You are a writer. If your work is good enough, people will throw money at you, right?
Yes, they will, but they need to know you exist. And this means you need a
marketing plan. What marketing works best? All marketing works. but you need
keep it up, even when you seem to be getting zero results.
Let’s imagine a couple of scenarios. Writer A wants to be a full-time writer. Her
knows that to do this, he needs to sell X number of items and sell a
Book proposal per year. Writer A she knows that in addition to writing her plays, she is going to
need to market them. Writer A creates a marketing plan. It takes 30 minutes to
your computer You decide that you will submit five article proposals a week, and
she will research and write a book proposal.
She allocates the time to do those things in her daily schedule. She knows that these
Tasks are non-negotiable. No matter what happens, she will perform those tasks.
daily. Even on his worst day, when his car breaks down, his son needs to go.
to the hospital, and she has a deadly migraine.
Writer B also wants to be a full-time writer. Like writer A, she knows that she will have
sell X articles, and sell a book proposal. Writer B does not make a plan. She gets
started writing an article proposal. You realize you need to collect information
resources and send five emails.
The next morning, you download your emails and are instantly depressed. Nobody has
replied. He decides that he will give his potential sources a few more days to respond.
She goes on with her life. She will start typing when her sources respond.
A week later, one of the sources contacts Writer B, who suddenly remembers
I was researching a paper proposal. She goes back to reading her notes. the idea has
gone flat No longer interested in writing it.
The point of these two scenarios is that real life is messy. It’s easy to lose track of
what are you doing if you don’t have the process written down somewhere. This
means, create a plan and then create checklists and check them off every day to
be sure to keep working on the plan.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER IN YOUR MARKETING PLAN
=> Q: What kind of writing do you want to do and sell?
Make a list: copywriting projects (writing for business), featured magazine articles,
novels, non-fiction books, etc.
=> Q: What is the market for each type of writing?
This section will take longer, especially if you are a new writer. it doesn’t
it helps that many writers’ online discussion groups actively discourage talking about how
many writers are paid. However, you CAN find out. Here are some URLs that help:
writersmarket.com:
http://www.writersmarket.com/
When all else fails, ask someone else to write the type of writing you want.
do.
=> Q: What makes your writing unique?
This is a “know thyself” type question.
=> Q: How much can you produce?
You must make production goals part of your marketing plan. If you are part time
writer, how many salable words can you produce per week? 2000?
If you’re a full-time writer, set a goal for sellable words produced each day. Do
This is a goal that is easily attainable.
=> Q: Create a list of target markets
This is self explanatory. It is a marketing database.
=> Q: How will you reach your target markets?
Email, email, fax, phone?
=> Q: What is your long-term monetary goal? How will you reach that goal?
Set a goal for three years from now, a year from now, for this month, for this
week, and for today.
You are less likely to waste time if you know that the hour you spent on the phone
it costs you $90
=> Q: How much do you earn now from your writing?
If you have yet to make your first sale, that’s fine.
If you’ve been earning the same amount for the past two years, it’s a red flag:
you have reached a level that is too comfortable for you. You will have to make a concert
Strive to get out of your comfort zone.
There you go. Answer the questions and you will have a basic marketing plan that
it will work for you. Good luck.