Marketing Questions For Writers

Thanks for this clearly-stated advice!

I started off with Boomer Lake in little 'ol Stillwater, OK. Then I branched out to nationwide news, followed shortly there after by worldwide news. Where am I at now? Sitting pretty darn pretty in the bird world.

I took marketing in both undergrad and grad school and worked in the field for quite a few years, it is fun but lots of hard work. You have said it well!

I have definitely learned this during my time here at hubpages and this will be so helpful to the writers here Bill. I flunked marketing in college and just could not get a grasp on the concept. I'm the type of person who believes..if you like, just get. I was never a salesman, but obviously many people relate to marketing and it works and like you said, make sure your product is worth it! Nice hub.

Hey Billy - Majored in business management and went on into public relations and marketing. Later became a substitute teacher for six years, while working part time for the state promoting international trade. Yeah. And I was terrible at networking - great at meeting people, but shy about selling my services, although I could sell other people's.

Finally learning how, though, and guess what? I got my first magazine sale a couple of weeks ago! It's only $150, but it's a start (which itself is huge). I offered to write an article for the American Planning Association exploring whether or not cities are hiring sustainability skills in their planning departments. They accepted it for their online journal. Their print journal, which is where I sent my query initially, forwarded it to the online editor, so I'm sure they'll be watching to see how I do too. :-) Thanks for your encouragement of all of us newbie professional writers.

Excellent suggestions as always, Bill. With more and more folks turning to entrepreneurial efforts, including writing, wouldn't it be a good idea to start teaching the rudiments of marketing in our school system? Middle school classes would not be too soon.

A helpful article! "Is your product unique?" proved to be the most difficult--and ultimately most revealing--question for me: I know the genre I'm writing in, I know who my target audience is--but I needed to do some soul searching to figure out that special something that I offer within that genre and to that audience. Thanks!

Thank you for this article. It helped clear things up. I'll have to start thinking the answer to those questions!

Bill,

My parents owned and operated a general type store as I was growing up: gas, groceries, feed and fertilizer. We lived in the basement apartment underneath the store. I learned a great deal regarding that sort of business. I also learned that I did not want to work in the "business" type world. And yet, there is no getting around it if one wishes to be successful regardless of his/her focus. You give excellent advice that anyone wanting to succeed should read.

Thank You,

Kim

Every writer, or anyone wanting to be a writer should definitely read this hub.

I don't like marketing, per se. But, I do like the results of marketing. Great marketing questions, Bill. I answered the question about who my audience is and now writing is much more fun because when I write, now I have a vision of my audience sitting in front of me and I write as if I am writing just for them.

If we do not keep on improving, we might as well not keep on writing. Your question on what we're offering ought to be always on our minds. Thank you for keeping us on our toes.

Marketing Questions For Writers so true and well mentioned, definitely a useful, and most helpful hub to all writers.

Thanks Bill once again. You are always sure to cover every aspect of becoming a writer, a successful one!

Appreciate the insight and the helpful information as always.

Blessings,

Faith Reaper

Thank you for the reminder about the importance of marketing, Bill. I know it's something that I need to do, even though I don't like it!

Another helpful hub. Your commitment to helping other writers is wonderful. Thank you..

Great hub, Bill. Your advice is very true and fitting for this craft!

Are these photos a prelude? I have a feeling the Nikon will get a workout!

Yes the publishing business has changed drastically in the last decade as everything else has thanks to technology. It is also true you have given us some things to think about. The great teacher, planting a seed and letting the student grow that seed. Thanks again my friend.

Voted up, useful, and interesting.

Hi Bill. I'm back. And tired as heck. You have laid out a process for success in very simple terms here. I like your approach of writers asking themselves questions. How we answer these simple questions really tells us if we are on track for success.

As always you have given us much to think about. But, if we want to be successful at this we had better take heed. Great job.

This is a great follow-up to my networking at trade shows hub! Same principles apply to ANY marketing. Voted up and shared, of course.

