I came across an interesting piece online about the late, great writer Hunter S. Thompson, one of my favorite writers.
Flashbak.com offers a letter that Hunter Thompson sent to an editor in 1958.
Like his journalism, the query letter is uniquely Hunter Thompson.
In
1958, Hunter S. Thompson was looking for work. He wrote to the Vancouver Sun newspaper.
TO JACK SCOTT, VANCOUVER SUN
October 1, 1958
57 Perry Street New York City
Sir,
I got a hell of a kick reading the piece Time magazine did this
week on The Sun. In addition to wishing you the best of luck, I’d also like to
offer my services.
Since I haven’t seen a copy of the “new” Sun yet, I’ll have to
make this a tentative offer. I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a
job with a paper I didn’t know anything about (see enclosed clippings) and I’m
not quite ready to go charging up another blind alley.
By the time you get this letter, I’ll have gotten hold of some of
the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I’ll let my
offer stand. And don’t think that my arrogance is unintentional: it’s just that
I’d rather offend you now than after I started working for you.
I didn’t make myself clear to the last man I worked for until
after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found
himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had
nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him,
he’d tell you that I’m “not very likable, (that I) hate people, (that I) just
want to be left alone, and (that I) feel too superior to mingle with the
average person.” (That’s a direct quote from a memo he sent to the publisher.)
Nothing beats having good references.
Of course if you asked some of the other people I’ve worked for,
you’d get a different set of answers.
If you’re interested enough to answer this letter, I’ll be glad to
furnish you with a list of references — including the lad I work for now.
The enclosed clippings should give you a rough idea of who I am.
It’s a year old, however, and I’ve changed a bit since it was written. I’ve
taken some writing courses from Columbia in my spare time, learned a hell of a
lot about the newspaper business, and developed a healthy contempt for
journalism as a profession.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s a damned shame that a field as
potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards,
bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally
stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you’re trying to get The
Sun away from, then I think I’d like to work for you.
You can read the rest of the letter via the below link:
https://flashbak.com/job-hunting-hunter-s-thompsons-guide-to-writing-a-great-cover-letter-40982/
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