Jennifer Mattern Not too long ago, I announced that I would be reviewing two books promising to teach you how to write a novel in 30 days and that I would then be pitting them against each other in actual tests. (Read the reviews or you can visit my book marketing blog to follow my progress with the two plans.) In the comments of that announcement, I
As a freelance writer, you have a free marketing tool at your disposal – your ability to write. When marketing your freelance writing services, how can you leverage your ability to write in order to attract more clients? Try these writing-related marketing tips to showcase your writing ability while bringing in more work: Start a Blog By setting up your own blog, you get to
Coming from a marketing / PR background, I understand the importance of marketing plans, and consider them vital for any kind of business or independent professional. Yet as a freelancer, I can also understand the reluctance in writing a marketing plan that’s too formal and detailed. Some writers simply don’t know where to start or how to plan their yearly marketing strategies. Others don’t know
So we talked about how to install WordPress on your own domain if you want to set up a new blog to showcase your writing. There Latoya asked a good question – how can you install a new theme / design to change the look (see my past post on how I choose WordPress themes and site templates)? The process is actually very easy, and
Yesterday someone asked me how they would set up a WordPress blog at their own domain. The simple answer is: Register a domain name. Set up a Web hosting account. Install WordPress (from WordPress.org or through your host). I won’t walk you through the process of setting up a hosting account or registering a domain name. Your host can help you with that, and the
If there’s one thing that successful freelance writers have in common, it’s confidence. It’s tough to succeed on your own in any line of work if you don’t. Here’s why: If you’re not confident in your abilities, you’ll struggle to “sell yourself” to clients. If you’re not confident in your work, it’s unlikely that you’ll charge what you’re worth, raise your rates when you want
I’ve mentioned repeatedly in the past that I think all freelance writers could benefit from having their own professional website and / or blog to showcase their writing and niche expertise. Today I’m going to share my own favorite resources – the tools and services I use repeatedly when setting up new sites or blogs, and why I use them. Web Hosting I have hosting
I mentioned previously that I would be reviewing two similar books here on a topic we don’t talk about much – writing a novel. In the case of these two books, both promise to teach you how to write a first draft of your novel in just 30 days. Why Talk About Novel Writing on a Freelance Writing Blog? There’s nothing to say that freelance
We all like to talk about goals at the end of the year, when we’re figuring out what we want to change in our writing careers – we want to earn more, take on more clients, take on different types of clients, launch a blog, write a book or e-book, etc. But how can a freelance writer set realistically attainable goals for their freelance writing
Do you want to improve your Web content writing skills or learn how to become a Web content writer, branching out from other types of freelance writing? I was recently asked how a writer could learn more about Web content writing, from someone previously more involved with print formats. If you’re in a similar boat, here’s what I suggest: Read Web Content When you’re learning
We talked the other day about an example of an editor personally connecting with a buyer (in this case, me) after a purchase. It was an excellent example of relationship building with your target market for your book. So today I want to ask you… how else can authors build a relationship with their audience, whether one-on-one or not? I’ll kick it off with a
First of all, let me apologize for my long absence from All Book Marketing. Today seemed like a good day to get things back on track after a particularly pleasant exchange with an editor who demonstrated an important element of book PR: building a relationship with your audience. It’s no secret that I’m a big advocate of author blogging to promote books and interact with
Stop believing in freelance writing myths says Chris Bibey of ChrisBlogging – he recently exposed some common myths on his blog. All I can say is “Shhhhh Chris!!! The more people believe that crap, the better it is for the rest of us!” 😉 I’m just kidding of course. Chris makes some good points. I’d like to add one. Chris says: “It takes too long
Do you think you could draft a book in about 30 days? Two authors say you can, and I plan to find out how effective each of their methods are. I’m currently in the process of reviewing Karen S. Wiesner’s First Draft In 30 Days and Victoria Lynn Schmidt’s Book in a Month. When I finish reading and evaluating each, I’ll be posting head-to-head reviews
Should freelance writers share information about their freelance writing income publicly? Some writers do so regularly on their writing blogs. Others refuse to ever share details about how much they make, and how they do it. What’s right for you? Let’s explore the issue. Is Talking About Money Really Taboo? I’d argue that disclosing income information hasn’t been “taboo” in the freelance writing profession for
