HELP! I Sound like a stalker.

[MarcRobinson]

Hi guys, sorry for the clickbait style title

How do you contact an artist you admire without sounding like a weirdo? Or a scammer? Or a weirdo scammer? Or someone who likes to wear other peoples faces as a mask?

I'm wanting to reach out to a book-cover artist who is doing really well in the industry. He lives only a couple of hours from me and it'd be cool if I could buy him a coffee and pick his brains. But every time I go to write the email I get cold feet. I'm worried I'll come across like someone who shouldn't be allowed around other people.

Have you guys had any experiences with this (both positive or negative)?

For context, this person isn't "Instagram Famous" so might not get many people contacting him.

Maybe I'm over-thinking this. Which, lets be honest, for an artist is extremely likely!

[Robyn Hepburn]

@MarcRobinson Hi! It's great that you've found someone near(ish) to you with whom you resonate. I do hope you get the opportunity to chat with him.
My only recommendation would be to be open and honest when you email - be genuine.
Maybe it will help to imagine you're writing the email you would like to receive from someone else. Afterall, I'm sure that he has other artists he admires and would like to meet up with, so will understand where you're coming from - unless he's incredibly proud and arrogant, in which case you probably won't want to meet up anyway!
You could always ask a friend (who has good judgment) to read over your email beforehand and tell you which bits (if any!) make you sound like a stalker.
All the best, and I hope you make a good friend!

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi @MarcRobinson, this is a great question!

It’s perfectly fine to reach out to your art hero’s, I do it occasionally and have received positive responses.

Here’s what I recommend:

-begin—

“Hi [ insert name ],

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and say how much I love and admire your work. More specifically, the book cover you did for [insert book] is one of my favorites, especially how you [insert what you love].

I’m Marc Robinson and currently working in kidlit. I’ve shared a link to my portfolio below in case you’d like to take a look.

I know you are very busy; however, I was wondering if I could take a few moments of your time over a Zoom call to ask a couple of questions relating to book covers and kidlit? I listened [or read] to your interview on the [insert podcast or other form of interview] and it was very insightful, though I had a few additional questions and hoping we could chat for a few minutes at your convenience.

I currently live in [insert city] and the time zone is [insert time zone], though I can make myself available depending on your availability.

I’m sharing my contact details below and look forward to chatting with you in the near future.

Wishing you and your family Happy Holidays!

Marc Robinson”

—end—

One of the amazing things about the kidlit industry is that everyone is very nice. Don’t be afraid to hit the send button, and definitely don’t take it personal if you don’t receive a response.

Like @Robyn-Hepburn said, just be yourself and the rest will work itself out naturally.

Keep us posted on how it goes!

Good luck!

[MarcRobinson]

Thanks @Robyn-Hepburn that is all great advice. I'd never considered getting someone to proof read my email, so that's going straight on my to do list.

[NessIllustration]

@MarcRobinson Question: if someone reached out to you saying they loved your work and had some questions, would you be freaked out or outraged?

Probably not, right?

I think you're anxious and overthinking this. Just be polite and friendly! I actually think @Jeremy-Ross 's template sounds a little bit too formal, making it seem more like a business query than a friendly chat. A zoom call is also a big ask when you're reaching out cold like that. Don't make it sound like a lot of work!

I would suggest just asking them some questions by DM and chatting a bit before you broach the "I live near you, let's meet up" subject though. If you guys click and you have a great chat, then you could offer the coffee and art talk.

Also ask something specific. I get a lot of questions by DM and I hate it when someone sends me a generic "help me" message, because then I have to do the work of asking them follow up questions and figuring out what they need. Whereas when someone asks me something direct like "What brushes do you use" or "How do you know when you're ready to query publishers", it's much nicer and I'm happy to reply!

[MarcRobinson]

@Jeremy-Ross thanks mate. I appreciate the template and I'm sure I can use parts of it as a jumping off point for my email. Yeah, being myself over text/email is still weird to me. I never really got used to the digital age ha. I'm so less awkward in real life! Kinda.

[MarcRobinson]

@NessIllustration thank you for this. I like the idea of doing a few "warm up" messages/chats first. It definitely feels less creepy that way. I've always been pleased when someone reaches out to me, so I take your point about being less self critical.

[Jeremy Ross]

You are so right @NessIllustration ! I write a lot for business and it bleeds into my creative communications, too! Cheers!

[NessIllustration]

@Jeremy-Ross My partner is the exact same! He'll write emails to friends like "to whom it may concern" It's really sweet

[Jeremy Ross]

Nice @NessIllustration!

How’s this?

Dear Mr. Man,

In accordance with the aforementioned provisions outlined as set forth pursuant to each clause herein, hi!

[NessIllustration]

@Jeremy-Ross Brilliant!!

[allysa]

Oh, you should totally reach out - in the worst case scenario, maybe he doesn’t respond (and who knows why - maybe busy, maybe missed the email, maybe in the midst of family drama), and you’ve lost nothing. But in the best case scenario you learn some cool things, get invited to his crit group, make a best friend…

I feel like there’s nothing to lose and only good things to gain!

Good luck

[MarcRobinson]

@allysa thank you for the vote of confidence! I'm gonna throw together a good email tomorrow and see what happens.

[Blitz55]

You've probably got plenty of great advice.

Mine would be, you just kind of have to go for it. There is nothing weird about reaching out to someone, most of the time what stops us is ourselves and our own built up ideas of how the other may view it or react to it. You can't really control that and you're most likely way overthinking it. So you just have to take a breath, be polite, not to wordy and go for it. Worst that can happen is they say thanks, no thanks. And if their more rude or offended by the request, then it was never meant to be anyway.

So just go for it!

Also, it can be easy to view those in a craft that we deem as successful as above us somehow. Like you're looking up at them and just hoping they have even a spare minute for you. The whole, putting them on a pedestal thing. This is in your head and can make you feel silly or awkward trying to talk to them. When the reality is, they're just another human trying to make their way like you and were exactly where you are today before they found their success. No better, no worse.

[MarcRobinson]

@Blitz55 you know, you're right mate. It's definitely too easy to put professionals on a pedestal. Which makes them feel unreachable. I'm okay with commenting on their posts but sending an email feels different. I'll make sure to just bite the bullet!

[Sarah VanDam]

@MarcRobinson I feel this way sometimes, too… I’m not going to offer any advice since it seems like you’ve gotten a lot of that already, but I just want to say that with some artists I feel like I need to prove that I’m someone who can make work on par with theirs before I feel justified in reaching out to be friends. Can you help me break down that barrier?

[MarcRobinson]

@Sarah-VanDam it's good to hear others feel this sometimes. I don't have any friends in real life who is an artist, so I've never thought about how good I am in comparison.