The $75,000 Writer: Follow the Dollars to Freelance Commercial Writing

Winners of Are You Ready to Hire a Virtual Assistant? entry prizes: April wins Five ebooks on writing from Anne Wayman and Tracy Fitzpatrick wins one full copy of Astraware Classic Collection, which includes Astraware Sudoku, Astraware Solitaire, and Astraware Board games. Congratulations!

This entry’s prizes: One copy of Business Daffynitions: Humor from the Workplace from Joe Heuer, the Rock and Roll Guru, one full copy of Orchidia PC game from Joyboost, (See Meryl’s Orchidia review.) and one copy of Andy King’s Website Optimization. As usual, just post a valuable 30+ word comment by July 6.

Either Peter Bowerman’s name or books came up in the newsletters on writing that I regularly read. Eventually, we exchanged a few emails and I enjoy his knowledge, honesty, and writing. He produces a valuable newsletter and of course, his books are worth every dollar. I’m honored to have him as a guest blogger.

The $75,000 Writer: Follow the Dollars to Freelance Commercial Writing

Imagine This: The editor of a magazine you’ve written several pieces for says yes to a recent query. You outline the parameters of the piece and the conversation turns to money. He says, “Let’s try something a little different this time. Figure out how many hours you think it’ll take to do the piece. Factor in time for research, background reading, travel to and from appointments, brainstorming, interviewing, writing, and editing. Then multiply the hours by $75 and give me a figure.” You return with a number, he says “fine” and you get to work.

Has he lost his mind? Is this a freelancer’s wistful fantasy? In some writing arenas, maybe. But in freelance commercial (corporate) writing, the above-described scenario is pretty much right on the money. And speaking of money, instead of flat fees with potentially vast and open-ended investments of time, here’s a field where fees are based on hourly rates of $50-125 or more, and all time counts.

A Lucrative and Growing Opportunity
In the few decades, prolific downsizing in Corporate America has resulted in the outsourcing of an enormous amount of writing projects to well-paid freelancers. How can you get your share? Who do you contact? Well, for starters, there are two main groups of prospects: End Users (EU) and Middlemen (MM).

End Users (EUs)
EUs are the corporations, large and small (as well as non-profits, universities, and more), that will be the end-users of the writing. With large companies, approach Corporate Communications, also known as “MarCom” (marketing communications). With smaller ones, try marketing, sales, or finally, HR.

A manager with a huge telecommunications firm in Atlanta noted, “Most people would assume that a company of our size would do the bulk of our writing in-house, and they’d be wrong. It’s amazing how much writing we outsource. My writing needs these days are pretty steady, and I pay anywhere from $65-85/hour, depending on the writer’s experience.”

Middlemen (MMs)
MMs – companies often hired by EUs to execute these projects – include advertising agencies, graphic design firms, marketing companies, PR firms, and event production companies – to name the key ones. Few of these entities staff writing talent, preferring instead to hire the right talent for a specific job, and only when needed.

• Ad Agencies/PR Firms: These entities, which can be huge, do staff copywriters for high-profile ad campaigns but will often bring in freelancers to handle “collateral” (marketing brochures, newsletters, sales sheets, etc.). Small agencies offer better opportunities for freelancers.
• Graphic Design Firms: This group tends toward the smaller end and rarely have on-staff writers. They include many “lone rangers” (one-person shops), several of whom have put many thousands of dollars in my pocket over time. Cultivate relationships with the most talented designers at the larger firms. The good ones all eventually go freelance and if they like you and your work, you’ll be on their “A-list.”
• Event Production Companies: These firms handle all aspects of huge corporate conventions, conferences, product launches, etc. That may include show literature, videos, speeches, web content, signage, and more. Contact major convention facilities to get the names of the big players.

Who to Contact?
For all the above MM clients, contact CDs (Creative Directors: often hard to reach), ACDs (Assistant CDs: easier), AEs (Account Executives), PMs (Project Managers). Find them through the actual category listing in the Yellow Pages or through an annual business listing publication.

