Category Archives: Marketing yourself

advice, fiction, lifestyle, Marketing yourself

3 Massive Goals for Writers (Move Over NaNoWriMo)

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by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

Sometimes you need a massive goal, the kind that requires heroics and gives your life meaning. The kind that kickstarts your efforts and launches you to victory with immediate results.

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where you write a 50,000-word book in one month.

Nanowrimo2012

Polished?  Er, no. 

A messy first draft?  Hells yes.

In honor of this prime example of Massive Goal-ness, I bring you 3 equally massive goals you might not have considered… but you should!

1. Create a Writer’s Manifesto

Why?  It’s a rallying cry for your career, your passion, and your intent to succeed.

I first became aware of the awesomeness of modern manifestos when I read Chris Guillebeau’s Art of Non Conformity website. 

This, I thought, is what life can be like.  This is the power of words.

He’s added a second manifesto, and you can read them both here:

Want to read more about creating a manifesto?  Read these articles:

And check out Jeff Goin’s e-book: The Writers Manifesto.

TO BE CONTINUED,

clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

Marketing yourself

7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 3)

We freelance writers (including fiction writers) are largely in charge of our own marketing.  It’s up to us to answer all those “why hire us, why buy our work” questions.

This series explores winning strategies by using Free Our City as an example of awesome.

FOC Front Start Here:

  1. Be Bold.
  2. Use Structural Shorthand.
  3. Marry The Message With Skim-able Design.

FOC Page 2 FOC Page 3

4. Be Real.

No fake hype.

Nothing needs to be hyped as more wonderful (or more evil) than it actually is. We won’t believe you. We know better.  And we’ll hold it against you if you do this.

Seriously, is there such a thing as a “Universal Premier” for a TV show?  It’s a US show.  It’s probably just a “US Premier.” (And if it hasn’t aired yet, can it be “America’s Favorite Show This Season?”

On the other hand, being real will… Continue reading 7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 3) →

Marketing yourself

7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 2)

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by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

How Do You Get Your Reader or Client to Take Action?

You have a website, a brochure, a newsletter… but does it work?  Does it sell books?  Does it bring you clients?

Simply put, do your “longer” marketing materials make a difference?

“Free Our City” Does It Right

(And they have a much harder message than you do.)

Free Our City.  Non-profit.  Horrific topic (sex slavery).

foc banner

They need everyday people (who cringe at their topic) to take action.  And to do that, they have to get across a lot of information.  They must take a reader from 0 to 100 (not just 0 to 10).

Tough job.

Their mission?

As their back cover quote says: No, we are not satisfied and we will  not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water.” –Dr. Martin Luther King.

FOC BackThey use a 4-page, postcard-sized “booklet” to get this mission across and turn the reader into an activist, a bringer of justice.

This is marketing at its best, most useful, most hopeful.

It’s about the power of words to communicate.  And as freelance writers and fiction writers, you, too, need to harness this same power to communicate for your own business.

This isn’t about tag lines or jingles. This is about how to take a complicated message and share it with the world in a way that doesn’t disappear into the static.

If they can do it, so can you.

Last week, we looked at how they chose to (#1) own their message and( #2) use a tried and true structure to make it easy to digest.

There are 5 more things you can learn from Free Our City.

FOC Front

3. Marry The Message With Skim-able Design.

Continue reading 7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words (part 2) →

Business, Marketing yourself

7 Marketing Secrets for Writers: When the Message Takes a Lot of Words

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by Diane Holmes, (a) Chief Alchemist of Pitch University, (b) lover of learning, and (c) writer of fiction, non-fiction, and the occasional manifesto.

Not everything is a jingle.

Sometimes the message is a mouthful.  A conversation.  An mini-education.  Even a rant.

Then what?  How does marketing work when you need to give your reader/client a lot of information?

You can’t force them to listen.

Force someone to listen

For one thing, you’re not even there in person.  They’re looking at your words.  And baby, reading your words, your marketing material, is totally, 100% voluntary.

That, my friend, is your biggest hurdle.  Think it’s hard to gain “visibility” with a 5-second tag line?  Try holding a stranger mentally captive for 5 minutes so that you can get your long message across.

Big fun, that.

The Lesson

Yesterday I read a 5-minute marketing message by accident.

I was at Starbuck’s, and I ambled over to the bulletin board while I waited on my whole-milk latte. So, I’m here for coffee to go.  I’m not hoping to learn something or take notes.

On the bulletin board, I expected information about (a) garage bands and (b) manicures.  Instead, I read Free Our City’s marketing brochure.  4 pages long.  Front, back, two inside pages. On a topic I didn’t want to read about (sex slavery). 

And I read all 4 pages.

If Free Our City can get tender-hearted me to read on such a gruesome, appalling, heartbreaking topic, then they’re doing something right.  (And aren’t I just the type of person who should be their reader?)

Here’s what we can learn from Free Our City.

FOC Front

1. Be Bold.

Own your message. Get to the point. Lead with the bottom line or at least something that clues the reader in to the topic at hand.

Even if it’s a tough topic, dancing around it won’t help.  In the seconds or minutes that you try to ease into it, your reader has moved on to manicures.

We don’t want to be lured into messages.  We’re hip to all forms of marketing, so don’t toy around with us.

So I read the topic, saw that it was Sex Slavery in my own city, and I felt obligated to read more.  It’s my city for Pete’s sake!

