Writers and Marketing
April 11, 2007 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
When I talked about Of Invoicing and Late Fees Meg made the following comment:
I’m a beginning freelance writer. I’m not close to quitting my day job but I’m selling pieces on a regular basis.
It seems that I spend a LOT more time looking for jobs and chasing leads than actually writing. What am I doing wrong? How can I be a writer instead of a Craig’s List comber?
Since she’s selling, I doubt if she’s doing anything wrong at all, but her question brings up an issue most writers simply hate, and that’s marketing. Just the word conjures up visions of expensive ads, complicated websites, cold calling and other onerous things.
Of course, there is another way to frame marketing, and that’s connecting with the folks who both need and want our services. Doesn’t that feel better than “marketing”?
Which isn’t to say you don’t need to spend serious time, maybe, as much as third or a half of your time marketing… at least until your marketing work begins to pay off in repeat work and referrals. Even then, it doesn’t stop.
But you can take some of the pressure off once you realize you’re not marketing to the whole world, but to a particular person or group of people who want what you have to offer. Those are the clients we all want, and they are the one’s who are fun to work with.
Take a look at exactly what you have to offer and to whom… and use that to inform your marketing.
Write well and often,
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Anne, I think it’s true – we DO spend more time marketing than writing. It’s a given, unless you’re writing novels or courses or textbooks that require tons of creative output. If I spend 10 hours a week writing, that’s a lot for me. Most of it is spent in search of the next gig or chasing down the invoices.