Two bits of news to share today:
Writing suggestion challenges (asked for recently on the blog) have come in, and the survey is now live for voting. Please vote. Votes will close at the end of my work day Friday as long as there's no tie and we hit at least 50 responses (we're almost there already, so that's not going to be an issue). If there's a tie for the top challenge, I'll leave the survey open through the weekend.
I'm kicking off a new series on the blog this week. It will be a cross between freelance site reviews and coaching, where I'll give one-on-one advice to freelancers who are struggling to attract their target clients.
Here's more info on each for those of you interested in the details:
Writing Challenges Survey
Recently I asked you to suggest ideas for my next big writing challenge. And I asked you to make it tough. I narrowed the suggestions down to five, and just opened them up for voting.
Vote now.
When voting on challenges, you can choose up to three. So if you think more than one would be valuable to you, you can express interest in each of them. The one with the most interest will run, with a start date dependent on the individual challenge.
These challenges will be documented in some way where my experience will hopefully help readers -- letting you see what works and what doesn't, letting you watch someone test things you haven't had time to test yourself, or even just inspiring you to take steps on a similar project you've been putting off.
Here are details on the five options you can choose from:
1. Submit 10 queries to publications I've never written for over the course of one month.
I know ten queries doesn't seem like much of a challenge on the surface. But Jake Poinier picked this one because he knows I practice what I call "query-free freelancing." My business is built around attracting clients -- making them come to me already ready and willing to buy. I also focus largely on writing for businesses where this makes the most sense.
Jake wanted to take me out of my comfort zone by not only forcing me to write and submit queries (and report back on any progress), but by making me pursue aspirational targets -- publications I've always wanted to write for but haven't pursued (mostly because I'm too busy writing for those business clients).
He left this wide open for me to pick any kind of publication I want (online or print; no particular niches). He wasn't clear on whether it was more about freelancing (pay) or bylines (where guest posts would also be in play). But I'm going to take the strict approach. They would have to require payment.
Given that these are targets I'd want to write for based on association however, and given we're talking about publications rather than business clients who often pay much more, I'm not going to focus on my usual $150 per hour minimum for this. It's more about getting into publications I respect and haven't targeted yet.
This could be done solely under my real name, focusing on topics like business, writing, marketing, media, and PR. Or I might combine those with pitches under a pen name, such as pitching nonfiction pieces to horror publications. If you want to see what happens with one month of querying, vote for this one.
2. Read and review one book per week (over three months).
These books would have to help writers improve their businesses in some way. They could cover business, writing, publishing, marketing, or anything else related to freelancers, bloggers, and indie authors.
To make this more challenging, and more interesting, I'd focus on non-traditional books. In other words, I won't be reviewing popular books that many of you are already familiar with. Instead I'd want to cover things you otherwise might not come across.
For example, I might share books with you on topics such as:
the role of storytelling in marketing;
game theory and business strategy;
the art of persuasion;
the role of the media in society and how we fit in as writers;
understanding and reporting statistics;
consumer psychology (and how it applies to everything from writing sales copy for clients to selling your own books);
the concept of "evil" and what makes people that way (to help fiction authors develop more complex antagonists).
These are just examples based on my current "to read" pile. I'd narrow down a final list at the start of the three-month stretch so you could read along if you want to.
They're the kinds of books that have helped me build a successful business against the odds, and they're the kinds of books I think far too few writers pay attention to. You have to look beyond the basics of narrowly-targeted books for writers. And I'd use this challenge as a way to help you do that.
This was the most unexpected challenge idea presented, and honestly, even if it doesn't win (and barring any drastic swings, it doesn't look like it will) I may do this on a more limited basis anyway. I'm already reading the books, so I might as well share as I go along.
3. Run a visibility PR campaign and report on the progress.
This challenge would be directly tied to my re-launch of NakedPR.com, which will happen soon. This will come from the perspective of already having basic credentials in a field or specialty area, and finding ways to get your name out there (as starting in a specialty with no experience or credentials, and trying to get that same coverage as though an expert, would be unethical -- if that's what you want, there are plenty of smarmy marketers out there willing to teach you how to fake it; no sympathies when you're exposed and fall flat on your face later though).
This would also run three months, and it would focus on things like:
bylines (not necessarily from freelance gigs);
interviews;
quotes / citations as a source;
social media exposure;
other important links and mentions of me or that website.
This isn't about "becoming an authority." It's about building visibility based on the legitimate authority you already have. I meet writers all the time who have plenty of experience, advanced degrees or industry background, etc., and they just can't seem to get their names out there. That's what this challenge would help you do (hopefully).
4. Launch a new website or blog and report on its progress for three months.
This would be a blog / site in the horror niche. I chose that for a few reasons:
I've been wanting to launch a site in that niche anyway, and this would be a kick in the pants to make it happen;
It would take advantage of my actual professional experience (something I'd advise people to do when starting a new site or blog of their own);
I already have a small amount of exposure in that area, but not much.
The last reason is perhaps the most important. Starting from absolutely nothing doesn't do much to help most All Indie Writers readers. The truth is, even if it feels that way, you're not starting from nothing. You have contacts. You have some kind of background you can make work for you. And chances are good you even have at least a small online presence (such as through a business website or personal social media accounts).
