As writers, we often don’t consider marketing our work as a way to secure new business. We file our stories and then pitch new ones. Or we write a book and we’re already working on our next one. Yet, savvy writers know that business begets business and one easy way to stay on one’s radar is by being visible.
Marketing ourselves as writers comes easier for some more than others. Although I’m a freelancer writer, my background in marketing helped me understand the value and need to market my work. If assigning editors didn’t see my work and the fact that I was proud enough to share it, how would they be able to consider me for future assignments?
What came naturally to me wasn’t as obvious or natural for many writers so I organized a panel to present at this year’s American Society of Journalists and Authors annual conference entitled Next Level Marketing. I invited three women who I consider rock stars at marketing their work to join my panel: Sandra Beckwith of Build Book Buzz, Alex Van Buren of Yahoo Food and Gina Roberts-Grey, a freelance writer.
All of us shared some easy ways to market ourselves as writers and here are some of the key take-aways if you weren’t able to join us:
- Megy Karydes: Share your work. Post it on social media sites with a question or a fact (revealed in the piece) that will encourage sharing. Test different social media sites to see which do best for you. It might be Google + or Pinterest.
- Sandra Beckwith: Learn how to use LinkedIn. Here’s information on finding and joining groups on LinkedIn. She added that there’s a right way and a wrong way to use LinkedIn groups to drive traffic to your blog or website. The right way is to start a true discussion and link it to your blog post, where you have more information on the discussion topic. The wrong way is to just link to your blog post without adding a discussion-generating headline and text that starts people talking about your topic.
- Alex Van Buren is also a fan of LinkedIn (in fact, that’s how her current boss found her). In addition to keeping your LinkedIn profile up to date, she recommends taking the initiative and hosting networking outings. By hosting events, people will start to think of you as a people-connector. She does this for food writers and editors every few months. Similar to a mini-salon, it allows people to get together, have fun, network and share opportunities.
- Gina Roberts-Grey (who wasn’t able to join us at the last minute but still took the time to share her tips with us): Sign off in a marketing frame of mind. Every email Gina sends is a chance to tell the world what she’s up to and she uses that real estate to feature a recent clip or link to a significant project.
Fifteen minutes a day is all it takes. Truly. We’re all busy. We’re all writers. Yet we all realize the importance of marketing ourselves and our work. Why? Because it works. It doesn’t require a marketing plan but it does require commitment. Schedule in your day like any other important activity.
If you need help to get started, reach out. I’m always happy to help fellow writers.