Do you prefer Harry Potter or CSI? Or is it the other way round? I like both equally well, therefore what I write about here works for me either way. It can be magic, science, or whatever. But you can decide yourself where you want to place my tips in this article. Just as long as it works for you, who really cares? And don't forget to put the magic word on the fridge.
40 years ago, someone decided to pay for a study to be made by the John Hopkins University. It was dealing with the ways people were finding work if they didn't get it through an advert. The results were pretty obvious and support my favorite virtue: Common sense. Many a time, when you try to decide what the next step should be, use common sense. It helps you more than reading dozens of help guides or worse, replicating someone else.
The study concentrated on how information spreads. We are all aware these days of the power of sharing information. Social networks have thrown the doors wide open. The study found that people looking for jobs got them to a small part through people they knew very well, and to a large part through people they were only acquainted with.
It's the principle of the grapevine. If you tell your best friend, chances are that the information stays there or is only shared with friends you have in common. If you put the information out to people who barely know you, this information will spread beyond the confines of your circle of friends. It works the other way round, too. Chances to hear something new are smaller coming from your best friend than from someone you know less well and see less often.
So far, the study would have been a total loss of money. Common sense tells us that this is how things work. But there was an interesting side issue that the study uncovered on the way when collecting the relevant data for the statistics. About 70 percent of jobs are never advertised. They are filled by hearsay. Now that should make you think. If you go for the obvious websites that offer writing work, you actually miss out on the larger part of jobs that are available.
For you as a writer (and in extension anyone looking for work), this means getting your ear onto the pulse of the grapevine. Common sense could tell you that Twitter is the obvious grapevine hothouse. Common sense is right. Your Twitter account is your personal chatterbox, it serves as your ears and as your mouth. You can listen in to what is talked about all over the globe, and you can put yourself and your writing out for the world to see.
Apart from the virtual world, don't forget about the physical world. Talk about your writing. Tell your friends and acquaintances about what you are doing, and ask them to spread the word. (Or ask them to keep a secret, if that spreads the word faster; you'll know the people you have to manipulate.)
Once you start getting information out (and preferably in a continuous and persistent way), things in this line are out of your hands. Spreading it further than your close circle of friends is in the hands of others. All tricks are allowed to make information interesting to a large number of people. You don't know where your information will end up or from where inquiries might come to you. That's the science behind it, and it looks like magic when someone contacts you out of the blue.
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