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Marketing Strategies for Writers

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Michael Sedge, owner of Strawberry Media Agency and guru of marketing strategies great and small, has his finger on the pulse of struggling writers and authors everywhere because he has been there. Sedge has been able to parlay his writing skills into an impressive global business and shares his tricks of the trade in this fascinating volume.

Sedge focuses on, very simply, how to sell writing. He dubs his game plan "guerilla marketing," and he creates an orderly universe out of a terrifying and confusing market. He offers a powerful litany of ideas for: researching the marketplace; smoozing with secretaries and others who are in support positions; anticipating markets based on current events, dates, and trends; using personal style to create markets; maximizing profits and minimizing work; how to create publicity packets; and many other useful tips to new writers.

Sedge throughly understands image, and scatters examples of how to seem larger than life in order to better promote oneself:

"Distancing yourself makes everything more profession, more `big league.' If you are requesting information about John Hendricks, founder and CEO of the Discovery Channel, would you expect to receive it directly from Hendricks? Of course not; he is much too busy for that. The company has a public relations office for such things. This is the exact image you want to present for your business."

Marketing Strategies For Writers is a bible for marketing. It is the type of book that should occupy the same space as the best writing books in a writer's collection. Sedge writes with humor, the earnestness of an excellent teacher trying to impart pearls of wisdom, and genuine compassion for the plight of writers everywhere. He gives writers hope with his abundant wisdom and optimism; and he prods and emphasizes with interesting tales of his own success.

Sedge is someone who should be listened to, as he has produced an incredible 2600 articles, several books, and tapes and scripts. His agency handles photography, marketing, writing, editing, and anything else that is required within the publishing field. He is truly the guru of marketing...and writing.

Although I've written three books and scores of articles, my marketing skills are far less honed than my prose. When I saw Mike Sedge's new book, I bought it without hesitation, hoping the information would help me increase my sales. It did---and if you are a published writer, or working towards publication, Mike's book is a MUST READ.

From Chapter One, Mike paints a telling picture of why it's critical for writers to constantly market themselves and their work. Working smarter, not harder is the guerrilla writer way of life. The smart writer doesn't sit around waiting for work--he (or she) goes out and aggressively grabs it. Mike's book will detail how.

This book deftly puts us in an editor's shoes. By understanding what the pile of mail stacked on editors' desks contain, the savvy writer will be able to make their query or submission shine. Guess what? If you're a competent writer who gets the facts right and delivers the goods on time, you really don't have much competition. And once again, this book tells how to get to the top of that pile.

As a writer, it never occurred to me to expand into other areas. After reading this book, I've developed a new marketing plan, to include actively seeking speaking engagements and radio appearances.

If you are looking for nuts and bolts answers to questions like: Should I submit e-mail queries, or how do I get more work from editors after my initial contract, you'll find them here.

Mike's guerrilla marketing has changed my approach to marketing my work, and helped me make more money with less effort. After I read his book, I used some of his ideas and quickly sent off two queries one Sunday afternoon. Three days later I had bagged both assignments. His advice helped me win a $300 assignment for a job that took me an hour. Not a bad rate!

If you're serious about being a writer, you need this book!

I put some of the suggestions in Michael Sedge's "Marketing Strategies for Writers" into action, and within four days received positive feedback from an editor!

Michael Sedge gives practical, down to earth, useable suggestions on how to sell your writing, and then sell it for more, in Marketing Strategies for Writers.

The book is easy to read with print that is large enough to be gentle on the eyes, and text broken up with nifty, short, highlighted quotes from various experts and authorities (such as Tim Perrin, Executive Director of WritingSchool.com).

Sedge's material is mostly original, and not the usual fluff regurgitated. He makes the drudgery and terror of marketing seem exciting, and provides names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses from his files to get your efforts kick-started.

His willingness to divulge which of his marketing efforts failed is reassuring. If it didn't work for Michael Sedge, and a similar effort hadn't worked for me, I felt I wasn't such a flop!

If you really want to sell what you write, buy this book now, before it sells out!