Today’s topic on building blogs and professional sites as a freelance writer comes from Zac Schuessler. Zac points out that you don’t necessarily have to create one or the other. If you like working on a blog platform, you can use one to run a more basic site (or a combination professional site / blog). In particular, Zac brings up the subject of magazine-style (or
Being a freelance writer can be stressful at times. That stress may be because you have a lot of work going on at once, or because work is slow and you’re stressing while you try to find new clients. No matter what the reason is, you have to deal with the stress before it completely consumes you. I’ve been particularly stressed with work lately. It’s
I recently asked you to come up with questions about setting up your own professional site or blog as a freelance writer. Today I’m going to address Kristi Holl’s question about moving a site from one blog platform to another. Question: I have heard a lot of talk about moving your blog from something like blogspot to your own website, using a free service like
Many writers markets are listed in online collections, from paid writers market listings to various free listings on blogs and freelance writing sites. The only problems with those sources are that they often feature the same writers markets, and they’re frequented by large numbers of freelance writers, meaning more competition for the writing gigs. I f you’re tired of coming across the same writers markets,
If you write content for the Web, you probably already know about certain Web writing basics, like using short paragraphs, bold sub-headings, and lists to help make your articles “scannable” to readers browsing them for something specific. If you’re writing for clients, and they ask to have you write in plain text with HTML, do you know how to do those things? Here are a
The following is a post I wrote a while back about blog hosting options. It doesn’t only apply to freelance writers, but I wanted to share it here directly, since we’re talking this month about setting up professional websites and blogs. I’m sure some of you will have different opinions, so do feel free to share them. — Many new bloggers launch their first blog
I doubt there’s a single case where I wouldn’t suggest that a freelance writer set up a professional website and portfolio. Do you have one yet? You can take a look at mine currently at ProBusinessWriter.com. If you’d like to share your own professional site, leave a link in the comments. But what if you don’t have a professional website yet? Where do you start?
Continuing our series of short interviews with freelance writers, I picked the brain of Kristen King (of InkThinker) on the issues of queries and rejections: What motivated you to create the InkThinker Query Challenge? What’s the most rewarding aspect of it for you personally? I wish I had paid closer attention to my early thought process, because I can’t remember as much as I would
I love swipe files. In my case it’s more of a combination of a swipe pile and collection of swipe bookmarks, but anyway…. If you’re not familiar with swipe files, it’s basically a collection of information that you can use for inspiration in your writing. Here are some of the things I keep in my swipe file: Magazine headlines if I think the format is
I’m launching a new series of short interviews with freelance writers, where I’m asking them five or so questions on a topic they’re particularly experienced with. Today you get to hear from Rebecca Garland: wife, mother, and freelance writer. Rebecca shares some of her thoughts on juggling work and family life when you’re a freelance writer staying home with the little ones. You’re a WAHM
Authors can use testimonials to sell an e-book in a number of ways.. They can be used on the e-book sales page, email newsletters, blog posts, the author’s business site, or just about anywhere the e-book could be mentioned. Here are a few ways people use testimonials: Fake Testimonials Under no circumstances do I endorse this kind of use of testimonials. People essentially use stock images
Having an e-book cover gives you a graphic element to use when promoting your e-book, and it gives e-books more of a traditional product feel (more of a “product” than just a file, from a buyer’s and marketing standpoint). But how do you design and create one? I’m no expert in this area, so I’m just going to point you to a few resources that
As far as I’m concerned, the answer is yes. If you’re trying to sell your e-book (as opposed to giving it away for free), I’d recommend using affiliate marketing (having others sell your e-book for you for a cut of the profits). The two biggest mistakes I made with my first e-book were not having it instantly downloadable and not setting up an affiliate program.
E-book marketing isn’t anything particularly unique. It can be much like marketing a website or blog, or like marketing a physical product (if anything, it’s like a combination of the two). When marketing your e-book(s), keep some of these marketing tools and tactics in mind: Your Sales Letter / Sales Page You have to have some kind of sales page that tells prospective buyers what
After your e-book is written and the price is set, but before you start aggressively marketing your e-book to draw sales, you’ll need to choose a delivery method. Here are a couple of e-book delivery options, and some pros and cons of each: Manual Distribution You receive payment, and manually deliver the e-book via e-mail (or through a link contained within a manual email). Pros