There, I said it.
I’m not writing that title as clickbait, either.
One of my absolute favorite clients I’ve ever had was also a Boomer, as are some of my repeat/recurring clients, but hey, I see generalizations made ALL. THE. TIME about millennials, Gen X, Gen Z, walking fossils, etc… so it’s fair game. I also assume you’re sophisticated enough to understand I’m making what is called a “generalization”.
Now, if you’ll allow me a moment to rant…
I get a lot of messages through a form on my website for people looking for an audiobook narrator, and others who are looking for formatting for the ebook and print versions of their manuscript, while others who book strategy sessions with me to talk about doing more to help them with writing or launching their book.
I turn down almost all the audiobook requests I get, due to the fact I’m very particular about what I’m going to spend my time working on, and most of the prospects want to negotiate a lower rate than I’m willing to work for. That or they didn’t bother to notice I state I don’t narrate novels or fiction, but yet are contacting me about producing their novel anyway.
Or, as has been happening lately in increasing measure, they reach out to me about a book they are not the author, publisher, or rights holder for, but this latter thing is not a boomer-exclusive thing as many university students also reach out to me asking me to read a book out loud for them and are willing to pay.
For years, I entertained the ebook requests so long as I could get information out of the author to gauge how much work it will be beforehand, and then charge accordingly. I don’t know if it’s due to the pandemic, or me getting to a point this past year and saying “screw this!” and focusing my time and energy on the higher ROI work in my business. But I noticed that I had kept allowing myself to get sucked into a bunch of email back-and-forths with older authors who’d take up exponentially more time than many of my other [actually paying] clients, on average… who would then say “thanks for your time” and not actually move forward and hire me. Usually, these authors wanted to pay for a used Honda Accord but were expecting Ferrari-level work.
I finally had enough after patiently answering one man’s questions on a Saturday afternoon with like 13 emails back-and-forth in our exchange, only to have him admit in the end that I was a “backup plan” and he already had someone else lined up to format his book, but Plan A hadn’t been answering his emails (Hmmm, I wonder why?), and now they finally had gotten back to this author and he was going to go with them after all.
Thanks for wasting my afternoon, boomer.
More often than not, I’m usually dismissive of people like those emailing me in the first place who “want to pick my brain” or expect me to write back answering all their detailed questions for free as though I just sit at my computer all day with nothing to do and I need an email to answer when I can direct them to my FB group or articles on my site that will cover such things.
Many times, these authors have never even read a Kindle book and have no idea how they work or are supposed to be formatted or other such best practices. But they don’t let that stop them from trying to micromanage the process anyway.
Sometimes such people still slip into my inbox, and in the end, I’ve felt like I’d wasted my time trying to freely help them.
This is why I charge. And it’s why I charge how much I do.
I’m not inexpensive to work with, but I’m also not going to do your work for the same price as someone from Pakistan or The Philippines on Fiverr will. So, if the price and budget are an issue to you, then please don’t come to me.
On the other hand, if excellence is a priority to you, then sure, connect with me. But even then, I still might not want to work for/with you or format your book for you. Reach out to me and let’s get that book out there and we’ll see.
In the meantime, be careful how you criticize one generation with a broad brush (ie, millennials) since people in each generation do things that can be criticized or who make for horrible clients.
