{Your Name}
{Your Address}
{Your Phone #}
{Date}
Dear {Representative Name}:
On {date}, I was informed that in order to reprint lyrics from your copyrighted song, "{Song Title}" by {Artist} in my short story, "{Title}," I would need to pay {amount}. I would like to request a waiver of this fee based on financial hardship.
I am hoping to use the following lyrics from the aforementioned song once within my {number}-page story: {Lyrics}. They are not central to the plot, nor are they repeated throughout the piece. My story has been picked up by {non-profit publisher}, which has a very small circulation of only {number}. I am not making any money from this publication, either as an acceptance payment or as royalties. This is merely to make a name for myself. As an emerging writer writing mostly for exposure at this juncture, I cannot afford to pay the permissions fee.
I hope that you can work with me to surmount this problem. I have great hope that this story can remain the best version of itself. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
Thank you,
{Sender Name}
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