Beyond the Yellow Pages…
Where else can you find your prospects? Most good-sized metropolitan areas have a weekly business publication ending in “… Business Journal (i.e. Los Angeles Business Journal, Philadelphia Business Journal, etc.) Check www.amcity.com for the full nationwide listing. Get their Book of Lists, an invaluable annual resource listing of the top businesses in dozens of categories.

Whatever your goals or circumstances, the commercial writing field offers a lucrative and growing opportunity for those with good writing skills. Isn’t it time for a raise?

About the author: Peter Bowerman, a freelance copywriter, speaker and business coach, is the author of the award winning Well-Fed Writer titles – how-to “standards” on lucrative freelancing for businesses (www.wellfedwriter.com). In 2007, leveraging the successful self-publishing of his first two books (52,000 copies in print, and a full-time living for five-plus years), he released The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living. (www.wellfedsp.com).

The Power of Story in the Digital Age

Prizes: Lifetime subscription for RadioTime.com RedButton software — TiVO for radio where you can pause and record live radio. Business Daffynitions: Humor from the Workplace from Joe Heuer, the Rock and Roll Guru. Just leave a 30-word comment on this post by June 29 to get an entry for a drawing.

It’s Poewar’s John Hewitt’s fault again (I promise I am not brown nosing him or nuthin’). He introduced me to Yvonne Russell through his March Madness thing, which you should what it is by now as I’ve mentioned it too many times during this birthday celebration. Now you can see why I credit John with renewing my interest in blogging. A gal gets tired after eight years, y’know?

Enough about him! This should be about Yvonne. Her blog entries always spark wonderful discussions. Writers can’t complain about loneliness when they have blogs like hers for their water cooler visits. I know I do.

The Power of Story in the Digital Age

What is your story? Your personal story? Your business story?

Now that we have push button publishing, our personal and business stories are no longer confined to oral storytelling, wonderful though that medium is - or to faded photos in a box. We have the means to gather and share those stories - the stories of our families, our hopes, our businesses and our everyday lives. They can be captured like time capsules… a web of ever changing snapshots preserved forever.

They spin around the ethernet, ready to be plucked off the virtual shelf by an interested passerby or a friend. It’s a pretty empowering thought that our stories and the stories of others in this digital age are ready and waiting like a virtual treasure chest of event markers, memories and perspectives for our children or grandchildren and beyond.

We can add color, nuances and an extra dimension of connectivity through words - spoken and written. We can add photos, video, audio and lifestreams. In an inspiring video, Jonathan Harris talks of looking up at the night sky and remembering the ancient Greek stories of the constellations. He ponders what the constellations would look like if we could remake our own modern day versions today. And what would their stories be?

Harris is working on two exciting projects. We Feel Fine maps the world’s emotions. Every day computers scan up to 20 000 sentences using the word “feel”. Never mind six degrees of separation. This is a sense of one to one connectivity. Universe maps world events and people – again a very powerful demonstration of the interactivity and essence of story. Everyone has a story and everyone’s story impacts on the world’s storyweb.

I’m excited to see what the future holds in providing new ways to share our personal and business stories. Recently, while travelling in outback Australia, I met a bookseller who had clients all around the world thanks to the wonders of the internet. She not only had clients, but these clients had become friends. She remarked “Aren’t we lucky to be living at a time like this?” I readily agreed.

About the Author: Yvonne Russell is a freelance writer, editor and professional blogger. She blogs at Home Biz Notes, YouCanSubmit, and Small Biz Mentor. Her personal blog is Grow Your Writing Business.

Telling the Hard Truths of the Writing Life

The winner of one full copy of Spinword PC game from Joyboost from the How to Become a Freelance Writer entry is Karen Swim! Congratulations again, Karen. It’s possible to win more than once in the blog entry prizes.

