In answer tot he question, I consider myself a skilled tradesman that uses creative tools to perform my job…

I also think it’s important to contact clients in other ways, like referrals, cold calls, and e-mail marketing. I tend to get very good responses from those, probably because most of them are local and I target carefully by researching the companies before I contact them. Even if these companies don’t have immediate work, they’re usually very receptive to follow-up calls and messages.

It is definitely frustrating not getting replies back but from my experience it’s just part of the game. The internet is an invaluable tool for the writer but it can also be a detriment in causing many job leads to become flooded with applicants, many who are much more experienced or willing to work for far less. My pet peeve that really irritates me is when I don’t hear anything back and send a follow up email (to a regular email address not a Craigslist one) just to see where they’re at and still don’t get any kind of response–especially when it’s something I felt really qualified for. Sometimes to compound matters you’ll see the same ad run again a week or two later. Very frustrating. Anyway, like many others have said it’s a numbers game and so keep trying and working and don’t let it get to you.

I have to say, as someone who does act and auditions regularly that that doesn’t really compare to being asked to prepare sample work. Sometimes for commercial print work they’ll cast just on headshots alone. More typically for a theater or film, they’ll either ask you to come in with a monologue (or song if it’s a musical) or prepare to cold read. Almost everyone working and auditioning has a repertoire of monologues they’re worked on along the way–either in classes, or maybe from shows they’ve done (I write a lot of mine, but that’s not the norm). So being asked to come in and bring in a two minute contemporary monologue is just a matter of thinking, “Hmm…which one?” and running through it a few times. That’s not the level of work that’s involved in being asked to write a 1000 word piece over the weekend to be considered for a job. So yes, actors do audition for free, but they’re not giving away free material that they’ve had to suddenly create; it’s much more like going for a writing job where you are asked to send in your best, already written, already published samples. Plus what an actor or musician does in an audition can’t be kept and used again, so they’re not really giving anything away. To be honest, I think most performing artists consider themselves craftspersons and don’t see a big difference. Am I making any sense? I’m rather tired.

As for “artsy” vs “craftsman”–I view myself as a craftsperson and do NOT give away my work for free, even in an audition. For writing samples, I use items I’ve already published but I refuse to create original materials when applying for a gig.