Let's Get Social

Social media is here, whether you like it or not. At the same time, more and more writers are pursuing online publishing, filling Amazon’s inventory with all sorts of ebooks. Many of these writers have turned to Facebook and other social media platforms to promote their books. Unfortunately, just as many find that even with diligent attention to social media, they’re promotions are going nowhere. Why is that?

The trick behind using social media outlets is to connect like-minded people. But the group most writers seem to attract is other writers. Other writers won’t necessarily buy your books or send other writing work your way. They’re too busy trying to sell their own books and writing services. So who do you connect? Readers.

Just saying “Buy my book” won’t get you additional readers. But getting your readers interested in your subject will. Some social media users even try connecting their followers to other followers.

There was a time when Facebook was for making friends. And though it still has that friendly environment, it has matured. If you don’t have an author page, if you write books, or a business page, if you do other types of writing, you should definitely set one up. This is your professional or “fan” page. It’s the page that will keep your fans, that is your readers, up to date on your what’s happening in your professional life. Readers “like” this page. They aren’t there as friends but as customers or buyers. 

Your professional page is where you offer readers some extra value—a behind-the-scenes look at your work, for example.

Use your page to promote your writing, but also use it to ask your fans why they like your work. Facebook is the type of social media platform that encourages readers to share their personal insights and lives much more, and you can capitalize on that through your page. Ask questions, run polls, offer contests. Interact with your readers in a way not related to your books or other writing, then use the feedback you get to become more personal to your fans.

Offer your readers some insights into your subject matter. For instance, why you chose a particular location for your novel or what makes you passionate about the non-fiction subject that you last wrote about.

And don’t forget to use images. Facebook users thrive on them. Have photos taken of you signing your books or have someone else take a few, even with their smartphone. Or you might take photos of the locations of your short stories or novels, if they’re based on real places. Text only posts on Facebook rarely get much attention. You need to pair your text with an image or a meme.

If you attend writers’ or book conferences, be sure to take photos and bring your readers with you. Post different ones every day. Too many writers are afraid that if they mention or show the work of other writers that they’ll move away from them. Why do you think so many businesses set up shop near other businesses of the same type? Competition is good for business.

Encourage your fans to share your posts with their friends on Facebook. Get them to talk up your books. After all, they like them or they wouldn’t be following you on Facebook. Ask them to help you find more fans—but not too often.

Be careful about encouraging likes from other writers who want you to like their page in return. That will get you a bunch of likes, but it won’t get you anywhere with your promotions. That’s the only reason they liked you to get a like back.

Next Week: Setting up a Cross Platform

Learn more about me on my Web site, Writing at Its Best, and on my Facebook Page.

Are You Staying Competitive?

Okay, so you created a business plan and are on your way. But is that really enough? While that may have been fine to get you going, it’s not enough to keep you going, especially if you’re out to make a profit.

Whether you'd just like to sell your work steadily to quality markets without too much hassle or whether you like the idea of making enough money to be invited to visit luxury resorts or  test-drive the latest sport cars, you must look to profits. If you don't concentrate on having a surplus at the end of the year, you’ll fall behind. Profit requires knowing how to compete with the professionals so you may join their ranks.

So how do you stay competitive in this business?

First and foremost, you have to focus on your craft. Your writing has got to be the best it can be. After all, it’s your product and your livelihood. Are your writing skills up to par? But don’t just check the mechanics—spelling, punctuation, sentence structure—check your content. Is what you write compelling? Does it capture your reader’s attention and hold it? In this world of ever-increasing distractions, does your work stand out? Periodically check what’s being written about in your subject area. While you may be a fine writer, you may be behind the times with your content.

And what about your financial reserve? Do you even have one? Too many beginning freelance writers work so close to the wire that one unpaid job can knock them for a loop. Try to build up some sort of reserve so that you don’t fall into this rut. Once you end up there, you’ll find it difficult to get out.

How well do you manage your time and energy? Remember, time is money. If you don’t manage your time efficiently, you won’t make any. Do you work on several projects at once? Do you combine research for more than one project instead of flitting from one to the other? Do you get the most production out of the time you do have?
   
Have you set some priorities? Arrange your work in order of importance—what’s due first, perhaps who’s paying the most. However, while working on high-profile projects all the time can be rewarding, it can wear you out. Mix lighter jobs with more heavy duty ones that require more intense focus and energy.

Problems arise in this business all the time. Sometimes, you may feel as if one problem follows directly on the heals of the previous ones. Are you ever going to get a break? Often, you won’t. Do you have the stamina and patience to put up with the nit-picking of some editors and clients? Are the ones doing the nit-picking the ones who pay the least? Consider if working for them is worth it in the long run. When problems do arise, are you able to solve them quickly or do they linger and eat into the energy you need to complete your work?

Let’s face it, freelancing is a risky business at best. It’s like putting your right foot out and not having a steady ground to walk on. How do you handle risk? Are you an all or nothing person? Or do you balance risk with some conservative judgements? Ask yourself, “What do I have to lose?” You may be surprised with the answer. Freelance writing is a lot like playing the stock market. Some of your stocks may shoot upwards only to come crashing down the next day. Others may plod along steadily and in the long run earn profits for you. While the steady ones may not be as interesting, they don’t come crashing down too often. Taking calculated risks is good for business. Study the markets and know what you’re getting into before you make the leap.