This entry’s prizes are a book by Tara Calishain and AWAI’s Accelerated Six Figure Copywriting program (excellent — I have it… but never had time to finish it). Just leave a 30-word comment on this post by June 21 to get an entry for a drawing.

I was going to call this “Telling the Violent Truths of the Writing Life,” but Freelance Folder already has dibs on “violent.” Just joking — that’s the name of guest blogger Bob Younce’s excellent series over there.

I met Bob through Poewar. Obviously, John Hewitt of Poewar connected me with a lot of new writer friends. Thank you, John. It only took me a second to consider him a friend. His articles on writing and freelancing — whether on his site or elsewhere — provide a lot of value.

Telling the Hard Truths of the Writing Life

It’s easy, if you listen to one element of the Internet writing community, to think that freelance writing consists entirely of days on the beach sipping margaritas and writing for half an hour on your laptop. For anyone who’s been writing for more than a few weeks, though, you know it just isn’t true. Anyone who tells you that it’s possible to make a living in minutes a day is selling something.

Not that selling is bad, mind you; in fact, writers have to do it in order to be successful. But these folks are selling a false idea. In this life, you reap what you sow, plain and simple.

These folks prey on unsuspecting new moms, for example, that want to work from home. They prey on guys tired of their cubicle careers who are looking for a way out. They look for a felt need and offer a fake solution.

At the same time, there are folks on the opposite end of the spectrum. There’s me, for example. If you’ve read much of my writing at all, you know I constantly promote the idea of hard work and, sometimes, long hours. I have probably turned more people away from a writing career than I have recruited, in my time.

I like to think that the realist approach is a good thing, and that it helps folks considering the writing life to count the cost before they get into something they’re not willing to follow through on.

Maybe I’m just trying to keep away the competition. I don’t think that’s it, though.

Here’s the danger that I constantly find myself in, though. I want to be able to encourage writers. I want to cheer them on. I want them to see the same kind of success I’ve had, and the same kind of success Meryl has had right here.

So, those of us honest folk in the Internet writing community wind up saying something like this:

“Freelance writing is hard work. You can make an honest living doing it, and there’s no better life. But you’ve got to work hard and you’ve got to have your wits about you.”

On occasion, I think it’s worth talking about all of the good things in the writing life. I think it’s worth celebrating a success or two, both our own and others’ successes.

Like Meryl, here. She’s been plugging away at this site for the better part of a decade. My goofy little blog has been on the map since February; Meryl’s been here for 8 Februarys.

That says something, folks. It says something about character. It says something about tenacity. It says something about dedication. It’s these characteristics that you’ve got to have to make it as a writer.

So, I celebrate with Meryl. I thank her for her inspiring example. I take a moment away from telling the hard truths of the writing life to tell a pleasant one:

Writing success is possible. Look at Meryl, and at others who have done it. Dream your dream, and dream it big. You can get there, no matter what challenges you face. Stick with it. Be dedicated. And remember: you’re standing on the shoulders of giants.

Thanks, Meryl. Enjoy your vacation, and come back soon.

About the author: Bob Younce is a full-time Internet writer and writing mentor living in Linwood, Michigan. He is dedicated to helping Internet writers to achieve their dreams. Visit Bob at The Writing Journey or follow him on Twitter.

How to Become a Freelance Writer

The winners of two full copies of Big Kahuna Reef 2: one for Macs (!) and one for PCs from the Do You Own Your Web Site post as selected by Random.org are…

{eDrum roll}

Travis Vocino for the Mac copy

Paige Eissinger for the Win copy

Congratulations! On with the celebration!

This entry’s prize is one full copy of Spinword PC game from Joyboost. Just leave a 30-word comment on this post by June 16 to get an entry for a drawing

I’ve been reading Anne Wayman’s stuff for a long time beginning with her About.com page for writers. Then, I followed her to The Golden Pencil and About Freelance Writing. I don’t know how she finds energy to manage two sites, do her regular writing work, post at least 40 writing gigs every couple of days, and provide sage advice about writing. Whatever she does, I thank her for helping writers.

