I was dubious, but I decided to give it a try.
A year on, I have five recent or forthcoming publications in prestigious national literary magazines. In cases where pieces have been accepted by more than one magazine, Writer’s Relief staff gives detailed advice about how to handle the delicate situation of publishing one piece in more than one venue (explaining such concepts as first North American rights, one-time rights, etc. etc.).
Writer’s Relief will send your work to 25 carefully selected magazines. If you have attained a certain level of literary craft and been accepted as their client, one or more of the publications they select for you is almost bound to accept your work. Writer’s Relief has cracked the system.
Sincerely,
Esther Lupescu
April 17, 2008
Dear Ronnie,
I acknowledge that, without the aid I received from Writer’s Relief, I never would have identified The Distillery as a target publication for my work. In fact, I had never heard of any of the 30 publications for which Writer’s Relief provided mailing labels. Thank you again for your help.
Sincerely,
Chuck T.
April 6, 2008
Dear Friends at Writer’s Relief,
My name is Christina Harlin. I was a client of Writer’s Relief in 2003 and 2004, during which time your excellent service helped me submit 150 query letters with samples of my novels to literary agents. You also helped me track and catalog 148 rejection letters until suddenly I had a choice between two interested agents. I signed with a terrific agent who really believes in me. I am delighted to say that she and I have worked diligently together, and I, at last, have a book deal with Sourcebooks and a publication date set for September 2008, for my novel, My Boss is a Serial Killer: A Tale of Murder, Romance and Filing.
The road to publication has been an arduous one, but I never would have gotten there without the help of Writer’s Relief. Could I have managed 150 submissions on my own? I doubt it! Could I have survived 148 rejections without your service? I doubt that even more. But your supportive staff and streamlined system of submissions and response-tracking made it all seem like a business venture, taking the stress and pressure out of the equation. I hate to think of what I might have missed, had I given up after rejection number 147. Writer’s Relief made sure that didn’t happen. I give you my sincerest thanks and appreciation, plus an acknowledgment on my author Web site. I hope a lot more aspiring writers come your way.
Yours truly,
Christina H.
March 10, 2008
Hello Ronnie,
The staff at Writer’s Relief has guided me to a higher level of clarity, focus, and professionalism in dealing with the business of submitting my writing.
To start with, I thought I had a cover letter pretty well figured out, but when your staff worked with me in composing a new one, I was impressed at how the changes they suggested made the letter really stand out. Then came the copy edits—an educational and humbling—experience. How could I have missed so many little details? With each piece I submitted, I received such patience from staff members who worked on my stories, especially Joi, who answered my questions in detail and with clarity.
Signing up for Writer’s Relief has given me much more than publication—I’ve received caring encouragement and an education in the business of writing. I’m no longer timid about sending out multiple submissions with Writer’s Relief at my back.
My story “Pinochle Dance” will appear in the Winter 2008 issue of The MacGuffin. Thanks, Writer’s Relief.
Wishing all the Writer’s Relief staff and the writers they assist ongoing success,
Kat S.
March 6, 2008
Hi Ronnie,
I would like to add a quick letter of reference to the pile of references you have no doubt already received.
I have only been a client for roughly six months, and, in that time, I’ve received two acceptances in magazines (admittedly, one of those was on my own) and several handwritten notes from editors requesting more work. Normally, I had enough time to submit to, at best, 5-10 journals a month, but with Writer’s Relief’s help in targeting my pieces to a more receptive publication, I am tripling and quadrupling my output, thus tripling and quadrupling my chances of being accepted! The staff has been incredibly kind and helpful, and I hope to be with them for a long time to come.
Thanks,
Todd W.
February 3, 2008
Dear Ronnie,
Your service is an excellent tool for writers. I have contracted both of my novels with The Wild Rose Press. What a fascinating journey to begin in the middle of my life!
If it weren’t for the conversations with you and your staff, the rejections from my first round of submissions, and my subsequent passion to create the most gripping query letter I could, I don’t think I would have had two publishers to choose from and handwritten notes from literary agents encouraging me to keep on writing.
Writer’s Relief pushed my creativity up a notch. You forced me to represent my work in the best possible way. I will always be grateful for your input, and I would recommend your service to anyone who is serious about this craft.
I have no idea how many books I have left to write or how many books I will sell. That doesn’t matter. This is a personal success for me, and Writer’s Relief helped me achieve a goal that many only dream of attaining.
Thank you again!
M. Flagg
Author of Retribution! and Consequences
Published by The Wild Rose Press
January 7, 2008
Ronnie:
As an experienced writer and editor, I can recommend Writer’s Relief to both beginners in the publishing effort and those who have been fighting the battle for years. You have an excellent and well-vetted list of agents and also some healthy realism—I recently acquired an agent for a book with help from Writers Relief’s staff. It took a lot of queries, as you warned me it would, but you were there through the whole process whenever I had questions or concerns. In 50 years of writing, editing, publishing, and running a journalism school, I’ve developed some skepticism—but I have nothing but good things to say about the folks at Writer’s Relief. You’re good people.
William B.