By going with a site under an existing pen name, I'm starting in a similar position. I have an author blog (which very few people read at this point). I know some other folks working in the genre (but not terribly many). And I have a moderate social media presence (a few hundred followers on Twitter -- not a lot of interaction there though, and I haven't been using the site very much lately).
This challenge is about using what you've already got going for you and parlaying that into a successful site launch. And in this case, I don't have much from the start. So I think it's a pretty fair representation of where most of you would be coming from with a similar site launch.
I'd start off with the basic site design and content strategy. And I'd share that strategy with you here. I won't promote the new site actively here or on my Twitter account under my real name, though I will let you know the pen name at the beginning so you can follow along on the author blog if you'd like (where I'll talk about the project more openly).
The original plan for this site was to make it fan-oriented. But I don't want to monetize it with advertising. So I thought about creating and selling guides to indie creatives there. That caused me to tweak the plan when this challenge was proposed. Rather than reviewing indie horror movies, books, games, etc. the site will focus on the artists themselves -- how they can get more exposure for their work, having them share marketing success stories with others in the indie horror community, and talking about their work from the perspective of creators more than consumers.
So that's what we're looking at for a new site launch. I'd start the three-month clock on launch day for this one so development time doesn't cut into how long you get to see stats. I'd estimate 1-3 weeks for development and planning (and you'll get to see that as it happens too).
5. Re-launch a blog that's been sitting untouched for a while.
Again, this would basically be a site launch challenge, with reporting taking place over three months. But in this case, we're not talking about a brand new site. Writers constantly start blogs and abandon them. There are all sorts of reasons for this. But this is about bringing one back from the dead when you decide to take the foundation you've laid and give a site one more shot.
For this one, I'd be reviving my genealogy blog. While it's under my real name, I have next to no exposure in that niche, so my name alone does nothing to help me. And again, it won't be directly promoted here with updates. You'll get one notice of what the site is so you can follow along, but I don't want to aggressively drive traffic from here. I also don't promote that niche on my Twitter account (the social media account I use the most). It will have its own.
This would start with a self-assessment of the blog, where I'll go over the current problems holding it back and what it already has going for it. That will be shared with you publicly. It will also need a redesign. That will happen before I start the three-month clock. And, again, you'll get to see the basic plan and content strategy.
In the case of both this challenge and the new site launch, all content will be created by me or guest contributors (no paid freelancers). I'll also keep spending to a bare minimum as I know many of you don't have funds you're looking to invest in these projects right away (domain name, hosting, and site theme costs might be the extent of it -- I already have these, but will do the cost breakdown for those wanting to replicate).
If you want to see me take on any of these challenges or experiments and report on the progress here, vote now. Voting might close as early as tomorrow.
New "Coaching" Series
I'm often asked to serve as a coach for newer writers, especially on the freelance side. This is something I've chosen not to make a part of my business for several reasons -- from not wanting to give up the complete flexibility of my schedule to not wanting to associate myself with a part of the industry I've seen do more harm than good.
Yet, every once in a while, I do agree to serve in a mentoring capacity where I work with a writer one-on-one on helping them build or overhaul their businesses. I'm extremely fussy about who I'll work with. They have to demonstrate they've seriously tried to make things work. They have to be realistic in what they want to achieve. And I have to believe they're the kind of writers who will work their asses off to turn our conversations into action. Not many fit the bill. And when I find one who does and they come to me for help, I never charge them for it.
Because these requests are so common, I've thought about doing a blog series along these lines for quite some time -- where I'll give limited one-on-one advice, but publicly so other writers can benefit from it. The plan a while back was to start with site assessments for freelance writers.
I wanted to start by featuring case studies of freelance writer websites that were done very well -- examples you could use when building your own. That's a foundation I feel far too many writers make mistakes with. Your website can be your most valuable marketing tool. It's your home base of sorts. But, sadly, I didn't find enough exceptional examples to make the series worthwhile.
Today I was asked for advice again. A freelancer (with plenty of experience and decent testimonials) was struggling to find people willing to pay her fairly for her work. Yet she keeps getting requests for freebies.
So I agreed to give her professional site a once-over to see if it might explain why she's attracting the wrong kinds of people. And I thought this might be a good opportunity to merge those previous ideas -- a blog coaching series and a series featuring freelancer websites (though I'm willing to do the same for blogs and author websites in this case).
Early next week I'll kick this series off on the blog. It will involve an evaluation of this freelancer's professional site -- what works, what doesn't, questions a prospect might be left with, and what she can do to improve it (both fixes I'd consider essential and suggestions to take the site to the next level and get the most out of it).
I'll go beyond that though. I'll also offer her some tailored advice on other promotional tactics she might be able to use, and client targeting advice. So check back next week to see the start of that. If you'd like to have your own site and strategy evaluated in a future post you can leave a comment here with the site address. But please, no brand new sites. I'd like this to focus on freelancers, authors, and bloggers who have been at this a while but who aren't seeing the results they'd like. If you're brand new, you don't know yet if your current strategy is working.