Writers who want to assure success have to be even more aggressive in today's competitive market: this uncovers some tactics not mentioned in other books; from how to create a winning professional appearance and using networking to establish publisher contacts to breaking into difficult markets and self-agenting. An important guide for any would-be author.

If you ask editors what percentage of the writers they've worked with consistently turn in error-free, reader-grabbing, ready-to-go work on deadline, the answer is invariably a very small percentage. How frustrating to be told that you're one of the 10% that fulfills these basic requirements, yet to have to stand in line behind the other 90% as they knock on editors' doors asking for work! There has to be a better way.

The answer to this dilemma is marketing. Good writers who can fulfill editors' needs need superior marketing to set them apart and help them cut through the hordes of other writers competing for the same markets. After all, what good does it do you (or the editor) to be one of the 10% of writers that can do the job if the editor doesn't know you exist?

Marketing Strategies for Writers addressed every question I had about how to increase my business through marketing. Sedge's ideas are clear and unique--and as I've learned since I've started implementing them, they work.

Sedge also has excellent advice on reselling articles to different markets, using unique premiums to get editors' attention, networking and more.

I've ordered a number of writer-writing related books, and have found some of them to be overly formal, overly simple, outdated, and just all around uninspiring. But this book was very useful and had me making notes and sticking post-its and thinking of little schemes of my own. His instructions were clear and easy to understand and were written with tension and rhythm so they read more like a story than "step by step, boring". I liked that! I also enjoyed his vivacity - you could tell he was an original thinker, a schemer kind of marketing person, which is what you need to be in today's market (no matter what you're selling). The tips he gave, or stories he told illustrating those tips, almost made me wish he didn't tell; they were so good and useful, I almost didn't want everyone to have access to them! However, there was plenty of room for your own interpretation and creation in the suggested ideas, it was more of a philosophy (concretely demonstrated) than a step by step guide, as I said. I want to say, "Thank you" to Michael Sedge for the book - great for anyone in marketing, not just writers (and we are all in marketing nowadays, or need to be) If you are a writer who wants to sell your work and grow your business,with style- then this book will suit you.

This is a super book. I work with writers every day- and this is the book I tell them to go buy. Every new writer needs this book. Congratulations- this book is fun and gives writers the information they need to know in today's marketplace. ...

Freelance writers offer a product and that product is "writing." If you're making below minimum wage with your freelance writing, you need to start thinking like a business and get to marketing. But how do you market, where should you market, what do you market, and who do you market to?

That's where "Marketing Strategies For Writers" comes in. First, you'll learn the basics of marketing, then you'll discover who your customers are and what their needs are, then you'll learn how to sell yourself and your "writing" through various tips, like the fact that 70% of selling an idea to a publication is the publication's need for that idea.
Michael Sedge says, "The average 1,000 word article sells for $375." In order to make $36,000 per year, you'd need to sell 8 articles per month at $375 each. But then he reminds you to take into account the fact that as a self-employed person, you'd have to give up near 50% of your income towards business expenses, taxes, and health insurance premiums.

I received a complimentary copy to review.

As the director of the Writer's Business Academy, and a radio talkshow host who interviews writers and experts who can help authors and writers create stronger and more profitable writing businesses, it's refreshing to find a book that cuts through the fat and fluff and gets right to the heart of how to market yourself, your writing business and your book.

Author Michael Sedge walks the new writer through the bewildering maze of what he calls "guerilla marketing strategies"- and he makes each concept simple and easy enough for the beginner, while providing valuable out of the box strategies that will make even an experienced writer sit up and take notice of.

For example his rather brilliant strategy to get a book contract with the Discovery Channel was an eye-opener, as were his ideas on querying editors.

Although you might not agree with - or be brave enough to try - all of his ideas and strategies, this book is a must-read if you want to learn some solid and highly effective ways of standing out from the crowd and making more sales from your next book.

It's going on the reading list at the Writer's Business Academy as a "must read" marketing book - and if you're a writer or author who wants to learn how to successfully build and market writing business in at least three different ways... get this book.

Writing is a business and without understanding how to use traditional business techniques, you won't make a dime with your writing. Sedge takes readers through the process of understanding who their potential clients are and how to sell ideas to publishers so they can make a good living writing from home.