How to Become a Freelance Writer

People seem fascinated that I earn my living as a freelance writer. They are surprised I don’t write fiction, and often confused when I tell them most of my income comes from ghostwriting. I suspect the picture most people have of freelance writers is someone huddled in a garret (do we have garrets any more?) struggling all night to get some deep fiction down on paper in hopes of a great (name your country) novel.

It’s a lovely fantasy, and so far from my own reality it’s almost laughable. Maybe my story will give you some hints about how to carve out a freelance writing career for yourself.

The family story is I started talking about writing way back in the 6th grade. I don’t remember that, but I do remember the 7th grade typing (yes, typewriters, manual typewriters) class that allowed me to write for the high school newspaper. It was also in high school that I started sneaking off to buy the magazine, Writer’s Market.

It wasn’t until my early thirties that I dared submit something – two articles, one each to Family Circle and Woman’s Day. Both were rejected, as they should have been, but I learned that I could survive rejection. In fact, I posted those two slips to my bedroom wall with pride.

I’d also discovered that while I’m a darn good worker, I’m a lousy employee. I hate the structure and the interruptions and all the office politics. I want to get my work done and go home. So I kept writing and submitting and trying different jobs. I finally landed a freelance job as a tech writer. I hadn’t done any tech writing, but by this time I did have a computer (an Apple II+ with a CP/M card, WordStar, and two single-sided drives!) and convinced someone I could explain how to hook up and use a computer. I did, and parlayed that into a staff tech writing job.

During the tech writing gig, I gathered together three others and we began to write third party software manuals. I also submitted my first piece to Hazelden, the drug and alcohol recovery publisher, and it was accepted! I can remember sitting at my desk hardly breathing.

I’d love to tell you my freelancing was profitable from then on. It wasn’t. A lot of that had to do with personal issues of self-worth, which is why I’m always telling my readers to consider charging more. But even though my view of myself was shaky at best, I kept writing and I kept telling people I was a writer. I stumbled into my first ghostwriting job — I said “yes,” rather than the truth which might have been something like, “I don’t know how, but let’s try it,” and it worked. I was referred to my second ghostwriting job.

I began to write for what’s now About.com and eventually figured out how much to charge for ghostwriting. (A lot!) I blog because it helps me find clients. I qualify my clients carefully and generally now make a pretty fine living.

There are three secrets to a successful writing career:

1. Write
2. Rewrite
3. Market

It really is that simple – not easy, but simple. Go for it if it’s something you want. I give away a free booklet that goes into a few more details at www.aboutfreelancewriting.com and talk about freelance writing almost every day at www.thegoldenpencil.com.

About the author: Anne Wayman is a freelance writer, grandmother, cat lover and gardener. Her websites and blogs are at: www.thegoldenpencil.com, www.writingwithvision.com, www.aboutfreelancewriting.com, and www.powerfullyrecovered.com.

Links: 2008-06-06

• Add Spark to Your Writing with These 3 Simple Tweaks: I shy away from sentences where I use repeating words even though a comma separates them. This convinced me otherwise.
• So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer? Four part article with advice from the pros.
• Best Pro-Blogging Sentence in 2008: Wonderful quote from a CEO on why blogging matters in business.
• Disposable Email Addresses: Want something? Not sure if you can trust a source asking for your email?
• The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks: Love this. I’ve got friends who do this in email plus add unnecessary apostrophes. Nice to laugh instead of cringe for a change.
• Idea Seeds for Successful Articles and Posts: Creative approach to finding ideas.
• Searching for Mr. (Pardon, Mrs. and Ms., too) Good Host: A guest post of mine over at my guest blogger’s site

And for fun… because we’re allowed…

• Speak LOL Cat [Link: Peter Shankman]
• Bored at work, but don’t want to get caught reading fiction or poetry? How about reading this stuff in PowerPoint? This takes work to figure out — but you log in as a user and click the folders. Start Here.

