In this week’s confessions series, Lee Davy reacts to an e-mail he received from someone asking for advice on how to break into the poker industry as a writer.
So how do you become a poker writer?
How do you get from writing a personal diary to writing for the biggest poker news organizations in the world?
Do you want to know?
Well, at least one person does because this is the e-mail I received this week.
Hi Lee,
I am currently a poker dealer with a large amount of experience. I also play poker as and when I can, and was wondering if there is any advice I could get from you in order to become a writer. I am passionate about poker and would love to have a career in the industry.
I guess there are two ways of approaching a move into the poker writing business. The first, and most sensible, is the educational route. Go to school and take the necessary classes that you need in order to become a journalist.
But for many people, who want to break into the poker industry, their school years are way behind them and if they were to go back to school to learn to become a professional journalist, then poker is probably one of the last things you would end up writing about.
This advice is for the dreamers.
The mechanics, cooks, dishwashers, clerical officers, trash collectors, cleaners and anybody else who left school and whose only aim was to get a job so they could start paying their rent and have a few pints down the pub.
If that’s you then read on because I am going to explain how the Rule of Five works.
Long before I was a writer, I was a manager working on the British Railways. If you ever travel to Berlin and see the big Deutsche Bahn (DB) signs then that’s whom I used to work for.
I decided to quit the railway and write about poker as a stop gap before I could set up my life coaching business and to help me find my way, I enrolled in the Jack Canfield Success Principles Coaching Course.
During my training, I learned about a simple little rule known as the Rule of Five, where every day you do five specific things that move you towards your goal and I used this simple strategy to take me to where I am today.
I created a Mind Map and made a list of all the actions I thought I needed to take in order to become a writer. Some of the things on that list were as follows:
1. Learn how to write
2. Create a pitch
3. Sell the pitch
4. Get a mentor
5. Read other people’s work
6. Meet other poker writers
Next you deploy the Rule of Five.
So each day, week, month or year (the frequency is up to you) I would take five actions that would lead me one step closer to my goal.
Example
A. Learn how to write.
Action – Read five books about writing.
1. On Writing by Stephen King
2. Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
3. Story by Robert McKee
4. Into the Woods by John Yorke
5. Elements of Style by Strunk and White
When reading books, I like to knock one out a week. Simply calculate how many pages there are in the book, divide by seven and don’t go to sleep until you have read that many pages, taking copious notes as you write.
Next you need to write, and write, and write.
Make sure that you write at least five things per day, per week or per month. Once again the frequency is up to you. Write a diary, write your own autobiography, write down the shit that floats around in your head, and if you want to get into the poker industry write about poker.
Choose five things you can write about in the poker industry.
1. Write about a poker tournament
2. Write about a certain player
3. Write about a type of game
4. Write about a certain tour
5. Write about a particular hand.
When you think your writing is up to standard, reach out for someone to critique it. If you want to get into the poker industry then make it your business to know who the main players are. Follow five influential people per day on Twitter, then write to five of those people to ask them if they wouldn’t mind looking at your work and providing you feedback. If nobody replies then write to five more. Then keep writing until eventually someone caves in.
Find a mentor by asking five writers if they wouldn’t mind placing you under their wing. If nobody replies then write to five more. Still struggling? Then you need to get to know people better. Make it your mission to comment on writers’ work five times a day. If you want a writer to notice you then writing complimentary things about their work will soon do the trick.
Some other ideas for you…
Write to five different poker players on a daily basis asking them for an interview. If they don’t reply…guess what…keep on asking. It is very unusual for a poker player to turn down an interview and poker outlets are always on the lookout for decent interviews with interesting poker players.
Another good strategy is to read five recent poker books and write an appealing review. This is another great way of making contact with the author and setting up an interview.
Write to five editors of magazines and offer them one of the five pitches that you have already pre-planned. Five pitches that are serial in nature, innovative, have the right blend of story and emotion, and set you apart from the rest. Keep on sending them until someone writes back.
But that sounds like hard work!
It is.
And the harder you work, the more successful you are likely to become.
Don’t leave your day job too soon. The pay is not great for a beginner writer and you will have to start by giving away your material for free. Of course, you aren’t really giving it away for free, because you are gaining value by building a portfolio of published material that you can show to poker organizations.
Progress will be slow and sometimes you might want to just pack it all in and flip burgers but if you sweat it out, work harder than anyone else, develop a nice writing style and persevere, then you can do it.
Just make the choice and then get to work.
That’s all that I did and it worked for me.
