The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds: A Second Helping of "How-To" for Any Writer Dreaming of Great Bucks and Exceptional Quality of Life [Paperback]

Peter Bowerman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2004 | ISBN-10: 0967059852 | ISBN-13: 978-0967059853

The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds (Fanove, October 2004)

In 2000, Atlanta-based freelance commercial writer Peter Bowerman released "The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency As a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less," a detailed how-to for starting, building and managing a lucrative commercial freelancing business: writing for corporations and creative entities and for $50-125+ an hour. The book became an award-winning, triple-book-club selection (Book-of-the-Month, Quality Paperback Book, Writers Digest).

As Corporate America has downsized, it has outsourced much of their creative needs, making this particular writing direction more viable and profitable than ever before. Here’s a writing direction with plenty of work, strong demand for good writers, hourly rates of $50-125+ ($60-80 average) and where ALL time is billed. No flat fees with vast, open-ended commitments of time. Translation? Less time working to pay bills and more time pursuing your writing passions.

Perhaps you’re a writer – seasoned or aspiring. Or maybe a home-based business-seeker or at-home Mom – looking to leverage past business experience into a lucrative, flexible income. Regardless, if you’re looking to turn your love of writing into your living – a GOOD living – this might be the direction for you.

With 95% new content, "TWFW: Back For Seconds" is a companion volume (the other 5% is a 12-page encapsulation of the TWFW) that builds on TWFW with dramatically expanded sections on sales and marketing – demystifying subjects that often terrify creative types. Marketing by phone, fax, e-mail, direct mail, Web sites and networking are all covered.

Drawing from the author’s own experiences and dozens of firsthand accounts from commercial writers around the world, the book discusses building the business in small towns or rural areas, on a part-time basis, in unusual niches, along with effective networking strategies and much more.

What’s "commercial writing"? Marketing brochures, ad copy, newsletters, direct mail campaigns, speeches, sales sheets, proposals, web content, video/CD-ROM scripting, annual reports, case studies, and so much more.

Why do corporations hire freelancers? For good solid economic and creative reasons. With a freelancer, corporations don’t have to pay salary, benefits, and vacation time. But they will pay a freelancer $60-80 (average) for their time. In addition, they pay only what they need when they need it. And with a network of freelancers, they get a broad spectrum of fresh talent (hard to get with in-house staff writers used to writing about the same topics day after day) which they can "form-fit" to their specific writing needs.

Veteran commercial freelancer Bob Bly, known as the freelance writing "guru" for his 50+ writing titles (including the classic, "Secrets of a Freelance Writer" and "The Copywriter's Handbook") says of commercial freelancing: "I know of no other arena of writing so lucrative yet so easy to get started in."

His take on the "The Well-Fed Writer": "This book is the best information on how to make more money with corporate clients I have ever read. It answers everything you want to know. Highly recommended."

His feedback on "Back For Seconds": "When I wrote 'Secrets of a Freelance Writer,' it was the first and only book on making six figures as a commercial freelancer. Of the dozen-plus books written on the subject since then, this book is by far the most comprehensive, useful and valuable."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As a publisher who hires freelancers, I’ve learned most writers stink at marketing themselves. This book is enormously needed." -- Anne Holland, Publisher, MarketingSherpa Newsletter

"If you’ve been afraid to tackle corporate writing...this book has everything you need to get you started." -- Moira Allen, Author, “Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer”; Editor, Writing-World.com

"I’ve urged dozens of people to buy 'The Well-Fed Writer'...Now, I’ll be recommending the sequel...resources are unbeatable." -- Marcia Yudkin, Author,

"Of the dozen-plus books written on commercial freelancing since "Secrets" - by far the most comprehensive, useful and valuable." -- Bob Bly (Author of

"This is the smartest, most useful guide to freelancing I’ve ever read....get [it] and follow its savvy advice." -- Daniel H. Pink, Author, Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working For Yourself

About the Author

Peter Bowerman has been a freelance commercial writer in Atlanta, Georgia since 1993, with a corporate client list that includes Coca-Cola, MCI, BellSouth, IBM, UPS, Holiday Inn, Cingular Wireless, DuPont, American Express, Mercedes-Benz, The Discovery Channel, Junior Achievement, Georgia-Pacific, The Cartoon Network, and The American Heart Association, just to name a few.

After a 15-year career in sales and marketing, Bowerman turned his sights to freelance commercial writing. With NO industry experience, No previous paid writing experience and NO writing background, he built a freelance writing business from fantasy to full-time in less than four months. He has published over 250 columns and articles and leads seminars on writing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Fanove Publishing (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967059852
• ISBN-13: 978-0967059853
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #376,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since 1993, Peter Bowerman has made a lie out of the conventional wisdom that "starving" and "writing" are eternally joined at the hip. And, along the way, through four books, he has shared that message with thousands of other writers and authors longing for a way to pursue their love of writing, and actually have it pay all their bills - and a lot more.

