Helping Minorities Find Their Voices In The Media
Everyone has something to say. Unfortunately, in our society everyone has not had the same opportunity to be heard. Many ethnic and multicultural writers become frustrated when they fail to find appropriate vehicles for their work. One has to wonder how many great writers are being stifled because they are not the right race, religion, ethnic group or sexual orientation.
(PRWEB) June 4, 2005 -- Everyone has something to say. Unfortunately, in our
society everyone has not had the same opportunity to be heard. Many ethnic and
multicultural writers become frustrated when they fail to find appropriate
vehicles for their work. One has to wonder how many great writers are being
stifled because they are not the right race, religion, ethnic group or sexual
orientation.
Enter Writer's Relief, a unique business
that caters to these frustrated authors. "We spend an enormous amount of time
researching and targeting appropriate markets for our clients' work, freeing up
their time to write. In addition, we work with our clients to prepare their
manuscripts to meet industry standards," says Ronnie L. Smith, president and
founder of Writer's Relief. "We help fill in the blanks so that writers have
more time to write."
For most writers, it is a very difficult task to
place their work in appropriate markets. If you are a member of a minority
group, the difficulty is compounded. Many writers who had previously had trouble
finding their “fit” in print media have been published through their service.
“We help writers find their markets,” says Smith. “We offer our clients the
opportunity to have their words shared on a variety of topics dealing with the
current administration and its policies, world leaders, religious tolerances and
abuses, and the violation of rights of the underprivileged and traditionally
oppressed classes of people around the world.”
Smith's team prepares and
submits manuscripts for writers of all kinds. "Most writers are not good at
promoting their own work," says Smith. "They're good at creating; we're great at
marketing." In addition to helping writers prepare book proposals so they can
query agents, Writer's Relief proofreads and submits poetry or short
stories/essays to literary journals.
Writer’s Relief does extensive
journal research to find the perfect fit for each client so good writers of
every race and creed have a chance to be heard. “We help writers find their
markets,” Smith says. Their extensive database is able to match each writer with
magazines who give voice to often-voiceless writers through familiarity with
markets specific to these often-neglected topics.
Literary journals have
a 99 percent rejection rate, but Writer's Relief's track record defies the odds.
"You often have to make 100 submissions before you get one 'yes,'" says Smith.
“Each rejection brings you closer to acceptance.” Out of their 300 current
writer clients, Writer's Relief has gotten 268 of them
published.
Writer's Relief was founded eleven years ago by Ronnie L.
Smith, who created the business after a crippling bout with vertigo. As she
slowly recovered through physical and occupational therapy, a friend asked her
to submit the friend's poetry to magazines. "I'd literally crawl to the
computer," Smith says. Much to her friend's delight, the poems were published in
highly-respected journals.
Other clients followed, and a business was
born. Soon, Smith moved from her mother's garage to larger offices. Today she
has hundreds of clients and ten employees, ranging in age from 20 to 82. "Our
business is unusual in that we all still like to come to work every day and so
do our dogs," Smith says.
In addition to maintaining a worker-friendly
job environment, Smith is proud of the work they do. "It makes me happy to give
media voices to people who have none," says Smith, who is fearless when choosing
to take on clients. "Their work has a very particular voice," she says. Writers
who have a lot to say but have not been able to find an outlet for a creative
voice have a friend and mentor in Writer’s Relief.
For more information
or to set up an interview with Ronnie L. Smith, please contact Jay Wilke at
727-443-7115, ext. 223.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb247250.htm