Gotta run and take care of my Pet Rock. :)

Marketing is a slow process and takes time and effort to get it rolling. The business plan is essential, I agree.

More great advice from billybuc! I went out and bought Writers Market 2013 like you advised me last year, but then there was an illness and then an injury and another excuse and another and another. Other than socializing with friends on social media, I've pretty much been offline since early Spring but it is good to be back and reading your work again. Thank you for this very valuable information.

Hi Billy! Excellent points. When I was working at the law firm, we started networking back around 1996/1997. I took on a new roll as business manager. I started doing the marketing. I also developed brochures. But networking was the most important piece to make all of the other fluffy stuff to work. We took on a huge company that had say 5000 employees. We received many clients from that company. And then we gained more clients from those employees of that company. It became very important, even back then. Today it's so crucial with all of the social media connections.

This is good advice, as every profession involves marketing yourself and your ideas. Answering the questions you've posed are important if you view writing as a profession rather than just a hobby.

Jackie, I am one of those people who have started selling 99 cent Kindle books. After 3 months, I am about ready to quit some of my lesser paying jobs to focus writing full-time for Kindle. You can make good money selling 99 cent books.

Well said Billy..I find I never do enough marketing but on the days I do I notice a huge increase in views on hubpages.

I wouldn't mind being a one hit wonder....j/k...kinda. lol

Great message, none of us should ever be fool enough to think someone is going to come looking for us because we are so good. I just wonder about these people who sell eBooks for 99 cents and claim to make a living at it? Do you know anything about that? They have dozens. Use to see them at Fb a lot but don't go there much anymore. ^+

Hey Bill, interesting and informative as always. I must admit, when I see really good writers struggling, I get very discouraged. However, you do a marvellous job of inspiring us.

My best.

Although, to me marketing is a dirty word, it's necessary. I've finally faced up to the fact and am working on a plan. Thanx for the advice and very helpful videos, Bill.

I hope that you had a great weekend exploring the back roads and taking pictures :-) I can't wait to see your first article about that!

It's not easy to be known as a writer even if you are a good one. It takes a lot of work outside of writing to be known. And I agree with you that Facebook is like background music on an elevator; I am not so sure that it's as popular as at its beginning. The same for Twitter.

Brendon Burchard succeeded in using marketing to be known as a writer or a marketer.... or maybe it's the other way around. He arrived to create a buzz around what he does by publishing books.

I have one of my son who is an aspiring writer. I will send him the link of your article :-) Have a great day!

Hi Bill

Really helpful article. You studying Marketing all those years ago is benefiting many now.

I have a grand plan... which I am hopefully edging slowly towards. Very slowly :)

Thank you as always for sharing your knowledge and just for being you!

Anna

As I work to grow as a professional writer, I never thought to create a business plan for myself because I did not think of myself as a business yet. Everything I know about it I have learned second-hand from my husband and his MBA background. I will say that I am better at answering your Marketing Questions than I was a few years ago. Thank you for your useful article.

This is a well-organized article that definitely gets to the heart of an aspiring writer's marketing questions, Bill. I definitely could relate with the parental angst of the Baby Boomer generation when the universal goal of loving parents was to ensure that their kids got a decent education so they could have a better life.

But today, we have a different world and some upside down priorities. I could stand on a tree stump all day and rant about how local, regional, and federal funds that could be wisely invested in supporting quality education are instead diverted into ridiculous "Let's get FAT CAT fatter!" schemes.

So populist messages like yours ring true. I just wish the youngsters could have similar messages presented to them at the outset of their educational experience.

Keep that fire lit, good buddy! Aloha, and may there be some sunshine today!

~Joe

I like the ripples in the pond analogy; so true that the little ripples work away at spreading the word. Not only any writer but anyone wishing to succeed in any job should heed your advice and work hard at making a difference, at making themselves the best at what they do. Wishing you a great week, bill. Ann

I liked this. A while back I did some marketing and coined a phrase; Marketing is education and education is marketing. Spreading information and knowledge is a good thing. Great Hub Bill.