It was in 1993 that Bowerman leveraged a 15-year sales/marketing career into a full-time living as a freelance commercial writer. With NO paid professional writing experience, NO writing training, and NO industry contacts, he was paying all his bills in under four months - using the techniques outlined in his books and seminars.

Over the years, his commercial client list has included The Coca-Cola Company, BellSouth, IBM, UPS, American Express, Mercedes-Benz, The Discovery Channel, Junior Achievement and many others. Check out what commercial writing entails and looks like at his portfolio at writeinc dot biz.

In 2000, building on his success (and not at all impressed with the sad and sorry calculus of conventional publishing), Bowerman wrote and self-published the award-winning triple book-club selection: The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less.

The book was described as "a detailed how-to for helping writers - seasoned and aspiring - launch, build and grow a 'commercial' freelancing practice: writing for businesses, and for hourly rates of $50-125."

The book achieved the following milestones:

* A selection of Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Book Club, and Writer's Digest Book Club (second best-selling Featured Alternate in more than two years)

* Second Place: ForeWord magazine Book of the Year Awards (Career category)

* Finalist: Publisher's Marketing Association Ben Franklin Awards (Best First Book)

* Honorable Mention: Writer's Digest National Self-Published Book Awards

* 53,000 copies in print of both books (as of 6/09)

In 2004, he released a companion volume: "The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds" (triple-award finalist), also self-published.

Together, the two books have provided him with a full-time living for eight-plus years - all the step-by-step "how-to" details of which are chronicled in his award-winning 2007 release, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living (www.wellfedsp.com). The book, sold on Amazon, has garnered (at press time) roughly 100 reviews with an average rating of five stars.

In late 2009, he released the revised edition of "The Well-Fed Writer" - which combined and heavily updated the two original "Well-Fed Writer" titles. Through his wellfedwriter dot com site, he offers Well-Fed Writer readers a popular no-charge ezine (since 2002), blog and knowledgebase.

He also provides coaching services both for those starting a commercial freelancing business (or trying to boost an existing one), or those planning on self-publishing a book. In addition, in early 2010, he launched Title Tailor (dot com), offering book titling and back cover copywriting services to publishers and self-publishing authors of non-fiction books.

He has published over 250 columns and articles, leads seminars on writing, and is a popular speaker at writers conferences across the country.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Find out how you as a writer can be "well-fed", too!, March 7, 2005

By 

Cheryl Mccann "Review-Books" (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds: A Second Helping of "How-To" for Any Writer Dreaming of Great Bucks and Exceptional Quality of Life (Paperback)

Peter Bowerman's ongoing goal in The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds is to help writers earn a living and "pay all your bills, buy a house, amply fund a retirement account and take a few nice vacations a year."

Back For Seconds is a companion volume (95% new content) to his first book, the award-winning Book-of-the-Month Club selection, The Well-Fed Writer - a how-to "standard" in the field of "commercial" freelancing - writing for businesses, large and small and for hourly rates of $50-125+.

He includes all the tools to make this happen. Included are success stories from writers of all descriptions with a commonality of making a living by writing and paying bills. Peter Bowerman takes the "scary" out of the cold calling and gives tips for sales and marketing. In addition, Peter includes information on how to start a writers group.

Right off the bat is a chapter on sales and marketing with eight tips for non-salespeople. Peter Bowerman says the key to sales is matching your skills to your client's needs, with a non-aggressive, natural manner. This is common knowledge but he tells you how to do this.

Next chapter covered is marketing to show benefits to the client rather than features and to talk about what's important to the client. You will find pertinent web sites sprinkled throughout the chapter. Need help in formulating your Unique selling Proposition (USP)? It's all in this chapter.

Chapter 3 discusses tips of good web site showcase samples. Also, you will find what kind of information to include in your online portfolio to enhance your professionalism. Two pluses are: "Top 10 List for Creating TWTW's Web Site," and, "Your Colleague's Sites."

"Let Me Clarify" answers 20 questions to: do I have what it takes to be a good freelance writer, what should I call my business, how to create a selling portfolio, and can I achieve "financial self-sufficiency in six months." These are but a few among very useful information.

The whole Chapter 5 is devoted to cold calling. You will receive specific great tips of what to expect when cold calling and face-to-face cold calling, with truths about cold calling. Included is a useful guideline for a cold calling script as a way of customizing your own script.

Next is email marketing campaign, direct mail and fax. You will find specifics from pros, complete with web sites and effective new ideas.

"Dining Off the Beaten Path" broadens the writing field of assignments from the corporate projects to the Not-For-Profits (NFPs) and less obvious corporate departments. These are mentioned with anecdotal experiences. Included is a chart of "Sixty Potential Writing Clients."