Q,  What’s your bold message?  What message do you need to just go ahead and own?

2. Use Structural Shorthand.

When you frame your information in a format that is familiar, we know the rhythm of what’s ahead, PLUS we’re able to take it in bite-sized pieces.

FOC Page 2

By using a Top 10 List, I was able to digest a whole lot of key information at a glance. In fact, with 10 items, there’s a subconscious test: Do you know all 10 things? 

That’s hard to resist

Examples of Structure Shorthand:

  • Top 10 Lists
  • Knock Knock / Who’s There?
  • Surveys
  • Questions / Answer
  • Definition Lists
  • FAQs (frequently asked questions)
  • Infographics
  • Timeline
  • Diary
  • Advice Column
  • Poem
  • Map
  • Interview
  • Artifact (real or fake)
  • Mind Map

Q.  How can you take the information you need to get across (for your freelance business? your novel? your blog post? a speaking opportunity?) and format it into an irresistible, easy-to-understand structure?

CONTINUED NEXT WEEK! 

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clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

advice, fiction, Marketing yourself

Freelance Burnout, I Gots It.

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by Diane Holmes, Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book, founder of Pitch University.

paycheckThe Reality of The Dream.

DISCLAIMER:  If you’re still “super excited” about your writing, and know you’ll be “one of the best-known writers in the world,” skip this post.

You’re still living the dream.

Everyone else, follow me.

When you decided to become a writer…

… exactly how many YEARS did you expect to WORK 80-HOUR WEEKS (or on your 12-day vacation, like Jake Poinier )?

… how regularly did you expect to get REJECTED?

… did you think you’d BE MAKING LESS than your first corporate job out of college?

… did you picture yourself, years later, STILL being offered a LOWER RATE than you’re worth (see Joe Wallace’s article on negotiating your rates) , or having to explain, yet again, why your writing HAS VALUE?

…did you think of your DREAM as “that lovely source of UNRELIABLE INCOME?” (as Catherine Tully says in “Don’t quit your day job.”

But the heart wants what the heart wants.

And it wants to write.

dead cupid

Years later, when you’re a better writer than you’ve ever been, how do you deal with the realities of your writing career?

Seriously, shoot me now.

Is it that you’re still having so much fun that the rest pales in comparison?

What do you do when the fun has flatlined?  What do you do with reality when you’re burned out by it?

Burnout Resources

1) This HELPGUIDE is one of the better articles on the nature of burnout.

2) The Four Stages of Burnout.

3) Interesting definition of Workaholism vs. Work  Engagement.

4) Megan Hills’ excellent blog explores Burnout. As Megan says, “Burnout is the new black.”

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Diane Holmes Crop 1Diane writes two columns for Freelance-Zone: Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.

She’s the Founder and Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

editorial, fiction, Marketing yourself

Part 3: The 8 Things Writers Should Do to Influence Readers (and Make a Sale)

Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery by Diane Holmes, Chief Alchemist of Pitch University

Passion

You have 2 clever tools to Svengali readers and potential clients. “Come to me… come read my writing…”

Your Writing + You = Career

Turns out both you and your writing are alluring.  Oh, baby, oh, baby.

But in order for you to be seen as alluring, you need to be able to let your passion for your writing show, and that, it turns out, is quite a difficult skill for many of us.

Do you know the art of communicating Passion…

…and inviting your potential customer to share it with you?

yes no head

(And why are we all bald in this little quiz?  Just go with it.)

This is PART THREE in a series where we look at the 8 ways you share your passion with your  potential clients/readers.

And now, the last 3 languages of influence (aka passion).

#6 Connection.

Learn to speak about your connection to the people around you, to causes, and to the world… not just to your writing.  Nothing is more alluring than someone who actually likes people.

People do make the best readers.

#7 Shared Vision.

Be your own cause, your own revolution by sharing the vision you have for “how things work” or, at least, how they could work.

See the hope that doesn’t exist yet.  See problems and solutions in a new way.  Writers have a unique way of building a universe in their head.  Sometimes the only thing that people lack is the ability to see things in a new way.

Share your mind, your vision, your practical knowledge with others.

And yes, something that relates to your writing is good.

But even if it’s not related to your writing, be interesting.  Have an interesting mind.  Look for the points of “new thought” that overlap between you and others.

Those points of overlap are sparks.

#8  The Hold-Your-Breath Moment of Magic.

Much of our best life experiences are being in the right place at the right time.  If you’ve ever been brilliant in the wrong time or place, you know what I mean.  It goes nowhere.  You’re passed over, roughshod, and left like roadkill on the side of life’s highway.

And as much as this is true, the best of life is also how you see all those wrong places and times, how you see the highway and the tread marks that cover your body.

Look for these magic moments.  Seize them.  Relate them to others.  Invite your readers along.

This is the stuff readers want to hear about in author interviews:  the magic of the world and of how you see it.

We live a lot of normal in our everyday life.  But we celebrate the WOW that wakes us up, inspires us, shows us who we can be, or just lets us know that that being alive is wow in itself.

Here’s a teacher, speaker, and ultimately an author who gave us all a WOW moment. May you find your own wow moments and share them with the world, or just a single reader.

Let’s get out of so much normal and have more wow.

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clip_image004Diane writes two alternating columns for Freelance-Zone:Fiction-Zone: Leaps in Fiction Mastery and Marketing-Zone:Marketing-Zone: Marketing Yourself and Your Book.