Free Tools and Sites for Writers

I had planned on putting this list up ages ago, but kept adding more. It could take a long time to capture many resources, so this is a living entry that I’ll update as soon as I get new resources.

Blogs

1. About Freelance Writing
2. All Freelance Writing
3. Be the Story
4. The Blood-Red Pencil
5. Bob Bly
6. Book Marketing Bestsellers
7. The Book Sistah
8. C. Hope Clark
9. CatalystBlogger
10. Confident Writing
11. Copyblogger
12. The Copywriter Underground
13. The Copywriting Maven
14. Copywriting That Sells High Tech
15. Crime Fiction Dossier
16. Daily Writing Tips
17. Diary of a Wordsmith
18. Evil Editor
19. Freelance Parent
20. Freelance Writing
21. Freelance Writing Jobs
22. Get Paid to Write Online
23. Grow Your Writing Business
24. How Not to Write
25. I’d Rather Be Writing
26. Inkwell Editorial
27. Jane in Progress
28. Joel Falconer
29. Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 Blog
30. JohnAugust.com
31. PoeWar
32. Macabre Ink
33. Mad Young Thing
34. Men with Pens
35. Mike’s Writing Workshop
36. Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
37. Paul Conley on trade journalism
38. Poewar List of Bloggers Writers Should Read
39. Publishing Careers
40. Problogger
41. Robust Writing
42. Quiet Rebel Writer
43. Quips and Tips for Freelance Writers
44. The Renegade Writer
45. Remarkable Communication
46. Rogue Ink
47. Sites and Soundbytes: Library blog that began as a list of cool places online now features many resources and online references that would prove useful to writers.
48. StoneWriter
49. Storytellers Unplugged
50. The Struggling Writer
51. Tumblemoose
52. Urban Muse
53. The Wealthy Freelancer
54. The Web-Savvy Writer
55. Web Writing Info
56. The Well-Fed Writer
57. WOW! Women on Writing
58. Words for Hire
59. Words on the Water
60. Word Sell Blog
61. Write from Home
62. Writer Beware
63. Writer Dad
64. Writer Mama
65. Writer’s Digest Writing Blogs
66. A Writer’s Words, an Editor’s Eye
67. Writer’s Helper
68. Writer’s Notes
69. Write to Done
70. Write Well Me
71. The Writing Journey
72. The Writing Life
73. Writing on the Web
74. Writing White Papers Blog
75. Written Road