Chapter 8, "Eating Well in Smaller Markets," while the emphasis is on smaller markets, the tips given can be used in any size market. Readers will be treated with four stories "from the trenches."

How to transition from a full-time job/part-time writer to a full-time freelance writer is explored in Chapter 9, "Full-Time Dream, Part-Time Reality." Enjoy an interview with Chris Taylor, journalist who became a full-time freelance writer as well as other stories.

A necessary part of being a successful full-time freelance writer which is covered in Chapter 10, "The Well-Networked Writer." It is complete with tips and suggested further reading.

Chapters 11, 12, and 13 include potential and perception of writing, the craft of writing, valuable writers checklist, writing for the web, and finally taking the first step into a new writing world. Six valuable appendices include:

Appendix A - abridged edition of The Well-Fed Writer
Appendix B - stories of self-employed writers of all types
Appendix C - case study of meeting client's needs
Appendix D - business taxes, structures, insurance and retirement
Appendix E - web sites of writing and marketing books
Appendix F - self-publishing

Peter Bowerman, freelance commercial writer and columnist, has written over 250 articles and columns since 1993. He leads writing seminars and publishes a free monthly ezine called, "The Well-Fed E-Pub." Peter's corporate clients include: UPS, American Express, BellSouth, Mercedes-Benz, IBM, Cingular Wireless, and The Coco-cola Company.

His awards include:

**Second-place: ForeWord Magazine 2000 Book of the Year (Career category)
**Honorable Mention: 2000 Writers Digest National Self-Published Book Award
**Finalist: Publishers Marketing Association 2000 Ben Franklin Awards (Best First Book)
**Book-of-the-Month Club selection: Winter/Spring 2001
**Quality Paperback Book Club selection: Spring 2001
**Writer's Digest Book Club selection: July 2000 for second best-selling Featured Alternate in more than two years)

The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds is beneficial to writers who want to become self-employed and write full-time with proven techniques that actually work. Peter Bowerman's tips are solid for becoming a full-time freelance writer. If you are floundering in the sales and marketing area, this book is for you.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much-needed corrective to The Well-Fed Writer, November 22, 2005

By 

G. Maxwell (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds: A Second Helping of "How-To" for Any Writer Dreaming of Great Bucks and Exceptional Quality of Life (Paperback)

Bowerman has not only written an excellent sequel with 95% new material, he has also qualified several things which may have been taken out of context or to extreme from his first book.

Bowerman's first book "The Well-Fed Writer" was sensational in that it went into great detail about the author's experience and how he made it as a freelancer and how you can make it too.

The problem--as expounded upon in this his second book-- was that there were some folks who read the first book, decided they were ready for freelancing, and jumped in with both feet even though they weren't prepared. They went whole hog when they were only half ready.

Bowerman addresses these issues yet moves beyond them in this book--adding new material while expertly covering some familiar ground from the first book making this a stand alone volume. Truly, Bowerman proves his place among "How-to" writers with this tome.

Accurate and to the point, the book pulls no punches. It tells it like it is--demonstrating that while freelancing is a game for adults, it is certainly attainable with reasonable effort.

Great book for beginner and seasoned pro alike. Highly recommended.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORE THAN A BOOK . . . IT'S A PARTY, June 8, 2005

By 

Heather Ivester (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Well-Fed Writer: Back for Seconds: A Second Helping of "How-To" for Any Writer Dreaming of Great Bucks and Exceptional Quality of Life (Paperback)

There are thousands of books out there on the craft of writing, but Bowerman's work is one of the best. Not only does he entertain you with his skillful wit and tale of success, he also introduces you to dozens of full-time working writers. And not a single one is starving.

BACK FOR SECONDS is truly interactive. You can (and should) read the classic works, like Strunk and White's THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, Zinsser's ON WRITING WELL, and Lamott's BIRD BY BIRD, but this book is a springboard for pursuing writing as a career.

If you're a highly creative person, Bowerman's work will help you channel your creativity toward financially viable pursuits. Closet poets, for example, might be excellent at creating ad slogans, headlines, and web copy, while continuing to feed their souls through penning poetry.

I've read his book through twice and now keep it next to my computer alongside my other reference books. At the end of chapter 3, Peter writes, "I asked commercial writers across the world to share their Web sites for inclusion in the book...You'll see a wide array of creative visions -- things you like and things you won't. It's all about getting ideas."

This list is invaluable for researching what others are doing in the field. I've enjoyed signing up for several newsletters, particularly the one published by Lisa Sparks of Integrity Writing, as well as Marcia Yudkin's Marketing Minute. Of course, you have to sign up for the author's delightful e-pub delivered monthly to your in-box!

I think this book would make a worthwhile addition to university literature and writing programs. Very few people can actually make a full-time living as novelists or poets without a healthy supplement of teaching. BACK FOR SECONDS offers another avenue for those who love words and enjoy helping others (clients) succeed.