Professional Writing

Lesson 3: Market (and Market)

Resell Your Work

In order to resell your work and establish a clientele, you need to write for at least one high-traffic website. Suite101.com is an example of one. It is an organized directory, so search engines locate its components, columns and writers before many other websites. This means the rest of the world will too.

After I began writing book reviews for my own Suite101 topic, "Alternative Writing," authors and publishers began contacting me via the email I provided at the site. So many review requests came in - exacerbated by a submission of my services to BookZonePro.com - I decided to begin charging at least fifteen dollars per review.

Since, I've volunteered to write a book review column for a site that receives about one million five hundred visitors per month (CapeCodToday.com).

Clearly, the reason high-traffic sites are beneficial to review clients is because the whole purpose of reviews is to present them to as many eyes as possible with the aim of gaining widespread interest for the book or product mentioned.

On Reselling:

Reselling your published works means more money. What you must keep in mind when resubmitting a piece is you'll need to make minor changes to your accompanying query letter. Query letters are EVERYTHING. http://www.poewar.com/articles/beginner.... will take you to the best query letter format. It gives an example of a query letter along with an explanation of each section. The only thing about the example I don't find necessary is the snail-mail addresses at the top (why include them when querying by email?).

Query-Changing Examples:

You might stress the writing elements in a review about a book that focuses on overcoming odds in this business when submitting to a writing publication. When submitting the same piece to a female-oriented publication, you can instead mention your own career path as a female writer (if you’re female). Editors can then see how the essay belongs within their pages. Like Lay, you too can sell one-third of your works, bringing in more contacts and more paychecks.

The idea is to resubmit to as many non-competing markets as possible. The results are more contacts from all walks of life, works that draw a wider audience, and unique experiences with a variety of businesses.

Think about your published work. Can you come up with a business plan for any of your pieces? You might be inspired by a personal piece that suggests a course. You might then approach Suite University reps with your idea!

It is key to keep marketing as your priority. By keeping the "marketing ball" rolling, you'll have future projects galore. For instance, you could market a “Suite” course by following it up with an e-book based on its course teachings: Authorsden.com offers e-publishing for free.

Even a wonderful piece that hasn't yet been published can have superb potential. Let's say you wrote a heated letter to the editor of your local paper in response to a major world event, but never had the guts to submit it. Now is the time. If it gets published, or the editor responds with her/his own thoughts, use the piece and the editor's feelings to come up with a new article or story that you can resubmit to an appropriate market or publish as a new column, newsletter, or e-book. There is a whole world of marketing out there.

You can use any ideas in this month's Writer's Digest - a career article, the markets, whatever enlightens you - to come up with a business plan for a particular work of yours you feel has widespread potential.

This section is an apt prerequisite for the next: "Vary Your Experience."

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