From the desk of:

Susan DeFreitas

October 27, 2010

Dear Friend,

If you’ve taken the time to explore this website, chances are, you enjoy reading. Which means that in some way, you already have a personal relationship with writing—and, by extension, writers themselves.

Now, I’d like to offer you the opportunity to take that relationship to the next level, in a way that’s even more personal.

The truth is very simple:

Writing takes time.

Even writing a sales letter like this takes time. (And believe me, there are a lot of things I'd rather be doing.)

In order to support my rent and grocery habit over the years, I have found myself forced to spend a significant amount of time writing things like sales letters, squeeze pages, Facebook pages, Tweets, auto-responders, special reports, “ebooks”, “articles” and press releases— simply because that’s what sells.

Friends, this is not what I set off to do in life. Quite the opposite!

What I set out to do was to create fiction and poetry that

meant something to myself and others.

While there are perhaps enlightened European societies with high taxes and free healthcare where young writers might hope to get sponsored through public arts councils, grants, and residencies, in the US, this is generally not the case.

Once upon a time, a writer might hope to find a rich patron, or an obscure branch of the Works Public Administration to hide out under. Kurt Vonnegut learned his chops selling funny little short stories to magazines, and Hemmingway developed his tight-lipped style as a newspaperman. But both magazines and newspapers are in decline.

What if Hemmingway had been reduced to selling customer relations management software?

What if William Butler Yeats had wound up promoting marketing schemes

for internet entrepreneurs who couldn’t spell?

It’s common knowledge that the big publishers these days are only looking for a carbon copy of the last big thing they've sold.

But you know what? I still want to write poetry and fiction. And, chances are, you—like me—still want to read it.

So let’s get together here and cut out the middleman.

For just $25, you can sponsor me as a poet—and receive one poem a week

for 52 weeks,

delivered directly to your inbox.

That's right, an entire year of poetry for just $25.00.

If you enjoy what you’ve found here on my website, I’d like you to please consider this—the opportunity to sponsor me as a writer over the next year by joining my Poem of the Week Club, Birds of Paradise.

Because, in all seriousness, there’s nothing that would mean more to me than being able to dedicate more of my time to producing the kind of creative work you find on this website—and less of the kind of thing you’re reading.

Thanks so much for your support!

Sincerely,

Susan DeFreitas

PS—Interested in an example of the kind of poems you’ll receive as a member of my Poem of the Week Club? Check out some of my poetry.