And once you’re a success, how do you plan to stay up there. It’s a long way down and sometimes the rungs of the ladder break, causing you to fall quickly. There are a lot of ups and downs to freelancing, and it’s up to you how you handle them if you want to stay ahead of your competition.

Ten Things to Do to Achieve Freelance Success

Anyone who plays the ponies knows that in order to boost your odds you need to know and do all you can. Guessing won’t get you the big money. And neither will closing your eyes and pointing to just any horse in the race. So it is with freelancing. To become a success, you have to make it happen. To do so requires you to honestly look at yourself and your business operation for weak areas that need to be improved upon or eliminated.

To get started on the right track, ask yourself the following 10 questions:

    1. Have you learned all you need to know to present yourself in the most professional manner? Look at related areas that might help. Tap any and all sources, including this blog, to learn all you can about the writing business.

    2. Have you kept current with the changes in your industry? What problems do other independent business owners—commercial artists, printers, bookstore owners, consultants, etc.—face every day?

    3. Have you studied your competition as much as possible? By noticing how other writers accomplish what they do, you may be able to pick up some of their techniques to improve  your business practices.

    4. Have you paid attention to current legislation that's bound to affect future business decisions in the industry? To do so you must read online news from Web sites in the industry and subscribe to their E-mail newsletters to be kept up to date, as well as  maintain open lines to important contacts who know about or may be able to influence that legislation (editors, elected officials, influential business persons, etc.).

    5. Have you joined any writing and/or business associations that may offer connections with fellow writers and markets? Have you participated in seminars given by experts in your field?

    6. Have you observed outstanding people in other fields and attempted to discover by what means they leaped forward in their careers?  Did they make bold changes of direction, timely innovations, or conceive creative promotional campaigns? Take time to lunch with friends in other businesses or fellow writers and quiz them intelligently.

    7. Have you set performance goals for yourself and stayed with them? Goals are a great way to motivate yourself.

    8. Have you honestly evaluated the work you've done? Take a hard look at what you’re producing and perhaps seek the opinions of others in the writing field.

    9. Have you trained yourself to troubleshoot problems? Solve problems as they arise rather than put them off until later.

    10: Have you learned to delegate and practiced motivating others to cooperate with you? You can’t do it all by yourself. Try outsourcing some smaller tasks of your business to allow yourself more time to write. When your business reaches a point where you can afford to hire help, and you need it, do so.

You’ll want to return to these pump-priming techniques repeatedly throughout your hopefully long and happy freelance career. You can't afford not to.

Check Out Your Competition

Before any business owner starts a business, he or she first checks out the competition. Freelance writing isn’t any different. The mistake that most beginning freelance writers make is that they aim too high, considering top-name writers as their competition. Instead, you should be studying those closer to where you are while studying the techniques of those at the top.

When you examine periodicals and even books, pay special attention to the writers who appear over and over in them. Make note of those who seem to get the most mileage out of an idea or have the most prominent articles or the most books published by the same publisher. If one or two names appear in a number of markets, make a note to whom they're selling their work. Also see if  these writers seem to specialize in any particular subject. Most magazines publish a short bio of a writer below the article by that writer. Though brief, they’ll give you an insight into what type of work the writer has become known for and other works by him or her in past editions of that same magazine. These will help acquaint you with the writer behind the byline.

Make a list of the writers you find most often, then head to your local library to look them up in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, going back maybe five or six years.  Write down the other titles of articles or stories they've published, then find them and read them. As you do, you’ll want to make some notes as to what about these articles stand out. Afterwards, you’ll be able to make a few notes about the writers’ careers. Have they stayed with the same markets over and over? Did they progress from a bylined story to a spot on the masthead? Have they appeared in competing periodicals and, if so, did they seem to progress in professional stature? To find which magazines are competing with each other, head to your local bookstore or newstand and look over the magazines on the rack. Most will be grouped by subject matter, so it will be easy to determine which ones are in competition for the same readers.

Now that you know who is your competition, how do they write? What sort of style do they use? Is it slick and sassy or educated and intellectual? Do they thoroughly research their pieces? Does the writer seem bright and on the ball? Or is their writing just ho-hum, average, publishable? If their writing is way above average, you should be studying those writers to see what makes them tick.

Another way to look at your competition is to study what they’re writing about. To be a good writer, you must read widely and know what’s being published. While all writers write alone, the good ones are aware of the latest trends in their subject field. And keeping up with their markets is the best way to do that.

Editors constantly emphasize reading a publication before submitting. While this may seem like it would only apply to magazines, it also applies to books. Checking out the catalogs of book publishers will help you avoid sending your books to publishers who have no interest in publishing your book in the first place. By studying the pieces in a publication, you’ll learn what kind of pieces its editor wants and what subjects he or she doesn’t want—those that seem to be missing.

If you’re interested in publishing magazines articles, by now, you've chosen a few periodicals in each of the categories that interest you. Now try to figure out what types of articles or short stories these writers are writing. Not all writers write just one type of article, such as a travel piece, or one type of short story, such as a mystery. As a beginning freelancer, you may find it difficult to clearly define which category or genre an article or short story fits into. Study them carefully.

And even if you’ve been freelancing for a while, it doesn’t hurt to review your competition from time to time. It’s the only way you’ll get ahead.