Resources

1. 100 posts and articles worth link love: Great selection of articles and content related to writing, business, blogging, and freelancing.
2. 150 Writing Resources: Organized by categories.
3. 1000 Keyboards: Community where writers share, critique and discuss.
4. A to Z of Alternative Words [pdf file]: Why “utilize” when a simple “use” will do?
5. AbiWord: Open source Word
6. About Freelance Writing: Job postings, articles, and more.
7. AbsoluteWrite: The first place I recommend to wanna be writers. Of course, it’s great for experienced writers.
8. Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts: Collection of about 14,000 “classic” public domain documents from American and English literature as well as Western philosophy.
9. American vs. British Grammar: Differences go beyond color vs. colour, optimize vs. optimise.
10. Authors of Historical Fiction resource
11. Bartleby: Resource has been around for a long-time that contains reference and verses for writers, researchers, and the “intellectually curious.”
12. CARRIE: Internet’s first full-text online electronic library.
13. Community Mottos and Nicknames. Great info for stories and inspiration for names.
14. Confusing Words: Over 3000 troublesome words.
15. Digital Library of the Commons: An archive of full-text articles, papers, and dissertations; the Comprehensive Bibliography of the Commons; a Keyword Thesaurus, and links to relevant reference sources on the study of the commons.
16. Disability Writes: Site to help people with disabilities overcome barriers in getting support and encouragement to write.
17. e-write: newsletter, courses, articles, tools, resources, challenge.
18. Etymology: Study of word origins.
19. For Copywriters Only: Articles and newsletter.
20. The Free Dictionary: Dictionary, encyclopeida, thesaurus, and more. Huge resource.
21. Freelance Folder: More about the business of freelancing, but writers benefit greatly.
22. Freelance Writing Success: Articles and resources.
23. FundsForWriters: Articles, newsletters, and more.
24. Fun with Words: Wordplay
25. Google Book Search: Access thousands of books based on your keywords. How much you get depends on the book and its copyright.
26. Guide to Grammar and Writing: Guidelines and resources for writing proposals.
27. Little Known Online Research Sites: List of online research sites and apps.
28. Long Story Short: Ezine with book reviews, excerpts, interviews, articles, poetry, writing school.
29. Luciferous Logolepsy: Collection of obscure English words.
30. Manuscript Analyzer can help dump those trouble words and phrases. It looks for frequently-used words and “identify junk phrases, ‘frequent offender’ word patterns, and adverbs.”
31. NewsTrust.net: Discover good journalism based on quality not popularity.
32. OnceWritten.com: Introduces new fiction writers, contains a community, and provides resources for contests and marketing.
33. ParaPublishing: Newsletter and resources.
34. Phrase Finder: “Search beginnings and endings of phrases.”
35. Publication Coach Newsletter: Power Writing newsletter provides quick tips.
36. Publishing Central: Find articles from around the Web on just about every topic related to publishing.
37. The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): Superb resources covering writing, research, grammar, and MLA and APA style.
38. ResearchCopyright.com: Learn about copyright law in simple language.
39. Research Guides from New York Public Library: New York Public Library research guides in alphabetical order by topic.’
40. That What Paper Guy: Articles, FAQ, and other great white paper writing resources from Gordon Graham.
41. The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resources: Top ten lists for free apps, online apps, bookmarks, communities.
42. Visuwords: Online graphical dictionary.
43. The Well-Fed Writer: Site behind the books of the same name. Sign up for the free newsletter.
44. Writing for Dollars: Articles and newsletter
45. WhitePaperSource: Excellent resource for white paper writers.
46. Worldwide Freelance Writer: Markets, newsletter, and articles.
47. Writing White Papers: Everything white papers including a community, blog, links, and newsletter.
48. WritingSpirit.com: Resources, strategies and support for writers.

Tools

1. About Writing Tools: Best writing tools on the Web.
2. Abbreviations: Search and browse abbreviations.
3. Anagram Genius
4. Charteous: Track Amazon sales ranks — especially for books.
5. Cliche Finder: Identify and kill cliches.
6. ClicheSite: Cliches, euphemesms, and figures of speech.
7. Chris Pound’s Name Generation Page: Includes fantasie, parodies, and more links.
8. The Editorium Freebies: Tools and templates for Microsoft Word.
9. The Free Dictionary: Includes English, Medical, Legal, Financial, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Encyclopedia, and a Literature Reference Library.
10. Freelance Switch Hourly Rate Calculator: How much should you make an hour? Complete this form to find out.
11. Global Acronyms: Search for acronyms.
12. Good Keywords: Find the right keywords.
13. Google Docs: Online-based word processor
14. Instant Anagrams
15. Instant Rhymes
16. Microsoft Word Shortcuts: Exactly as it sounds.
17. The Naque: Tools for coming up with names.
18. NetLingo: Online text and jargon.
19. The Passivator: Eliminate passive phrases.
20. Phrase Finder: Find phrases and their meanings.
21. Reference.com: Dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, reference material Wikipedia and Lexico’s On This Day.
22. Rhymezone: Tool for finding words that rhyme. Also includes other resources such as Shakespeare, quizzes, quotations, Mother Goose, and famous documents.
23. Scrivener Gold: Helps writers organize projects — for Macs. Apple Matters review gives it a rating of 9 out of 10. Scrivener requires a Mac running OS X 10.4 (Tiger).
24. Seventh Sanctum: Name generators (look on the left).
25. Text Block Writer: A virtual index card program.
26. ThinkFree Office: Free “Office” application.
27. Tools for Creating Ideas: Nice list of ideas of what you can do to brainstorm and come up with new things.
28. U.S. Newspapers: Find Web sites for US newspapers.
29. VocabTest.com: Boost your word power.
30. Wordsmith: Love the site’s anagram server. Also has A Word a Day, Wordsmith Chat, Wordserver and more.
31. World Newspapers, Magazines, and New Sites in English: Nice resource that sorts resources by categories.
32. WordWeb: Thesaurus and dictionary accessed with one click.
33. Zoho Writer and other apps

