All Student Success Letters

William Jacobs

Dear Gotham,

I read your most recent newsletter and thought I would share my experience with Gotham. I enrolled in two consecutive courses on travel writing and found them very valuable. I had not had any previous courses in writing, but have a degree in fine arts. Over the years I have done a lot of work in marine photography with shows, sales and inclusion in a number of collections.

A national boating magazine, PassageMaker, had contacted me to inquire about some of my photographs. They were going to do a piece on the history of lobster boats from Maine. I asked who was going to do the piece and they told me it had not been assigned. I offered my services, which they promptly declined, saying they preferred previously published writers.

I told them I was leaving for Maine the following week and would submit an article with photographs on spec within a month and asked that they at least critique it. I did, and they did...they liked it and bought it.

I have done about a dozen published pieces for them in the last three years, and then this past December they offered me the position of Contributing Editor!

Thank you, Gotham, for giving me the basics and the confidence to move forward.

Bill Jacobs