Updated: 17 April 2009 (100+ resources)

Links: 2007-11-02

• Eliminate Common Writing Mistakes
• imbee: social network for 8-14 year olds
• 100 Websites You Should Know and Use
• 131 Productivity Boosters for Email, Instant Messaging, Word, Excel, and More
• Rico Clusters: Mind-mapping alternative
• Animoto: An easy way to create videos [Thanks, Steve]
• 10 Great Ways to Show You’re Grateful
• Dealing With Professional Burnout Without Quitting Your Job: Happy or not, we all run into burnout from doing the same thing for so long. Of course, blog burnout is something different… with blogs, if you take a break… you also risk losing a lot of readers as it’s a big blog world out there.

[View larger image]

Reasons for Writing a Book

I asked friends and colleagues a question regarding a book topic. Quite a few people told me to write what I want to write about. But I want to provide something people need, not satisfy a personal desire.

In the October 2007 of Sam Horn’s “Take Action” Newsletter, best-selling author Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent and Burden of Proof) shared a lesson he learned:

… an attendee asked, “What’s been your biggest lesson as a writer?”

Turow thought about it for a moment and then smiled and said, “I once spent 6 months writing a book that was centered around a legal precedent called the ‘Law of Inhabitability.’

“I turned my finished manuscript into my editor who got back to me a week later with some bad news, ‘Scott, you may think this topic is fascinating – but nobody else does.’”

Argghh. Scott had to scrap the project because he had violated the cardinal rule of writing and speaking, “We may care about a topic, but the more important question is will our audience care about the topic?”

This isn’t suggesting that you shouldn’t write about a topic that fascinates you. Do it. Maybe you’ll find a market. Maybe you won’t. Just be prepared for a long road in finding an interested publisher and don’t expect it to sell many copies.

I’m interested in many things, but would much rather write a book that inspires, informs, or both. Scott Turow and Sam Horn continue:

Over the years, many people have consulted with me to craft a presentation or develop a book. One of the first questions I ask is, “Why are you writing or speaking on this subject?”

Reasons frequently given range from “I want to:

• Leave a legacy
• Make a lot of money
• Establish myself as a nationally-known topic expert
• Catapult my visibility and media coverage
• Drive consulting business and attract clients

These are all decent reasons. But they’re not enough.

The more important question is, “Why will people find your information and approach interesting, useful, and worth their valuable time, attention, and money?”

Will your material:

• Save them time or make them money?
• Motivate them or inspire them to take action on a priority progect or goal?
• Prevent trial-and-terror learning and provide a short cut to success and better results?
• Connect them with people experiencing the same challenge so they know they’re not alone?
• Teach them how to acquire a needed skill?
• Point out how they’re doing something wrong and show them how to prevent it, change it or improve it?
• Expand their horizons and give them experiences they’d never have otherwise?

All of the above are valid reasons for writing and speaking on a topic because they focus on how your audiences and readers will benefit, not just you.

Clarify up front why your information will serve people and keep that in mind as you produce pages or present ideas. Your intent to serve will be self-evident and people will care about what you’re saying and feel connected to you because they’ll sense this is not an exercise in ego.

We must admit that having a book in your portfolio impresses people and can help your business. But the key reason should be to provide value to the reader.

Links: 2007-10-05

• The Hot Button Theory: Maximizing Media Response to Your News Releases.
• 5 tips for giving feedback on creative work.
• 50 sites for book lovers.
• 8 Easy Ways to Remove Tough Stains [I need all the help I can get!]
• The Art of Writing: 10 Tips from the Masters
• Wanna be book authors: Submit a book proposal and work with a real writer. AND help your favorite nonprofit organization.
• Four types of tasks that should not be on your to do list.
• Media Request — What to do now that you have media nibbling on the line.

Writer Self-promotion on a Zero Budget

Note: The tips in this article can apply to other freelance careers including Web design, art, and photography.

People emailed me asking me for advice on how to get started in the writing biz. When I stop to think about it, maybe I’ve been lucky to accomplish much writing in a short time. I have accidentally discovered a way to self-promote my work. It starts with an interest in Web design and a friend who needs a Web site for her professional organization. I volunteer to do it to get Web design experience.

Do you hear an “Ah-ha!” coming? Before I take you there, let’s talk about catch-22. Most people just entering Web design or freelance get the old “Get experience before we can hire you.” OK, how am I supposed to get experience if no one will hire me?

Back to the “eureka.” What kind of business typically has little or no money to invest in a Web site? Let’s say it together, “non-profit organizations.” That was lesson number one. Build a portfolio by offering your services to charitable organizations. It’s win-win because you get the opportunity to add to your portfolio as well as make a contribution to a good cause. The only drawback is finding the time to do it outside of your “pays the bills” job.

Oh, you’re not a Web designer, programmer, or code-head? No problem! Get out pen and paper or load up your favorite word processor. Start writing about a topic you know well. You’ve come up with another excuse saying you are not an expert in anything? It’s time for my rebuttal and a confession. I’m only doing this for you to boost your confidence and to show you it can be done. The old, “if I can do it, you can, too!”

Here goes: I am a Jane of all trades. I kid you not. It’s not a bad thing and I’ve managed to continuously add to my writing portfolio. Guess what? I am promoting myself with this article. Whenever I publish an article with a popular online Web site, my own Web site, http://www.meryl.net, experiences a traffic boost. I’ll bet you that you’ll go to my Web site when you finish this one. No, I am not high on myself. Whenever I read a story or discussion list, I often click on the author’s link to learn more and see if there is anything else I’d like to check out. If you don’t find this article worthy, then how did you get this far?

There are plenty of places that want your articles (Hint: notice this Web site?). Not everyone pays, but it’s a good way to put you out there. One way I’ve gotten started was submitting an article to an email newsletter’s open publishing initiative. It accepts articles in exchange for software and free publicity for you. You can write your own bio and add links to your Web site. Thanks to the newsletter, my portfolio grows and I gain new and paying clients.

If you want something bigger than a bio and you’re brave enough, then offer yourself up for interviews or presentations. If you’re involved with a new product or service, then you can suggest an article on that topic and be interviewed as a subject matter expert. For instance, in writing an article on Flash, I interview several experts and return the favor by including links to their Web sites. Again, it’s win-win. Remember to promote a topic of interest to readers instead of focusing on your company or its products.

Is there a conference coming to town? They’re always looking for proposals. Also, try checking around for user groups and offer up your services to speak about a relevant topic. I’ve given a presentation to a computer users group and my URL was in the footer of every page of the presentation. More free promotion.

There’s something for everyone. In summary, this is the advice I give to people on how to market their way to a new career:

• Offering your services to nonprofit organizations
• Publishing an article
• Getting interviewed or doing a presentation

Give it a shot. One more note, I’m terrible at sales. These steps have helped me move forward without feeling like giving a sales pitch. Now, finish this off by reading the bio and clicking on the link.